Agatha Christie’s Evil Under the Sun Review

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Agatha Christie’s Evil Under the Sun

Review by Old RoosterOctober 2007

“I Will Tell You a Story So Vividly That You Think You Are There Yourself” —Poirot to Hastings

It’s the fall of 1940. Agatha Christie’s famed detective, Hercule Poirot, decides to regenerate his little grey cells with a holiday on a resort island just off the coast of England. Of course, much like other famed sleuths, you can be sure that crime will follow. Soon after his arrival, Poirot senses “sexual tension” in the air and fears that a “crime of passion” may well be soon in the offing.

However, not only is the story itself full of surprises, but the telling of it takes a most unusual turn. The game begins with Poirot’s holiday having been completed! The crime(s) are over and solved. From his London office, Poirot challenges Hastings to reflect back to his days on the island, walk in his footsteps, and see if he can piece together sufficient clues from observation, conversations, and puzzle-solving to arrive at the same correct solution as did the self-described brilliant Belgian detective. But this isn’t just an abstract office task. The game takes you back to the beginning of the island visit, literally walking in the shoes of Poirot.

In other words, you play as Hastings playing as Poirot.

This science fiction–like time or mind travel is a gimmick, but one that is fun and works well. I suppose the developers could have had Hastings actually accompany Poirot, but the end result is rather the same. In effect you play in real time, and the island characters see and hear you as Poirot. Of course, sometimes you slip and say quite un-Poirot–like things, such as, “Where is the nearest golf course,” or “Why not wade out to the raft.” Your inner dialogue with Poirot is much like it would be if he were actually there, with the detective giving you immediate responses. “Hastings, you know I do not play the golf.” It seems strange to write about, but it works.

“Hands off Me Tools” —Mechanic to Poirot

Evil Under the Sun is the third in the Adventure Company’s current Christie series and the best by far. From graphics to gameplay, improvements are evident, particularly as compared with Murder on the Orient Express.

Playing in third-person, point-and-click, adventure format, Poirot has considerable freedom of movement around the island, hotel, and nearby town. Indeed, the game is not at all “on rails” and offers flexible paths and sequences to move the story along. There are eight acts, and certain tasks (conversations, inventory accumulation, errands) do need to be accomplished before one can move from one act to another. However, within each act, there is a good deal of fluidity.

Technically, EUTS is outstanding. It installs from three CDs and will run without a CD in the drive. On my new Vista PC with a 24-inch monitor, it looked stunning on the full screen and ran flawlessly without a crash, glitch, or bug the entire game.

A top-of-screen dropdown task bar couldn’t be easier to use. With five sections, we find access to the main menu (save, load, options), a picture trigger to play as Poirot on the island or Hastings getting hints in Poirot’s office, classic inventory, notebook that automatically records instructions (to-do list), stopwatch timings, suspects, and documents, and, finally, a stopwatch section to use for actual timings (could the suspect have gotten to the murder site in that amount of time?).

Of course, as with most adventure titles, Poirot picks up enough stuff to make one think he has a U-Haul with him. Rocks, fenceposts, oars, bottles, and pills—all at once!—pose no impediment for him. This is a suspension of disbelief common with most games, even shooters—how can the protagonist carry all of those weapons at one time? The other rather comical aspect here is that this light-fingered approach, bordering on thievery and certainly rudeness, is never criticized by anyone except the mechanic who caught Poirot messing with his tools, at least the first time. But that’s okay—you never know when you might need a bottle of detergent!

Other technical features are solid. You can save anywhere, skip through conversations quickly (but don’t!), double-click on Poirot to move him rapidly. Load times are fast, allowing ease of movement around the island and back to Poirot’s office for hints. The large mouse cursor, with clear depictions of its various uses (open, converse, listen secretly, act with inventory, etc.) couldn’t be easier to use. A rather overdone and often unnecessary hint system is in place, allowing you to get hints back at Poirot’s office and even use a peculiar “Finger of Suspicion” to help narrow down suspects. But with the ongoing prodding from Poirot in Hastings’s mind, I didn’t need this much.

“Sometimes, the Small Crimes Are but Appetizers to the Main Course” —Poirot

Atmosphere and mood are among the high points in Evil Under the Sun. War has broken out, the island and town are emptying of citizens, and there is a palpable sense of anxiety, depression, even disquiet in the air. The entire work of the game contributes to a sense of foreboding. From the extraordinary writing to the fine graphics to the haunting background themes, one gets caught up in this period setting.

By standards of such games as Bioshock, EUTS’s graphics are certainly dated. Yet, as mentioned, I found the artwork, attention to period detail, and small touches most appealing. When visiting one of the coves, you see and hear the waves gently lapping the shoreline, see grey clouds moving across the sky, and detect a gentle breeze and the occasional seagull. The only criticism I might have here is that you can’t pan within a scene but must move Poirot to open another section.

Particular attention has been paid to facial animations, expressions, lip-synching. The roll of eyes, frowns, sideways glances in conversations all contribute to the believability of the characters and are revealing above and beyond what is literally said.

Relatedly, voice acting is a paramount feature of EUTS. A stand-in for David Suchet (TV’s Poirot) was found who sounds 95% like him. The entire cast is clearly professional and does outstanding work. Perhaps it helps when they have such an exemplary script.

“I’m Not One to Gossip, But …” Bartender

Evil Under the Sun is about a crime and the solving of it to be sure. But you’ll meet a memorable mix of 20 characters, almost all of whom have secrets, dark places, current tensions. There’s Gladys, the tearful maid (perhaps because Poirot lifted several things from her cart?); Rosamund, a preoccupied dressmaker; Arlena, an arrogant and threatened actress; Stephan, a former vicar with a tortured soul; and others with gambling problems, divided loyalties, marital tensions.

I advise again not to blithely skip through conversations. You need to get to know these folks and their peculiarities. What I remember at the end of the game is not simply the crime and solving of it, but more so the people I met along the way. Indeed, this is more the case with EUTS than with any game I can recall.

Of course, among the cast are Poirot and Hastings. The schizophrenic-type conversations Poirot/Hastings has with himself often provide comic relief as well as hints. Hastings as Poirot is often reminded by his mental Poirot of not doing things in this body such as wading and playing golf. At one point, after expressing some unsureness about a particular matter, Poirot gently reprimands Hastings/Poirot: “You may have reason to be modest, Hastings; I do not.”

Characters can disappear, at least for a while. One of the techniques the developers use within an act is to have a character stick around an overlook, for example, if you will soon need to revisit him/her. If the person is gone, that suggests you’re done with him/her, at least for the time being. At first, this puzzled me a bit, but I later found it to be a useful way to progress in the story, particularly with the relative open-endedness provided.

Finally, I won’t say anything about the crime, except to say it’s different enough from the book/film that you won’t feel you know the outcome. I can say you’ll appreciate and enjoy the mystery!

“The Sun Shines, the Sea Is Blue, but There Is Evil Everywhere Under the Sun” —Poirot

In his recent review of Gone Baby Gone, Roger Ebert comments that, “One reason crime movies tend to be intrinsically interesting is that the supporting characters have to be riveting.”

Evil Under the Sun succeeds in no small measure because most of the 20 characters are many-layered, burdened, secretive, tortured, perhaps even evil. More than either of the two fine previous Christie games, or almost any game I can think of (with the possible exception of Gilbert’s extraordinary Blackwell series), EUTS reveals the depths and darkness of its cast. Some may think of the game as slow and plodding. But there is a deliberate, gradualized design that increases the suspense in a gripping way. In best Christie fashion, the game is like a good book you can’t put down.

With a compelling narrative, intriguing setting, stellar acting, and gorgeous graphics and character animations, Evil Under the Sun is one of the two finest detective/adventure games I’ve ever played—the other being Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. It is extremely well-constructed in terms of playability. There are gimmicks to be sure—playing as Hastings playing as Poirot and the silly Finger of Suspicion—but these are minor. Puzzles are largely inventory-based and nicely enmeshed within the context of the narrative. But what makes Evil Under the Sun remarkable is not only the fine story, but, primarily, the exploration of the foibles, twists, and surprises from these colorful characters. Evil Under the Sun is more about people than puzzles. This isn’t a game to be “beaten;” rather, it’s a journey to be savored, reflected upon, remembered. Simply put, when all is said and done, the one feature that makes Evil Under the Sun really stand out is the writing, and that is primarily why it comes most highly recommended.

What I Liked Most About Evil Under the Sun

  • A suspenseful, involving plot, sufficiently different from the book;
  • Engrossing atmosphere—the island and WWII;
  • Marvelously developed characters;
  • Fine hint system, with shadowing (eavesdropping) very neat;
  • Entertaining banter between Poirot and Hastings;
  • Lovely graphics, particularly facial animations;
  • Great voice acting from Suchet’s stand-in, Hastings, and the rest;
  • Relative freedom of progression, though not completely open-ended;
  • Sensible, inventory-based puzzles.

What Bothered Me Just a Bit

  • Though fine, the musical themes become redundant;
  • Starts seemingly slow, requires patience;
  • Can’t pan within a specific scene. The End

 

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: AWE Productions Publisher: The Adventure Company Release Date: October 2007

Available for: Windows

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System Requirements

Windows 2000/XP 1.4 GHz Pentium 3 processor 256 MB RAM 1.5 GB free disk space 16× CD/DVD-ROM drive 64 MB DirectX 9 compatible video card

Where to Find It

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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29 Responses to The Long, Sordid Tail of DRM

  • Meho

    Good one.

    Of course, it will be very interesting to see the battle between crackers and UBI’s cryptographers. PC version of Assassin’s Creed II is already circulating the warez scene, although as yet uncracked. Everybody seems to think it will be cracked in a couple of weeks time at worst, which, admittedly is better for UBI than what usually happens (games cracked before release). Of course, I won’t be buying it because I find this practice unnacceptable (and I do have the console version anyway) but the success of this game and its DRM might mean quite a lot in the future. Of course, we ARE moving towards the age where you will be required to be connected to do any playing at all, whatwith the Gaikai and OnLive systems rearing their heads on the horizon. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, eh?

  • Spike

    I went to the Ubisoft website and looked at their list of published games.  It seems that the last of their games I played was the last Myst game in 2005.  In fact the only Ubisoft games I’ve played have been Myst games.  So I don’t see that their new DRM crime-against-my-privacy will have much of an effect on me.  But I hate the idea.  It’s an “Off with their heads!” kind of development.  Reminds me of the idea that people will put up with lost privacy in exchange for security.  In this case the security is only to benefit Ubisoft.  Yes, I allow my privacy to be violated every day – each time I visit Amazon, or read Google News -the list goes on and on.  BUT THOSE ARE MY CHOICES.  I also have a choice about where and how I spend my money, and I’d refrain from buying a game that allows so much intrusion into my computer/life.  A game that tells me how I must live my life even in the smallest of ways such as always being connected to the internet is a game I can forgo.

  • Jason O

    Consoles CAN be connected to the internet 100% of the time, but there are still many consoles that never go online. Modern Warfare 2 sold over 11 million copies, yet XBox Live only shows 840,000 users that have been on-line with it. That’s not played online, that means they played the game in any mode while connected to XBox Live.

    Games that have required an internet connection and were multiplayer only have a history of vanishing quickly from the console marketplace. Phantasy Star ONLINE did much better on the Gamecube then it did on the XBox. What was the difference? Oh yeah, you could play PSO without an internet connection on the Gamecube, the XBox version require a live account and an internet connection. That’s hardly the only example but one that is near and dear to my heart.

  • Bennet

    No, no, you don’t get it! Ubisoft’s “always connected” requirement isn’t DRM, it’s value-add for you, the beloved customer. Just like the Albertsons supermarket chain requires employees to plaster obnoxiously bright orange “Thank you for shopping with us!” stickers on your Coke and milk not because they think you’re stealing them but to express their sincere gratitude for your patronage.

    Maybe my memories of a time when consumers paid for a product and got the product, unadorned by FBI warnings and impossible to open wrappings and authentication servers that can vanish at any time without warning were planted by aliens. In the current cultural climate it’s certainly difficult to believe that time ever existed.

  • Meho

    But Steerpike makes a good point: business model, retail model is lagging behind the times. And developers, instead of researching ways to use the existing systems to sell more games rather research new ways to piss off their paying customers.

    Seriously, in my opinion, pirates pirate games because they are better value than retail games. Not just in the sense that they get to spend less money on them, but they get them faster, do not have to go through any hassle with DRM and have full control over the game. I think that Gabe Newell put it best saying that Valve sees pirates as customers who haven’t been served yet.

    I think UBI and their ilk should look for ways to make retail games more valuable to their customers than (free) warez copies. Yes, stuff like achievements/ trophies helps a little, sure. There are other ways too and one of them is resale value. But, oh, what a surprise, used games market pisses publishers off MORE than pirates do. In fact most of the current DRM schemes are only effective against resales. EA’s ten dollar project and all other free DLC on day one initiatives. So, honestly, I’m afraid that UBI’s online-all-the-time-or-no-service DRM is basically only going to affect sales of used games. The crackers are going to bring their games to pirates eventually. I believe that draconic DRM schemes such as this will only inspire people like GeoHot, Dark Alex and Yoshihiro to spend more of their time on circumvention. Their street cred is going to be huge after all…

    What Valve seem to understand is that playing games through Steam should make playing MORE valuable/ comfortable than not playing games through Steam (which is, at the end of the day a DRM system). Being able to instal a game on as many machines as you want and not having to have a disc in the drive is exactly what pirated games give us too, but with Steam you also retain all your stats, friends lists, achievements and everything. So it’s BETTER than playing pirated games. I only hope that UBI wake up and realise they have to ADD value, not just subtract freedoms.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not really sure I see their DRM as a huge problem.  If my PC is turned on, so is my internet.  I’m fully aware that my name is probably on a million data bases already, and although it might be annoying knowing that Ubisoft have implemented such a security feature, if you don’t physically notice it, I don’t particularly care.

    I’m currently playing Myst at the moment, having never before.  What an odd game…

  • Meho

    Well, you know, just from a philosophical standpoint: if the game is unplayable as soon as you don’t have Internet connection (which, I’m afraid, happens to me more regularly than I am comfortable with) for no other reason than making sure you have paid for it then to me this is pretty much unnacceptable. Requiring a connection for something that is a function of the game itself is OK, but enforcing it just for the sake of protection of the publisher, sorry, no sale.

  • Lewis B

    True Meho.  I had 40 minutes the other day before I went out and thought I would have a quick skirmish on Dawn of War II.  Steam (despite my love for it) wouldn’t launch the game because for some reason it kept freezing and refusing to connect or launch in offline mode.  I couldn’t actually locate the source directory either to boot the game up manually. So, I didn’t get to play and instead spent 40 minutes in a fit of rage cursing Valve and all who work under them. 

    Not exactly the same situation, but not hugely dissimilar.

  • Gregg B

    I’m really not concerned about the privacy issue simply because that illusion is just that, and doesn’t really comfort or unsettle me. My problem with this whole thing is that internet connections can be temperamental at the best of times and the idea that if the connection falters I will lose my progress (and thus my invested time which I’d argue is more valuable than my money) then quite frankly Ubi can fuck off. I’ve been pretty placid up to press with DRM simply because it’s not seemed that intrusive but this will affect the paying customers more than the pirates. It devalues the product and I fear it will push otherwise paying customers to download cracked versions that don’t suffer from this shit. Which, of course, will play into Ubi’s hands.

    Am I right in believing all this stems from the hideous retail model that just refuses to die? Physical retail creates pressuring deadlines, costs considerably more due to increased physical production (and overheads in staffing and floor space), it’s inflexible with stock limitations and shelf space dictating the range of titles available in any given store and by the sounds of things is the sole reason for this ‘tail’. If you look at Steam, it isn’t always the newest games that sell the most due in no small part to their sales and weekend deals.

    “I wonder if we’ll ever get to a point where a person would be just as likely to invest in a beloved classic as a hot new release.”

    From my experience there are a lot of people who simply can’t stomach old looking games, even some of my friends who’ve been playing games since they were young have turned into total graphics whores. Seriously you want to see the totally underwhelmed look on their faces when I show them XCOM for any period of time. We’re at a stage now where graphics are so advanced that for a lot of people going back so far to sample an allegedly classic title is simply too much. Thankfully GOG is doing a fantastic job of making these titles as accessible, and valuable, as possible.

    EDIT: Spot on Meho. My point exactly.
    See what I mean though Lew? Time. Valuable stuff. A quick skirmish on DoW turned into a 40 minute skirmish with Steam.

  • Mat

    This seems like an awful idea.. or at least one which sounds like a good idea to somebody somewhere, but in reality is unworkable.

    Since I’ve been a paying internet customer I have lived at 3 different addresses and used around 5 different ISP’s. I have ALWAYS had problems with my internet connection. With my current set up it tends to go down if a menacing looking cloud passes overhead..

  • xtal

    Some people may like to play a game offline now and then; this is especially easy with older ones before the dawn of activation codes and online authentication. While those aren’t that annoying, having to maintain a constant internet connection just to play a game that you paid for, which is not specifically a MMO, really bites.

    Gregg B said:
    “Am I right in believing all this stems from the hideous retail model that just refuses to die? Physical retail creates pressuring deadlines, costs considerably more due to increased physical production (and overheads in staffing and floor space), it’s inflexible with stock limitations and shelf space dictating the range of titles available in any given store and by the sounds of things is the sole reason for this ‘tail’. If you look at Steam, it isn’t always the newest games that sell the most due in no small part to their sales and weekend deals.”

    I agree with this. Just a few years ago I couldn’t see myself paying for intangible, digital goods. Fast forward to now and it’s really my preferred method of computer gaming, whether it’s GOG, Steam, or elsewhere, I find it’s the model that works best for the customer. If I’m not mistaken, I believe once upon a time that was who the industry was trying to serve, no? The customer?

  • Cesar

    You know, I’m from Brazil and there piracy is HUGE. Maybe for that reason I feel for the industry and understand the efforts to stop it. However, I suspect this crack delay would have a very minor impact in markets like Brazil. People can’t afford the games, so they wouldn’t pay full price anyway.

    It is a shame that we don’t have privacy anymore. The other day a friend of mine on XBox Live sent me a message to congratulate me on a goal I scored in Fifa 10. I didn’t know but apparently not only you can see I’m playing Fifa, but you also see when I score and my avatar cheers! While that sounds very cool, it is also very disturbing. But like Matt points very well, privacy is already gone. And since I don’t have it anymore, why not help stop piracy?

    On the other hand, the plurality of solutions is a different matter, it becomes a hassle. I think the solution should be platform dependent, not publisher dependent. In Brew phones, the control is embedded in the system and you cannot use an app if it cannot be verified, which means if you are not connected to the network you can’t play.

    Unfortunately that cannot be applied to consoles, there’s a considerable number of devices outside the internet umbrella. But if the game constantly checks if you are online and tries to authenticate the copy, online piracy will suffer a big hit and the technological move towards full connectivity will make the practice more and more efficient over time.

  • Andrew

    Not going to buy the game, long tail or not, it sucks to have that kind of persistent connection needed for offline play. Not even just startup authorisation either. I must admit any Game For Windows Live games can be similar (Dawn of War 2 being one of them necessitating it) although most of them allow offline profiles, and most of them allow the saves to be moved easily between any online or offline accounts.

    Oh, and if you’re disconnected it won’t kick you out of the game too, even Microsoft didn’t get that wrong.

    I don’t even understand how privacy comes into it, my main issue is twofold:
    – The above note about simple, offline play (and disconnects for blips in service)
    – The fact it isn’t just your connection that is necessary, it is THEIR connection and servers

    The second point as a partial game historian leads me to wonder how many years (not decades) the servers will be there. Publishers have removed much more necessary servers quickly if they are a cost liability (or they want to push people onto a newer game…). Downtime is also, considering some of the services require payment (Xbox Live for instance) devastatingly poor considering the user base sizes, especially on high load days (and I wonder if we’ll see “Assassins Creed 2 unplayable at launch due to server overload” at all, heh). Lucky it’s “just games” though, no worries if we only have 99% uptime right?! 😉

    (Also, frankly their Assassins Creed 1 port was poor until they patched it, where at least then it was playable (in full on 16:9…for some reason), which makes me wary of any PC release of a console game they do. I wonder also if they still have unskippable cutscenes, I’ve not checked it out on the consoles).

    The fact they’ll never have enough sales of this PC version due to the earlier console release to either say this is a roaring success or roaring failure. It’s the longest end of the tail in the first place. Or they’ll lie about whatever happens anyway. It’s utterly bizarre…I just don’t understand it.

  • Meho

    Cesar: I’m in Serbia and here piracy reigns supreme (much worse than Brazil, I imagine) but still, this is pure and simple bullshit. I purcahsed BioShock 2 today, for my PS3 even though I’d prefer to play it on my PC just because of the stupid DRM that won’t let me control the use of a game I pay for. They can fuck off with that. So, my purchase was influenced by DRM, depsite the game being more natural to play on a PC. Protection measures should not create this kind of bitterness in a human being.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    The issue of server overload on release days is significant. Think about it – a game like Modern Warfare 2? Or any other hotly anticipated release? Of course the servers would go down. It’s not cost-effective to install a server infrastructure capable of handling Day Zero traffic. That would royally piss people off.

    Ubi and others who use draconian DRM typically insist that if they ever go out of business or shut servers down, they’ll issue patches so the games can be played offline.

    Around the holidays here, big stores like Best Buy station a guy at the exit. His job is to go through your bag and consult your receipt to make sure you haven’t stolen anything. That’s a very similar ideology to this one: treat all consumers like thieves in hopes of catching the few who are.

  • Lewis B

    Considering most MMOG servers cannot cope on launch day, I see it as a gaurentee that when the next Modern Warfare is released, if they do follow through with this, would see many unhappy players.

  • lakerz1

    This new DRM policy will totally be screwing me over because I have a wireless internet setup, but my signal is a bit weak so here and there it drops out for a 10-15 second period before it reconnects.  Plus my wireless router is a bit wonky and will just stop working once in awhile until I cycle power to it.  So, until my setup changes, I will be forced to avoid all Ubi PC games that use this.

  • Igor Hardy

    I seriously doubt a person which would normally pirate a game, will pay money for it just because she has to wait a short while longer for the cracked version. This can work only for very cheap games – like 1$ cheap.

  • Meho

    Just for those keeping tabs: the Russian version of Assassin’s Creed II has apparently been successfully cracked, with a fix for the saves too. Of course, I don’t KNOW this for sure but that’s the word circulating through the grapewine.

  • Cesar

    Brazil is a strong competitor in the piracy rates. 95%-97% if I am not mistaken.

    Anyway, I don’t have a problem with the privacy issue. Not even with the assumption that we are all thieves. If you extrapolate that idea, you will conclude we shouldn’t have patrol cars on the streets. They assume people will commit crimes and have to keep watch. Homo homini lupus. Society isn’t perfect and even though losses are part of the model, no one is ready to lose out of good faith alone. I don’t mean to say DRM and police watch are the same thing, I’m just saying it’s not that simple to draw a line where it becomes offensive to monitor society.

    That being said, it is not acceptable to have a DRM impact gameplay at all. I don’t mind it authenticating my copy. But if I am offline it has to work. And if I loose connection during the game I shouldn’t be kicked out.

    And while the efficacy of the solution might be questionable under these circumstances, like I said in the previous comment, it only tends to increase.

  • Andrew

    “Ubi and others who use draconian DRM typically insist that if they ever go out of business or shut servers down, they’ll issue patches so the games can be played offline.”

    I have seen this happen to absolutely zero games ever. The fact that it is nearly impossible to sanction any work on IP if a company is in administration is the key. That and it is non-trivial to get around your own disk DRM by producing an installer that will work with your disk copy to install it.

    I’d love to be proved wrong…this is by far the most worrying thing of the deal, just installed Bioshock 2 and it has online activation (sigh)…worried I might need to download cracked versions to install it in the future!

    Oh, did you see the patch notes of the first patch? It makes the DRM very very very slightly “better” (I mean, better as in “still shit”):

    http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/17456/Assassin%27s+Creed+2+Patch+1.01+-+US

    “Game can now be continued from the exact same point when connection is restored”

    Ho ho ho. Ho.

  • Gregg B

    I like this bit:

    “Only those who purchased a copy of ACII or SHV legally appear to be affected. Pirates playing illegally downloaded cracked versions of the game are able to play without a problem.”

    Is it apparent pirates are having no problems yet? If they’ve properly cracked it then what I feared (above) is true. Last I heard was that the DRM apparently downloads levels or important files as you play. I don’t know whether this is true or not though.

  • Spike

    Meho beat me to it.  I just read a similar article on The Register.  I don’t suppose that the DDoS attack will make Ubi rethink its evil ways, but this might (I can dream, can’t I?):

    “Meanwhile Ubisoft’s much criticised controls have been broken by software hackers. A hacker group called Skid-Row managed to bypass DRM restrictions on Silent Hunter 5 less than 24 hours after the game was published. Skid Row has releasing a crack for the game based on this work, Zdnet reports. ®”

    Full article here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/08/ubisoft_anti_drm_hack_attack/

  • Littermate

    Spike.  RE: The Register article
    There is a comment to that article that claims the crack for SH5 is not a complete crack and would only allow an incomplete experience, because not only are save games stored online but some of the game data files are stored online too, implying that the boxed game you buy is incomplete.  This seems plausible and effective IMO, because if I was demanding an internet connection for my software this is how I would do it.  It demands not only that a games code be cracked but that missing data files be supplied too.

  • Spike

    Having just read this article – link below – I’m thinking that DRM will be fine and dandy AND hunky-dory with me as long as the packaging it comes in is “green”.  Yep.  That makes it more palatable.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/1620105/ubisoft-green-recycled-case-digital-manual-sustainable-packaging

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    I would kind of like to buy games in potato cases.

  • xtal

    I was thinking… and remembered one of the most creative instances of “DRM” if you can call it that: King’s Quest VI! I looked it up and sure enough it is mentioned on KQVI’s Wikipedia page:

    A booklet titled “Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles” (written by Jane Jensen) is included in the KQVI package. Aside from providing additional background to the game’s setting, this booklet serves as part of the game’s copy-protection. The player will not be able to pass the puzzles on the Cliffs of Logic that guard the Isle of the Sacred Mountain without information from the booklet. The booklet also includes a poem encoding the solution to one of the puzzles in the labyrinth on the Isle of the Sacred Mountain.

    I guess that’s not very feasible today, what with widespread use of the internet around the world. I still think it’s more creative than the “thank you for your money, we intend to treat you like a criminal” method.

  • Bluebogle

    I played the KQVI game with the booklet. I was a kid at the time, and thought the booklet was so cool! It really added to the whole game’s experience.

    The quest for Glory games came with fun booklets as well, though I don’t remember if they had copy protection elements to ’em.

    Ahh, the good old days..

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