We also post about Stardock’s Impulse thinger, which is like Steam, only different. They have a sale on and look at this: Galactic Civilizations I: Ultimate for $3.99, Space Rangers 2 Complete for $3.99, Supreme Commander for $9.99, and Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords for $9.99. Ace.
Anyone using Impulse out there? Thoughts? Complaints? Concise user-reviewers to inform and aid your fellow consumers in their task of identifying and purchasing entertainment bargains? Anything?
Related Stories:
@Tim: Actually, Stardock makes a lot of money selling apps. It’s why they can get away with doing whatever they want with games–they have a very profitable main business to fall back on if the gaming venture goes all pretzel-shaped.
Also: Holy hell!
Space Rangers 2 has an expansion! My favorite game apparently got a new translation when I wasn’t looking. And other stuff, too.
*Purchased!* *(… for 4 dollars!)*
I repeat: Holy hell!
Isn’t ‘Impulse’ the common term given to describe any purchase made immediately after reading a NGJ article(/extended series of engaging but ultimately unfaithful anecdotes) pertaining to the same game?
thank you RPS, if it wasn’t for this article I would have missed Space Rangers 2 complete for only 4 freaking dollars. Cheers.
So… GalCiv 1 Ultimate, or GalCiv 2 basic?
Enlighten me!
I’d have to say the basic sequel is better than the original. Galactic Civilizations 2 is from the same developer and also includes a very smart strategic AI.
Neither game includes multiplayer, or controllable combat, but GalCiv II lets you extensively customize ships (including nigh-infinite aesthetic options) and also record your scores on online leader boards.
So GalCiv I Ultimate, or GalCiv 2 basic for under 10$ each? I’d go for the latter, it’s got more stuff in it, it’s a better deal in and of itself. Of course the expansions can then be tempting, and they’d cost a great deal more. Also 4$ is significantly less than 10$.
@Nick S
Well, your arguments do make sense. However Stardock is primarily a developer of apps, so I don’t think they’ll fold anytime soon. Though i suspect (hope) that would solve such an issue the same way Steam promises to do; i.e. releasing patches to remove the impulse requirement.
I allready have GC and SupCom
Brought SR2 and GC2 from impulse and have found no problems with it thus far. Like others have said it takes a more hands off approach than steam just there to download and activate the game.
On a slightly different topic that may get me flamed, what is the deal with SR2? I’m not saying it’s a bad game but after I completed the tutorials I’m completely lost on what I’m supposed to do and how to go about it. I’ve had some fun with it but I spend my time not knowing what to do next, there’s nothing that seems to drive me to play more. Although I always hear about how good it is, I feel like I’m missing something.
GC2 has been a real joy, I was worried that it was to indepth and seemed like a game for hardcore strategy fans but while it has many many things to keep track off it hasn’t overwhelmed me or tired me out. After awhile I may be making my own ’starfucker supremes’
There is a vague plot of a war occuring which is hinted at during the tutorial if you read and followed everything. Your initial aim should be self empowerment. Get rich get a pimped out ship and get skills leveled up. Missions got at the government building in planets are the fastest route to power. Note that everything you buy will eventually be out classed as tech advances but some gifts from missions will be keepers. You can either use your power to push the war and gather enemy parts take them to science labs and work on a way to defeat the top enemies or get more powerful and blow the hell out of them. Note, fighting wont work on all of them.
I’m I the only one who found GalCiv2 to be utterly impossible to learn? Even after two days of straight playing I had no real idea what to do, and lost a different way each time.
@ Erlam
Same here, even after patiently watching the tutorial videos, I still had no grasp of the game. And I still don’t to this day.
I think Impulse is more or less OK. Although I was pretty annoyed at first when I bought GalCiv II, I later learned to appreciate the ease of use (on Impulse).
As for GCII I think it’s a brilliant game, I was almost getting bored of CIV 4 (managed to win consistently on random Emperor), somewhere I’ve read about this game. I think it’s brilliant (granted, it takes a few days to figure it out, I almost gave up). The key to a good game (at least for me) is getting the economy right.
My problem is I never have any idea if what I’m doing is in fact, right. Also, the demo universes are so small I get about 1 extra planet, then get waves of spies/ships/whathaveyou flying at me.
What REALLY confuses me is which package of GalCiv2 goodness to get. They are so badly labeled I’ve actually given up. There’s GalCiv2 and arnor, there’s GalCiv2 Ultimate….ack! I gather the one on Impulse is simply the base game, but man, they do not make the rest of it easy.
@Natus:
GalCiv 2: Dread Lords (base game)
GalCiv 2: Dark Avatar (first expansion)
GalCiv 2: Twilight of the Arnor (latest (and last) expansion)
Outside the U.S., you can purchase two different compilation packages: Endless Universe (contains the two expansions as a standalone game) or Ultimate Edition (contains all three games). Stardock, in an act of awesomeness, allows anyone in any country to register either compilation edition with Impulse. The one for sale this weekend is indeed the base game. Hope that kinda clears stuff up.
Don’t use a suffix on the initial title if you will make expansions idiot publishers!
@RichP,
thanks much! From what I can tell about registering, you can’t lose by buying one game pack–whatever it is–because you can just fold in others under Stardocks umbrella, I suppose.
Hmmmmmm, with all this gaming goodness recently, I may wait on GalCiv2 and SupCom and see what’s offered at a later time, but I did nab SR2, which was a no-brainer.
Thanks again!
Bought Space Rangers 2.
No need to insert serial if you register Stardock at same email you used to buy the game.
And Space Rangers 2 does not need Stardock to run!
Thanks for the tip :D
Tried impulse a few months ago, only thing I noticed was that it keeps a resident program running even when not playing one of their games (loaded on comp startup). That was enough for me to delete it from my hard drive.
M
So I downloaded that Space rangers demo… and have no video. I do have sound though.
Impulse short ‘n’ sweet review:
The good:
- Nice selection of games both well known and obscure
- installs the game DRM ‘free’ to your PC and you don’t need to launch Impulse to play the game afterward (are you paying attention Steam?)
- Notifies you if an update/patch is available for your game but doesn’t force you to download it until you are good and ready (still paying attention Steam?)
- Has a nice email your serial code function for those times you’ve forgotten and need to reinstall.
- Download speeds are reasonable (once you get the app working)
- Allows you to install games you bought previously using an old unused email address (OK this one is just for me – but it got me Gal Civ II back after my last PC died)
The bad:
- Still early days and very buggy. Not a problem for everyone but I’ve had my share of issues and needing to reinstall and do some behind the scenes tomfoolery to get it running.
- The UI leaves a bit to be desired and is certainly not as easy to use as Steam. Preferences are hidden behind the Stardock icon, but you can’t access it while the app is updating which can be an issue if you need to change your preferences so that the update actually works.
- You only get informed that the game you are attempting to purchase is not available in your region after you’ve added it to your cart and gone to checkout.
Overall I like it. I’m hoping they spend a lot more time in development and improve the UI and community functions. But in general I like that I can use it to buy and install games and then I can just run those games from my desktop without first launching Impulse.
I can’t believe I just missed this… Space Rangers 2 Complete is now a mind boggling $39.95, comparing it to the $3.99 I was hoping for :( I can’t afford $40 :< Buggery. I guess piracy is the key, until I can.
Space Rangers 2 is totally worth 4 bux