Catching Features reviewed...

[Scott]

...in the new (Aug 2008) issue of PC Gamer, oddly enough. I'm a little bewildered as to why they've suddenly picked up on it now (presumably as part of the usual selection of random indie games reviewed to compensate for the lack of decent summer releases from the big studios), but it's been awarded a respectable 72%, and the review features one of the better descriptions of the basics of the sport that I've seen - I'd advise anybody interested in such things to get hold of a copy.

Plus they gave the game the tagline "Real men don't ask for directions"

[andy]

wow, that's an impressive place for CF to get to, will need to buy one and have a look, haven't bought pc gamer for ages...

[Tessa]

My housemate reviews video games and thought the demo version i have is awesome. he's currently reviewing it for his website. i will now be able to tell if hes been listening for 2 years if he described orienteering correctly.

[EddieH]

If you only have the Demo version then you don't know whatyou're missing

[IanD]

Have tried the demo version, and it looks pretty good in some respects. What I don't like about it is that there is no compass (unless I've missed something), so if you get a little 'lost', you can't orientate yourself relative to the map.

A pretty basic flaw

[andy]

Have tried the demo version, and it looks pretty good in some respects. What I don't like about it is that there is no compass (unless I've missed something), so if you get a little 'lost', you can't orientate yourself relative to the map.

A pretty basic flaw

stupid question with a hint of seriousness and no sarcasm whatsoever: are you blind?

edit: http://www.catchingfeatures.com/screens ... ot0009.jpg
compass in above picture...

[Wayward-O]

Press the space bar!

[IanD]

Press the space bar!

Thanks, got the hang of it now.
Still find it disconcerting not to be able to run and look at map/compass at the same time though.

[Spookster]

Still find it disconcerting not to be able to run and look at map/compass at the same time though.

You can keep running while you look at the map, you don't have to stop. The best way I found was to take frequent but very quick (1-2 second) glances at the map, and only stop if I was definitely lost!

I also found that if I played too much Catching Features, I then wasn't looking at the map enough in real orienteering.

[Wayward-O]

I don't know how well known this is, but if you press the Alt key, it stops the clock until you press the Alt key again.

So the sequence is to pull up the map with the [space bar], orient the map with [R] and then press the [Alt] key to stop the clock while you have a damn good look. Then when you're ready, press [Alt] and then [space bar] to get you back to the terrain. Now I just wish I could do that in real life and I'd be up with the best. Well, in my dreams.

[Rookie]

Ian D - hold the space bar rather than pressing it and it lets you run (been a while since i played)

pretty decent review