The Last Days x1

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The Last Days x1

Postby dieg777 on Fri May 13, 2005 9:46 am

First Impressions below

Other Reviews:

Here is one from simhq to start

http://www.simhq.com/_air3/air_120a.html

Information here

http://www.airwarfare.com/tld/index.htm

http://www.x1software.com/
dieg777
Chief reviewer
 
Posts: 87
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 2:27 am
Location: scotland

Postby dieg777 on Tue May 31, 2005 10:49 am

The Last Days- First Impressions

With something of this depth then it would be impossible for me to cover all campaigns so here are my first impressions, flying mainly fighter missions and campaigns.

Any add on pack is a strange creature. Not a full game but still asking for payment for similar things that are available for free through web sites dedicated to the main game.
So what do you get and why should you part with your cash considering the above. Well typically you will get;

§ A selection of skins, i.e. different camouflage and markings for the planes
§ New single player missions
§ New campaigns. The campaigns come in two types; either scripted, where the designer has placed the way points, wrote the mission briefs, determined number of planes etc or dynamic i.e. generated using the in game generator. In some cases the game generator will have been tweaked.
§ In most cases the maps will be tweaked to include more objects such as flack and vehicles.

Now as stated there are free missions, free campaigns, a free replacement Quick mission generator from Uberdaemon at http://www.uberdemon.com/ and even a free replacement full mission generator from Lowengrin at http://www.lowengrin.com/news.php so anything that charges has to be a bit special and I think that The last Days is.

There has obviously been a lot of time and effort and care spent on this. But lets break it down and start from the beginning.

In Europe this pack is only available as a download from http://www.matrixgames.com/ and it is a looooooong download. It took about 2.5hrs on a 512 Kb broadband connection. I would prefer to have a hard copy and I hope the author Tankeriv can get this arrange this as I think it will increase sales.

OVERVIEW

TLD is based on the late war period and the defence of Germany. It contains

· 33 New Dynamic campaigns (36 for PF owners)
· New GUI sounds
· New GUI backgrounds
· More than 500 new high-res skins
· 59 new single players missions
· 17 new multi player missions ·
New medal pack



INSTALLATION

After download you have the option of which install you wish to have – either IL2FB IL2FB+ aces or IL2FB +aces + Pf depending on which version you have. You then direct the installer to your main game directory, put in serial number that you receive via e- mail and then sit back and let it install.
Installation was no problem on my machine, with the IL2FB +aces + Pf option. I also have Battle over Europe add on, and Lowengrins DGEN and have not noticed any conflicts with this although I believe others have had with some missions. I have two campaigns on the go using both BOE and TLD as identical as possible, flying spitfires, same squadron, rank, map etc and both work fine.
I also have trialed a Luftwaffe campaign and a USAAF campaign with no problems.

TLD ADDITIONS

The first thing you notice on launching the game is a new background, which I like.

There are 72 new single / multiplayer missions

There are 33 campaigns with total 1525 missions (for PF owners 1678 missions and 36 campaigns), for either the German, American, British, Hungarian or Russian covering four different theatres * (Ardennes, Berlin, Hungary, Lvov)
The campaigns that are included:
German
· He 111 bomber campaign *Lvov
· Ju 87 dive bomber campaign *Hungary
· Ju 87 dive bomber campaign *Lvov
· Fighter campaign *Lvov
· Fighter campaign *Luft 46 (Ardennes summer)
· Ju-87 tank buster campaign *Luft 46 (Ardennes summer)
· Zerstorer campaign *Luft 46 (Ardennes summer)
· Fighter campaign *Berlin
· High altitude fighter campaign *Berlin
· Reichs Luftverteitugung *Berlin
· Fighter campaign *Berlin East
· Zerstorer campaign *Berlin
· He 111 bomber campaign *Berlin
· He 111 bomber campaign *Luft 46 (Ardennes summer)

British
· Bomber campaign *Luft 46 (Ardennes summer)
· Fighter campaign *Luft 46 (Ardennes summer)
Hungarian
· He 111 bomber campaign *Lvov
· Ju 87 dive bomber campaign *Hungary
· Ju 87 dive bomber campaign *Lvov
· He 111 bomber campaign *Hungary
· Fighter campaign *Hungary
· Fighter campaign *Lvov
Russian
· Fighter bomber campaign *Lvov
· Fighter bomber campaign *Hungary
· Fighter bomber campaign *Berlin
· Fighter campaign *Berlin
· Fighter campaign *Hungary
· Fighter campaign *Lvov
· IL2 campaign *Hungary
· IL2 campaign *Lvov
· IL2 campaign *Berlin
American
· Fighter bomber campaign *Luft 46 (Ardennes summer)
· Fighter campaign *Luft 46 (Ardennes summer)
· Bomber campaign *Luft 46 (Ardennes summer)
· Fighter bomber campaign *Luft 46 (Ardennes summer)
· Fighter campaign *Berlin

There are 500 new skins and are nicely done.


GAMEPLAY

In common with other mission packs Tankeriv has increased the activity on the missions. You can have a large amount of planes flying at any time, fleets of bombers plus escorts against the defenders, couple this to flying over cities and I have experienced some stutter and slowdown when playing some missions and maps.
The campaigns are interesting and varied , so far including escort, interception, airfield defence and CAP . The action comes quick and dirty in the fighter missions I have tried so far - so no long boring flights.
The mission briefs are translated from German and are a bit quirky, with some mistakes but I don’t consider this a major problem. They are very detailed and worth checking out and following as if you fail to plan ahead then you could run into a lot of trouble.
There has been a lot of effort on the airfields, which bristle with activity and really add to immersion. AA, vehicles, shelters, buildings have all been added.
There are a lot of movement of the ground with transport convoys, trains etc. and especially flack alleys that will decimate you if you don’t plan routes and hang around them. Overall a very good addition to the standard game.

SUPPORT

Tankeriv is very active on the simhq forum http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards ... orum;f=127 and has quickly answered questions from there, he has released beta patches to correct some initial problems and the next patch will add more theatres, missions, campaigns etc, so I have been very impressed with this aspect.


Conclusion

I think this is a worthwhile addition but I understand others who play mainly online may not feel it is worth the cost.

PROS

I particularly like the attention to detail and the continued support . There are promised additions that will be made available. The skins are good. The single missions are nice but the campaigns are the meat and here the thought and care put into this package is evident.
So if you want everything in a nice package , that is easily set up, if you enjoy playing offline and have an interest in the late war planes then give this a go.

CONS

Slowdown on some maps.

Review machine :

3000 Athlon
1gb ram
Gainward FX5900XT graphics
dieg777
Chief reviewer
 
Posts: 87
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 2:27 am
Location: scotland


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