?Your papers please.?
The documents were handed over. He took them and studied my photograph for several minutes. From the wings emerged more officials with weapons, closing in and surrounding me as the sweat starting to bead.
?Your reason for entering the country??
?To sink as many American submarines as possible.?
I don?t know why, but the Immigration Officials at Los Angeles International Airport just looked at me. Black jacket, black jeans, black boots and a passport from Down Under. I was in trouble, and I had to think fast. The answer was hidden inside my breast pocket. I whipped it out.
?Enigma. The latest release from Tesseraction Games. Play as one of the superpowers in an alternate World War 2 environment, now available from your local gaming store, and soon to have multiplayer capabilities.?
Not really the best scene for an award winning television commercial, but not too far from the truth either. It may be a long way from Brisbane, Australia to Oregon, but the opportunity was just too great. Only week?s prior, I received a very special invitation to have my first hand look at Enigma.
Years ago, the Red Tide flotilla resonated with rumours of a new project that a former player had embarked upon. After raising the cash and recruiting staff, Enigma became the first release for East at Tesseraction Games. Debuting in the United Kingdom, I swiped the Visa and ordered from the first batch, knowing full well, the antiquated paperweight on my desk was never going to be able to support the Enigma game specs.
Over the next twelve months, the world of Enigma unfurled before my eyes. The discussions, the images, and the rousing battle reports of Monsignor Buxton stirred many emotions inside of me. Like a war newsreel, the continued preoccupation to wait forced me to pay attention, while all the while, a dormant product sat within feet of my hard drive.
A coinciding wind presented itself and the lure of a first hand look whilst I was in the USA was too great. Oregon turned on a beautiful day, and the morning snowfalls have disappeared before the rental car carried me into Eugene. After a great sleep at The Campbell House (insert commercial here), I arrived at ?Mecca? excited and bewildered. The doors flew upon, and it was like Christmas morning.
Tesseraction?s office was filed with remnants of the recent Enigmacom and despite my best efforts to hide it, I was in awe. Roof to floor was filled with posters, maps and models, while the staff moved about their days work unaware that excited fans around the world awaited their next product turnout.
Later that afternoon, it happened. Almost twelve months since I first received my copy, I was finally able to put to sea. In my heart, I felt saddened, having read the reviews, scoured the screenshots and nagged Bux till he was blue in the face, that I had been oversold. I was wrong.
Submarines are my domain, so my first crack at the opposition was from below the surface. In quick time, I?d had removed 9 or 10 opponents and was feeling quite smug with myself. There were no surprises on the submarine interface, and the vessels ability to dive, turn and surface paralleled what I had read. But the soundtrack blew me away, captivating me with the orchestrated sounds. I?d wish I had taken stereo headphones with me, the music was that good you could leave turn the monitor off and still enjoy the backing tracks.
Up top, I reconfirmed what I always knew, I couldn?t hit the side of a barn let alone anything submerged. Even for a naval simmer, the user interface was easy to toggle, yet required attention to details for those on their first run to sink a Salmon submarine. (Footnote: Back to target practise for me ? I failed).
One of the fallacies with a product sometime after it?s release, is the loss of shine. A year out, perhaps players are getting bored with it, or worst have moved on. There aren?t too many reviews done on many games, post global release. Enigma is different, for the difference lies in the fact that the future has not yet been determined.
The opportunity to score some tonnage at Enigma HQ has major benefits. Conversations with the staff show a grand future for player in an ever-evolving world. Between the mock up of new ships yet to be announced (and certainly not by me here) coupled with some of the big secrets I managed to trip over, I have to say that at a personal level, a year after making my purchase, the excitement is immense.
Ragging on the game at this early stage is such a woeful excuse for a lack of vision. The continuing history that will result from the game?s incidents ensures great repeatability. Even if the war is won inside 4 years, think about this ? replay ability for each faction will see you playing the game for the next 12 years!
With the prospect of multiplayer by years end, Enigma has the makings of being a continuing selling product to an expanding market. I spent probably an hour having my first, and so far only run at Enigma. On that basis alone, sign me up for an account.
No doubt reworking his submarine skills in fear of Angel #1 ruining the Assassins.