Over at Lave Radio (A podcast dedicated to the forthcoming game Elite Dangerous), there is a sister podcast called Retro Lave where we go over the Space sims of the past.

This week, it was the turn of I-War.

Its fair to say it 'split the party'.

It's available on itunes, search for 'Lave Radio' and you'll find it.

and direct download is Lave Radio website.

Interesting to see what you folk think of the review.

Thanks, looking forward to listening to this!

Great podcast, thanks!

It would have been an easier introduction for the reviewers if they'd played through the tutorial missions first. It wouldn't have addressed all their issues with the game, but it would have helped them get the hang of the basic controls before jumping into the missions.

Also you can remove the cockpit graphics and make the 3D view full screen with a single keypress. Part of the reason for the large control panels was to reduce the size of the 3D view and get playable frame-rates on the PCs that were available at the time.

My plan was to take them through the first mission, let them try a few tutorial missions and then try for a full on Instant Action and see how long they last. However, the vote was for the second mission with the Tripoli instead.

We have one player (the vangaurd) who will be playing for a couple of weeks to see if it plays better (I think it will personally)r and I know a couple of the other reviewers are playing it on their own

But we did have so many problems with modern joystick and joypads (which there's nothing we can do about) , I think that's what really caused a lot of the problems.

The cockpit thing we have already discussed in a previous podcast (i.e. Privateer, which had a cockpit view the size of a postage stamp).

Personally, It's kicked off a whole nostalgia thing for me and I'm working my way though the missions again.

Glad you enjoyed it though.

phoenix_dfire, thanks for picking this game up. I do hope that you'll mention here when you do the next Retro Lave, because I'm very much interested in how Rory liked being the vanguard for this game.

I actually can understand any and all the opinions that were voiced in the podcast. Yes, I-War is quite hard to get into in the beginning. If you aren't a fan of Newtonian physics, this might actually kill any wish you have for continuing the game.

However, being a huge fan of Babylon 5, when I-War came out, I jumped straight at the offer to be able to move a ship in a similar way as the Starfuries of B5. This helps a lot to put any issues into perspective, and it also carries you through the several hours needed for making you familiar with the controls.

Now, after having played I-War for the dozens (and maybe hundreds of hours over the years), I am a completely lost case for any games like Wing Commander with their unrealistic way of flying.

I do wonder where your issues with the joysticks come from. I never experienced anything like it. I use a Thrustmaster Flightstick X and owned a Logitech Wingman Extreme (Gameport FTW! ;-) ) back in the day. Both work(ed) perfectly fine.

Anyway, I do hope that those of you guys who give this game a try will learn to love it.

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the feedback. Just to let you know we had a little section about I-war in the rearguard (no puns please) section of the latest show.

Lave Radio

I-War II is planned in the distant future.

thanks

I already listened to the rearguard section of the new ep, and it's quite sad that the game didn't click with this guy. He is sure missing a great game and an intriguing storyline. Also, I find it almost frightening how players nowadays are overwhelmed by real Newtonian controls.