THIS POST IS NOT SPONSORED (unfortunately!)
Hello Jeepers!
Today first non-newsletter-ish post.
My mate sent me a link to a game. I was a bit skeptic about it at very first moment, but then I've seen the demo movie and I thought 'Hey, maybe worth to have a go...'.
Last game I've played was Quake, many of Jeep-Club members haven't been born yet, you've got the image - I'm not a game-boy.
Therefore I've tried and couldn't stop playing for an hour :D
It's only a demo version. We can drive UAZ - Heh, lets say it - russian Jeep, or MAZ - Russian... hmm, Unimog I'd say, but this one is 8x8. Both have differential locks and 2x4 or GodKnowsWhatx8 drive system, parking brake, auto or manual.
Actually, however the company which made the game - Oovee, has co.uk domain, I have an unfounded feeling that those guys use Cyrillic in every day life ;) Doesn't matter, brought my attention!
I start with cons here. I have 8GB of RAM, 512MB Nvidia (some.. any.. ) graphic card, and dual core 2.8GHz Intel on board and had to decrease max resolution to 1024x768 and switch most of gizmos off to have fun. But maybe I'm old and outdated, so that's minor thing. Only comparison I have are modern Playstation 3 games. To be sure what I'm talking about I've installed Call Of Duty Black Ops, borrowed of my neighbour and compared details. Of course I've set details and resolution of the Spin Tires to max 1920x1200 on PC to have a closer look at the details in the game. Was slow as I said - my PC is not king of speed, but... it's only my subjective feeling - for example water and mud look way better on PS3 than in the game, but maybe on decent PC it would behave better. Unfortunately I couldn't make screen capture at full details, only in windowed mode, but take my word.
A bit of PITA is that if you stuck and click 'rescue' it takes you back to the start position, instead of leaving you where you are - maybe they'll fix it in the full game.
Bit annoying is camera view. Like every 110% man, it took me a lot of tries and fails before I read the manual and discovered steering options, but camera can be set only with button '1' (NOT F1) and shows the car by default from 45' rear left or 45' left front. You can adjust it with the mouse, but I'd be happy to be able to have driver view option under one button, bird view etc. Maybe they are there somewhere, but I couldn't find them.
Not that it's distracting too much! Not at all!
Now pros - I've set details to the level accepted by my PC and, as I said, one hour just gone-gone! Game is just brilliant! It has that something which keeps you playing despite all that little annoying bits.
You can go through the map in any direction, there are flat, muddy bits, fords and deep holes, trees can be run over, mud and water spreads all over the place, really great fun! Yet there are some 'industrial' obstacles, hills, rocks etc., whatever you want. When you get bored with driving the car like your Jeep at Bagshot, you can turn off 4x4 system and at speed jump trough concrete heaps.
Another funny thing is that the car rides without a driver, what you can see on images :D not a big problem, but bites off a bit of reality.
Driving MAZ is a bit tricky. I never drove 8x8 in real life but delay in steering seems to be too 'game-ish' - maybe it's not, whoever has a ride licence for a tanker ship can judge it. 2 front axles are steering the monster. 2 rear ones seem to be trailed in GodKnowsWhatx8 mode. Good bit is that while UAZ 'Jeep' stuck everywhere, MAZ doesn't give a crap what the terrain is.
Diff locked, all wheel drive, full power and you jump out of anything! Ok, not always, but most of problems are solved ;)
UAZ - apart from issues mentioned above - rides brilliantly! It behaves like Cherokee! Ok, it doesn't but it feels much more like 'normal' car. Normal Jeep I should say. It speed up and brakes well, makes great jumps and you can even drift! :D
Both cars in manual gearbox mode can reach max 2nd gear when diff lock is on - understandable.
One more important thing. I did manage to put car upside down, but I could not damage it. Good, bad? I'd like to have heavy smoke from underneath the bonnet... COOL! :D
Camera slowly follows the front wheels direction, which may be distracting at the beginning, but when you get used to it, it's actulally quite good idea, because when you finally get traction and car jumps out of the mud you can see where are you going.
Yet, for 110% men and 150% women who don't read manuals:
UP ARROW - accelerate
DOWN ARROW - brake, pressed twice when on 1st gear - reverse
LEFT, RIGHT AROWS - steering
Q - All wheel drive
E - Diff lock
SHIFT - engages the gear or switch to idle.
All the rest, like time of the day, gearbox type, view angle etc - MOUSE
Maybe there are other steering options... go to manual ;)
Yep.. I could talk and talk, but I know I'm boring so, let me shut up and show you the screenshots.
Enjoy:
Have muddy weekend!
Mac / Jeep-Club Admin
After another hour of playing I have to say that a little, bitchy UAZ does noit behave as Cherokee at all! :D
My soul stay in the west! Hopefully in full version we will get more 4x4's.
In summary, those of you shiny gals and lads who are afraid to get some scratches on your posh rides - that's alternative to feel adrenaline in comfort of your own home ;)
Take care chaps!
Mac / Jeep-Club Admin
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