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[Dave]

Your boxscan doesn't have written "Published by Lemon Interactive" :P
Edit: Sold at Amazon
($0.01 + $3.99 shipping)

[gufu1992]

Originally Posted by David86

($0.01 + $3.99 shipping)

Epic price.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Originally Posted by gufu1992

Why V.O.T.E.R.? For water?

Because the game creators thought it sounded nice. Then they dropped it because they could not produce a sensible backronym out of it.

It's plainly written 2004 on the box, so it doesn't fall under our 10 years rule...

Multiple sources confirm 14th May 2001 as the original release date.

Also, I've found out that the publisher has apparently changed its name rather than close up - for a dumb one, too: http://www.eeezee-products.com/

[gufu1992]

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

Because the game creators thought it sounded nice. Then they dropped it because they could not produce a sensible backronym out of it.


Multiple sources confirm 14th May 2001 as the original release date.

Also, I've found out that the publisher has apparently changed its name rather than close up - for a dumb one, too: http://www.eeezee-products.com/

Well there goes the Vapoware idea. :/

Anyway, at least they live on... although in what seems to be an epic failure.

[Capo]

Originally Posted by gufu1992

Ok then... let's wait till' 2014.

Hey,the world will be destroyed in the 2014,so no chance to play Golem :worried:

[gufu1992]

Originally Posted by Capo

Hey,the world will be destroyed in the 2014,so no chance to play Golem :worried:

2012 to be precise.

[twillight]

I feel now that Abandonia has a topic for everything already

I too have this game, somehow in multiply copies. Not that it'd be a particularly good game though...


The game is real-time strategy what uses certain periods of time as rounds, and yes, it can be paused.

It is a VERY boring game, and the controlls are aweful.
First, most of the screen is taken for control-panels. So the actual play-screen is tiny! Also the clicking is not self-evident.
Above this, there are 3 races only by names, they are actually difficulty-settings. The bug-like race it the tutorial (it really has tons of tutorial-messages for its missions to teach you the controlls), the humans (= magicans) are the middle-level, and cyborgs are the "hard" (at least form the order that seems logical, as I didn't finished humans).
All races have the same abilities (ok, in some special magic-skills they differ, but who uses those?), same ships, same buildings - you get the idea. Ok, they require different materials to build from, but I don't rly consider that a difference.

About it being a strategygame: there is only 1 strategy in it: numbers win. Rly, just get yourself covered with as many ships (preferably aircraft, as on 90% of units it is true that: ships can damage ships, submarins can damage ships and submarines, aircraft can damage everything), then invade the whole map.
To build unites you need mines, so you have to know the map, so before every mission you just send out all your starting-ships, scout the fog-of-war away as much as possible, restart the level and capture all the mines. This is 100% important as mines can have their own defenses, what has devastating power. Rly, they can eliminate entire folltas by themselves (not to mention they can be repaired in 0.1 seconds to full health if you have the resources)!

The game has some nice videos in it, but it just doesn't worth the effort if you ask me...

[gufu1992]

Hey, I completely agree with you. The game has little to no worth when it comes to gameplay. It's still a fun little diversion, at least for it's originality (or at least, originality in ripping off certain other games (Heroes of Might and Magic comes to mind)).

This reminds me, I need to check the current status of the game.

[twillight]

I pulled this out again, just for the heck of it, and in the middle of the mutants (humans are the eay difficulty, mutants medium, robots hard) the game became very hard (or I'm just rly out of practice).

Now to say something positive I checked my notes on the missions, and they are VERY creative (I just could forget about the "visit the vulcano" quest, what I have no idea about the win/loose requirements). Too bad the actual gameplay, even when you get accustomed to it, never rise above middly uncomfortable.

The mission I just reached shows on the other hand anther BAD side of the program. It is about a large force attacking my terrioty immediatelly, so the logical plan is to sit and push them back, while repairing the damaged units. The problem is, that on the same hex can be no less the THREE units (submarine, ship, flyer), so there is some problem Huston...

Must mention that there are a LOT of quests in the game! 16 per race as it seems. I know some people like lots of quests, but for this it seems to be a little too much. Not that anything would turn repetitive, as they really had good ideas, but the amount of time it takes... At least some more movies would have been cool.

Now some info on the mutants:
their ships selfregenerate! Not fast, but it is there, just in case they suffered little damage, or you don't have the resources.
The problem is, it is no longer like for the humans. Basically no unite can attack all three type of unites (underwater, water, air). I don't want to imagine what the cyborgs will have

[twillight]

Hah, I just realised there are only 12 missions per "race", and 4 "tutorial missions" implemented at the beggining of the United Clans. That gives some breathing.

Now, in the storyline (what isn't that comprehensive if you ask me, or I'm just not used to twists of the backgroundstory in computergames, in which case the story is awesome), the Gens are the Looser race (with capital L).

Let me tell you the story as far as I learnt it (SPOILER ALERT!):

After a certain event (meteor-blast?) humanity divided to 3 races:
- regular humans with medieval technology and magic(!). They are called United Clans.
- mutant freaks. They're called Gens.
- cyborgs (no idea about these yet). They are called Cytex.
These three lived in peace until one day a king grew old in the United Clans, and started to pass the throne to the heir the regular way: help some cities, do some battle on the border. But he made a fatal mistake: the king while allowing a village captured by the gens to make his heir able to reclaim it, himself went to the border too. And this time the Gens arrived with forces.
Naturally the king died, the heir took his place. To strenghten his position he started small fights along the border just for the show.
This didn't seem so well in the eyes of the Gens though. The mutant race took it as message of war.
The young king (as HeWhoWillNotBeNamed) turned to his scientists for a super-weapon. They told him about the ancient legend of the GOLEM. The young king started an investigation where that thingy can be, during what he offended Cytex borders...
Naturally the information about the secreat (re)search slipped out (there are hints in the story that there are traitors amongst the UC), and the other two races went after it too.
Though the UC did achive some results in advanced weaponry, they were pushed away like leaf in the wind (of course in the last mission with the UC you "win", but that is just a "what if" thing if you ask me). The remaining forces joined to the Cytex.

Meanwhile the Gens had a split of the race (f*ing mutation, eh?). The GOLEM was an active legend among this race, but the rebelling minority took all the writings for obvious purposes.
During this racial war the Gens developed more and more advanced technology.
A diplomatic accident also happened with the Cytex. The C built an unathorised camp in the demilitarized zone (how resembling this to some real world happenings, eh?), what the Gens happily accepted and declared war against them.
Now the thing is, the Gens in their rush and GOLEM-research forgot to defend their capital. So the above happening was only a trick of the Cytex to stop the developement of the secret weapon.
From this point the Gens runned after the happenings, ever close, never in reach.


(I'm currently at the last mission of the Gens, so no new info will turn up I bet on the side of the Gens. My only hope is, that finally the ending-video will contain some info about the GOLEM, as until now I saw nothing related to it. Fat chance, but...)