The main issue that people are having with the multiplayer is the damage model on Arcade. I'm talking about the 360 mainstream gamers here, not the flight sim fans etc. If you check out the forums around the net there's a growing number of people spreading the word that it takes ages to bring a plane down in Arcade and that you get nothing in the way of score if somebody else finishes off your target after you've done all the hard work.
People are quitting because of this. They spend a lot of time hammering plane after plane and score nothing. I was talking to two players today who both pointed out they felt the game had wasted their time online.
People are also passing on the game after rental because of this. The 360 is a console and the gamer demographic is radically different to that of pc gamers. Most gamers on the 360 want a fast action air combat game that looks pretty and has a much more immediate multiplayer than the game currently offers. They are not interested in Realistic or Simulation modes.
The picture being painted on this forum is a bit skewed because it's full of hardened flight simmers. The world at large has a far simpler issue with the online multi and it can be patched easily if the game is to attract a bigger player base.
|