Maximo: Ghosts to Glory Review

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            Maximo: Ghosts to Glory

Review by Skinny MinnieApril 2002

The Fable: King Me, Check Her!

Once upon a time there lived a spunky young king named Maximo who ruled over five colorful and whimsical three-dimensional lands.  Whenever this king was off fighting distant wars to protect his kingdom, the court at Castle Maximo was controlled by a council of four lovely Sorceresses. At these times, court advisor Sorcerer Achille would watch over Princess Sophia, Maximo’s betrothed. 

After emerging victorious in battles far and wide, Maximo returned home one stormy night. Unlocking the gilded gates to his illustrious abode, he had nary a clue that his beloved lands had recently been cursed. A reality smack came from just inside his front door in the form of Sorcerer Achille’s magical scepter, which killed Maximo and sent him hurtling into the afterlife. In Maximo’s absence, Achille had forced Sophia into unholy matrimony and set himself up as the new king, locking the four governing Sorceresses away at the farthest reaches of the kingdom!

Achille had also used his powerful magic to drill an immense hole right down to the underworld. He drew up all manner of souls and created an undead army to help him protect his unrightfully claimed lands. This upheaval to the Hereafter did not escape the notice of the sarcastic but amenable Grim Reaper, who also witnessed the untimely demise of King Maximo. Grimmy, realizing that his own job could soon be in peril as there were less and less souls to govern, struck up a deal with the great warrior. Grim would send the king back to his own world, in exchange for the promise that Maximo would stop Achille. Besides sparing his life, Grim promised that an additional debt of gratitude would be paid if Maximo was successful. Our hero was also told to find and free the four imprisoned Sorceresses, as they would be his best chance of help with this Herculean task …

Game Play Heyday …

After the graphically impressive and intriguing opening cutscenes, our charismatic 3D hero is deposited into the first transformed world, now known as the Boneyard. In this foggy burial land you will find classic platform “koins” scattered about, but as soon as you direct Maximo in the third person toward them for automatic pickup, the thrills begin! Mountains lurch up out of nowhere or the terrain cracks wide open right underneath our hero’s boots, revealing fiery lava pits that require quick reflexes to avoid falling into! New secret passages are unearthed and the previous ways blocked or lost in sudden landslides. Bell-clanging stone towers spurt up as Maximo approaches, tossing dangerous groups of glowing purple skulls that crunch as they bounce down hills. Black tar acts as quicksand if Maximo pauses as he strides through it, and deadly, bubbling red lava contains bobbing paths of floating wooden coffins.

As you progress through this game you will also encounter many of Achille’s comical, cartoon-like, brightly rendered minions.  Cackling, cloaked wizards pop out of treasure chests and cast temporary, colorful bubbling spells on our hero that turn him into a limping old man or a creeping baby. Plant pods rise up from the bogs and burst open to reveal facetious, long-haired hippie creatures! Purplish sections of cemetery land sport bony remains that break through the earth and try pulling Maximo in as he passes. Lush tropical jungles harbor both mobile thorny overgrowth and giant purple flowers that arise and spit forth spinning, chomping, red and yellow fish! Goat devils attack on green plateaus, and doomed souls lift Maximo off golden masonry suspended over fire and brimstone, depositing our wriggling hero into deadly endless voids! Sword-wielding skeletons spontaneously generate from underground, sporting colorful shields or even pirate attire. Translucent green waters ripple with scaly crocodiles and bomb-throwing swamp zombies.

There are, however, redeeming qualities to this fighting even if you are an inexperienced or unwilling action gamer. Enemies have limited areas they patrol and they will stay confined to these places for one thing. You can often lure them to the outer fringes of their little territories one by one to make confrontations easier, or you can run out of range entirely for a breather. Baddies do not regenerate once felled, so Maximo will then be free to explore an area fully or even backtrack to a scene later for hoarded power-ups. You can even choose to send Maximo running or jumping right past the baddies and they won’t follow him very far, though you’ll miss a lot of pickups (and lower your score for a level) if you do. Finally, there is a complete lack of gore in this game, making it more suitable for families.

Your coordination and strategic abilities will not only be tested in battling Achille’s otherworldly armies, but also in leaping on to both static and moving objects like tortoises, coffins, tree trunks, statues, slippery ice, and abominably shaped stones.  Even as these objects must be landed on, you will be leaping to them over deadly boiling lava, fiery flames, claw-snapping traps, oceanic whirlpools, and tentacle-laden marshes. As challenging as some of these areas are, Maximo himself does give physical and aural warnings should he be on the verge of potentially plummeting to his doom. Even if he does wave his arms around, yell “Whoa!”  and then fall off of a large precipice, quick reflexes on the jump button while spinning him around will land him back on the solid ground from whence he fell. Although the amazing Maximo can begin a jump even if he is already falling in midair, short plunges to his doom usually can’t be recovered from.

Try Some Puzzles for a Spell …

Plot-twisting, steadily increasing, pulse-pounding action does abound in this title, but puzzle-solving and thoughtful, thorough exploring are also keys to your success. Certain secret pathways can only be discovered by jumping from tombstones, fountains, trees, hills, or bridges up to barely accessible heights and surveying the surroundings from above. Temples have rainbow-colored stained glass portraits that can be broken and leapt right through, revealing hidden rooms and power-ups. Certain gates harboring treasures can be unlocked with keys found on expired baddies, but others require the use of brainpower to discover alternate entryways.  There are stony hills hiding blocked caves that can reveal goodies when slashed open. Other treasures are secreted on tough-to-reach precipices. Pickups can also be found in buried treasure chests that Maximo can unearth by jumping around randomly at various locations, and still others are dropped by fallen enemies.

The pickups themselves include armor, specialized keys, diamonds, and red hearts that represent extra lives. You will also occasionally find coveted sword enhancements like the Frostbiter, the Flame Tongue, Armageddon, or Pure Blade, which deplete with use. Special magic spells are also dropped by extinguished enemies; these can produce unique magical attacks or even temporary invincibility.  The hard-to-find Mask of Sorrow, for example, can be used when maximum armor is worn. This temporarily turns Maximo into a green demon who is able to extinguish whole groups of enemies instantly.  With the Shield of Midas, Maximo can draw diamonds or koins into inventory that would otherwise be out of reach. Some sword enhancement refills and armor can also be bought if enough koins are collected.  You can “lock in” limited numbers of magic spells to keep them, but you will lose all others any time Maximo dies, so choose wisely. The game is intuitive to jump right in and play, but the amount and sheer variation of powers available as you progress adds greater complexity and strategy to this title.

Every land also has differently shaped “spirit containers,” appearing as bubbly tombstones, glowing toilet bowls, blue flame-spouting brass vases, and cute, icy snowmen with pirate hooks! Breaking them open reveals blue angel spirits that can be caught and turned into red koins that the Grim Reaper will take in exchange for another chance at life, should Maximo lose all the extra lives he has gathered. Beware though, as blue angel-stealing ghosts lurk about who will attempt to pass through Maximo and raid his angel inventory!

How the King Is Reigned In …

As you control Maximo through each of the five vividly detailed 3D lands, you will use simple PS2 button commands. These cause Maximo to jump, slash with his sword to attack Achille’s minions, and block enemy blows with his shield. Maximo can also throw his shield like a long-range boomerang at a distant or hard-to-reach enemy, and he will catch it again automatically. The left analog stick moves Maximo in all directions at a walk or a run depending upon how hard you push it. The commands are basic, can be repeated quickly for a double jump or double slash, and can be combined for more complex overhead or spinning strikes. Special magical power-ups taken into inventory are used with these same four buttons.  One additional trigger button centers the view back directly behind Maximo a little more quickly than the camera would normally follow, and another trigger can be used to look around without other movement.

Not One Bungle in the Fungal Jungle …

All five vast worlds to be conquered are unusual and exceptional, not just in gameplay but in graphics and sound. Besides the foggy, stony spookiness of the Boneyard, there is Great Dank (a gorgeous tropical jungle complete with flowing green water, stone temples, bamboo huts, and pretty trees sporting coral fungal “steps”), Frozen Wastes (a blue and white arctic backdrop of snowy mountains and icy caves with a large skeleton-pirate ship), Realm of Spirits (a fiery underworld setting for pig devils, dragons, swirling axes, and swinging pendulums), and finally a siege on Castle Maximo itself.

Excellent sound effects and visual clues are used optimally as regards each unique enemy’s groans and gurgles; you will see bubbles in the swamp and hear a crocodile’s growl before it emerges. You will see a neon green haze and hear the “Polterghost” moan, the wind he stirs up whispering along behind him, before he soars through Maximo and casts his vertigo/sleepwalker spell on the king. Other sound effects offered include swords clanging, water rushing, bluebirds cawing, and skeleton bones crunching as the skeletons run! The unforgettable music matches each land to a “T,” being whimsical yet spooky for the main burial land hook, then replete with jungle sounds and voodoo drums in one land or full of yo-ho-ho pirate-like adventure in the next.  No matter what, the score is always extremely appropriate and highly entertaining.

This Land Is Your Land, this Land Is My Land … So Beat It, Achille!

Most lands contain five levels as well as a final boss. The first four lands’ oversized bosses guard one each of the four Sorceresses, and all bosses require different tactics to eliminate. As you rescue the Sorceresses, each one in turn will offer you advice and a gift: a kiss (collecting all four kisses and locking them in will garner you a special prize at the end), armor, or an extra save. You won’t face Achille and his demonic drill or rescue Princess Sophia until all lands and other bosses are conquered first.

Each land also includes one place you can return to at level’s end to save your game, which costs 100 koins per save. Before any level ends, you are subsisting on checkpoints that you lose once all your lives are depleted and you visit the inimitable Grim, passing him more red koins with every few visits. Every time you finish a level you are given statistics on what percentage of it you discovered compared to how much there really is. If you want to better your score on any finished level of a land you’re in, you can travel back for a replay from the save area without penalty. If that level is in another land, you can still access it but it will cost you 100 koins for travel each way.

The Plot Does Thicken …

One thing I loved about this high-octane game was that the plot was continually referenced in cutscenes as the Sorceresses were rescued one by one. At the end of one level, Achille punished a skeleton captain for failing to kill Maximo. Achille brought that skeleton back to life, then commanded his forces to torture said captain until he died once more! In another level, three of the rescued Sorceresses were together when Achille magically appeared. He was holding the fourth Sorceress, Sephonie, whom he had just murdered! As Achille made off with Sephonie’s body, an angered Grimmy appeared and helped Maximo to follow Achille to the spirit world (Realm of Spirits) so Maximo could attempt to retrieve the Sorceress … The final ending was a real lulu as well … Speaking of which, was that actually a spiky black tail I saw poking out of Princess Sophia’s dress, or was it just a hallucination brought on by my perpetual state of hyperventilation?  Don’t you worry, because the plot did indeed twist more times than the hips of Mamba Marie the Swamp Sorceress, and Grimmy said he’d owe you big time when all was said and done, remember?

No Matter How You Slice it, King Maximo Rules!

Maximo: Ghosts to Glory is one of the most addicting, angering, exciting, and unforgiving-as-all-get-out (when jumping onto moving targets) games that I have ever played! There is never a dull moment, and it truly sparkles with creative, unique, progressively more challenging twists and turns around every corner. I never played Capcom’s original NES Ghouls and Ghosts or Ghosts and Goblins games on which they loosely based Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, so I can’t compare them, but I’ve heard the originals were more difficult than this new offering. You may find anyway that you must replay a level multiple times to complete it, and completion may be barely by the seat of Maximo’s adorable heart-print boxer shorts at that! Maximo can sport up to four levels of armor, which in my case got cut right down to his skivvies by enemy blows more times than I care to remember!

As a matter of fact, I would have had this review finished far sooner, except my sword kept slicing up the paper too much! Somebody please help me; I just have to put this game away! If I don’t, I’ll be inexcusably late for my Maximo Anonymous meeting … The End

The Verdict

Coveted One-of-a-Kind Sparkly Gold Star!

The Lowdown

Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release Date: February 2002

Available for: PlayStation 2

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      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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