PC Gamer warns people off Elemental, Wardell apologises for argument

PC Gamer has issued a warning to those looking to pick up Stardock-published turn-based strategy game Elemental that the game has been the subject of a "disastrous launch" and punters should "stay well away".

Stardock boss Brad Wardell has responded to the allegations, apologising in a statement to Joystiq about a fight resulting from the PC Gamer article on the Quarter to Three forums.

Wardell said he spoke in anger, and "as a result I want to apologize to our fans for speaking so harshly.

"It should be said that some of the issues in question from the PC Gamer article, in fact, did not appear in any of our beta testing. We were surprised by these issues and, after working days on end with little sleep, I was very frustrated.

"I should not have engaged in an online debate about these issues, as my haste to defend what we feel is a great product only served to hurt the fans who have supported us and the team who has been so dedicated to this project."

"Riddled with bugs"

PC Gamer didn't exactly mince its words.

"We think it’s part of our job to warn gamers away from games that don’t justify their asking price yet," said the pub on its site.

"We’ve held off from finishing our review because of the launch problems, but felt this warranted an early warning. The game you actually get in the box, or in the initial download if you bought it digitally before today, is riddled with bugs. You should not buy it.

"I’ve been playing it on two very different machines with the latest drivers for everything, and it’s crashed or hit a game-breaking bug every ten minutes. The tactical mode for playing out battles works one time in five. Half the AI races don’t leave their starting town or attempt to defend it. And the promised multiplayer simply isn’t switched on yet."

It was reported yesterday that Elemental has shipped with no DRM at all, instead relying on giving people free content upgrades if they buy the game as an incentive to go legit.