So... the new Humble Bundle resulted in me installing the Origin distribution platform.
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001786093/101230625_scared_face_RE_Happy_Valentines_Day_s301x226_136612_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg
The much-maligned platform was plunged into instant infamy with its lack of features, forum-account banning, EULA, and general inferiority to Steam. I said I didn't want to bother with it, and the "THOU MUST USE ORIGIN" games didn't appeal to me that much. So I never had. Now that I want to play The Sims 3 with expansions, though, I finally cracked and got it.
So... how is it? Let's find out.
Note that this review won't cover the EULA, because A. it's boring and B. apparently, Steam and EA are on equal footing there, now.
INSTALLATION
Installing was a breeze (not accounting for the horrendous lag that came with the introduction of the Humble Bundle). Once I downloaded the installer, I was greeted with a clean grey-and-white installation wizard (no image). After selecting a location of install, it then asked if I wanted shortcuts, Origin to boot on Windows boot, Origin kept up to date, and "Share Hardware Specifications". It's pretty much the same thing that Valve asks for, but I unchecked the box anyways.
The client installed quickly, and then it booted. It promptly asked me to register an account. HOWEVER, to my pleasant surprise, it claimed that a classic EA account was perfectly serviceable as an Origin account. I have one of those from playing Mirror's Edge. I quickly plunked in the name and password, and boom - I was in.
FIRST IMPRESSION
On the whole, first impressions are good. The client immediately dropped my library in front of me, where it's taken the gog.com approach of showing all my games by cover on a grid (I immensely prefer this to Steam's giant list of doom). Unlike gog.com, you cannot move them into groupings of your choice, but they are kept in alphabetical order, which is fine.
http://imageshack.us/a/img833/2386/fu37.png
Immediately, the client can tell that I have Alice: Madness Returns and Mirror's Edge on Steam, as well as a physical copy of The Sims 3. Curiously, Mirror's Edge is marked as "already installed" while Alice is marked as not. Oh well.
INSTALLING THE BUNDLE STUFF
I use the "Redeem Product Code" option in the Origin menu to redeem my Sims 3 key, and begin downloading.
http://imageshack.us/a/img823/8320/5o7k.jpg
Well, this is awkward. The platform differentiates between my physical copy of the Sims 3 and my digital copy. Thankfully, there's a "Hide Game" option if you right click on the game icon, so I go ahead and hide my physical copy. Now everything is going smoothly.
BUYING A GAME
Something I've always wanted but couldn't access on Steam is the Time Trial Pack for Mirror's Edge. I may as well grab it now.
Here's the Origin and Steam stores side by side.
http://imageshack.us/a/img138/681/jytx.jpg
As you can see, they aren't really all that different. Looking up Mirror's Edge in the search box finds me the trials.
The page is clean and to-the-point. The price is easy to see, there's a clear "YOU NEED THIS BASE GAME" warning, a game cover, and some pictures. Clicking the picture scrolls down the the HD Photos box below, showing some impressive high-resolution pics of the game (or, in this case, the base game). Further down is a box with a sales pitch, game information and description and a tab that shows the system requirements.
http://imageshack.us/a/img836/8279/d8b0.jpg
I buy it. The buying is pain free. It requests a credit card or Paypal account. I enter my credit info, and it pops up a card logo once you've done so, which helps you verify that you entered it right.
The game promptly ejects to my library, so let's install it.
After downloading the pack, I can install it by hovering over the game cover and clicking the "Install" button in the resulting info balloon. You run installed games the same way.
http://imageshack.us/a/img191/2784/bgta.jpg
"Please reinstall Mirror's Edge"
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001786093/101230625_scared_face_RE_Happy_Valentines_Day_s301x226_136612_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg
INSTALL REPAIR
Oh well. I right-click the game and see a "Repair Install" button.
http://imageshack.us/a/img109/8503/hojy.jpg
The repair analyzer reaches speeds of a hundred MB/s as it analyzes the Steam installation of the game. It then churns for a bit, decides that around 3 GB of the 7 need to be redownloaded, and gets to work. Better than a complete reinstall, I suppose.
INTERFACE
OK, stuff is churning, so let's actually look at the interface.
Right clicking on a game tile in the library will open a menu. The menu has Play, Show Information, Options and Add To Favorites on it, as well as context sensitive stuff (like Pause Download). The options menu is pretty simple, in Mirror's Edge, it's literally just a "Command Line" argument and the ability to remove the Origin in-game interface.
On the upper library bar, you have the ability to refresh the library, show the library by platform (PC/Mac), or show by what you've played this week, your favorites list, what's currently downloading, what you've hidden from the main list, which games have been installed, and which games are not from Origin.
http://imageshack.us/a/img51/3670/ln5r.jpg
The Origin menu has a redeem code option, a refresh-the-library option, a "manually add games" option, and "Launch Featured Today". I don't know what this does, clicking it just tells me that I don't have any featured items. There's also application options, profile/privacy, offline mode, log off and exit program.
http://imageshack.us/a/img812/5894/m5an.jpg
The Friends menu has links to the Friendlist (so alone ;__
, Add-A-Friend, change avatar (?), an option to start a group chat and the ability to set your status to online, away and invisible.
http://imageshack.us/a/img560/1530/gnvx.jpg
The Help menu links to the documentation (complete with a button allowing a live chat or computer-call to a EA support representative, a very nice touch), the forum, and the "About" screen.
SETTINGS
The Settings screen has the standard array of general settings, notification settings, overlay settings and advanced settings.
http://imageshack.us/a/img822/9590/rma4.jpg
There are a few options in the "Advanced" screen that I quite like. Not only can you select where your games are installed to, you can also choose where the installers are installed to, and whether or not you wish to keep them after use. It also has an option that lets you enable or disable the program that allows Origin to interact with certain hotpots on the internet.
At the bottom of the Advanced list is the hardware specifications sharing checkbox (unchecked from installation)... as well as a "share system interacton data" checkbox (checked by default).
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001786093/101230625_scared_face_RE_Happy_Valentines_Day_s301x226_136612_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg
Thanks for the option to uncheck it, Origin, but you should have put that in front.
The Account/Privacy screen is similar to the normal settings screen (no picture, too much personal info on it) with the normal expected options on it, as well as a tab dedicated to order history and your payment options (again, a cool touch).
(No more images due to glitching, sorry.)
STORE CONTENT
Clicking the "Deals" tab was the most depressing moment of the day. It's entirely empty aside from full-price preorders. Steam has them beat so very, very, VERY badly here.
The Free Games tab, however, has a decent selection to look through. There's eight games there as of right now.
Currently, there are only four demos on the Demo tab.
The Origin library is small, smaller than gog.com. This makes sense, as it only sells EA games. It's notable, however, that they also sell console titles through the Origin service, complete with free shipping at the moment (the only thing of note on the deals tab), and even PC discs, in some cases.
OFFLINE MODE:
I didn't test this very thoroughly, but I did test it a bit. If you're logged into Origin on computer A, and Computer B attempts to log in, you'll be offered the option on computer B to either force computer A into offline mode, or go into offline mode itself. This is a good way to do it. Once in offline mode, the game library remains open and playable. If you attempt to log in with no internet connection, the client appears to store the username and password on your computer, so if you enter your login information, you'll "log in" to offline mode. Assuming I didn't get any of that wrong, this is a perfectly serviceable and useful offline-mode. If anyone can verify a "You Must Check In" time limit, please comment.
OVERALL?
The client is sleek.
The client is entirely functional.
The client appears to be glitch free.
The client's offline mode is nigh-perfect.
There's an in-client Phone-For-Help option.
There are fairly extensive options.
There is an order history tab.
The online store is cringe-worthy.
The data sharing options are defaulted to "on" (but you can turn them off).
There appears to be some slight compatibility issues with games bought from Steam.
FINAL VERDICT:
I can't speak for Origin before, but it's working great now. I actually love the appearance and function of Origin, and wish that Steam ran this way. You won't be making all your purchases at this store, though. In fact, many of you won't even use the store at all.
If you plan on attacking Origin over EULA tomfoolery, go ahead. If you're annoyed by the forced use of it, go ahead and complain. If you plan on attacking it for function, though... think twice.
A-, would recommend.
PS. A cookie goes to whoever can figure out what order I took the screencaps in.
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001786093/101230625_scared_face_RE_Happy_Valentines_Day_s301x226_136612_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg
The much-maligned platform was plunged into instant infamy with its lack of features, forum-account banning, EULA, and general inferiority to Steam. I said I didn't want to bother with it, and the "THOU MUST USE ORIGIN" games didn't appeal to me that much. So I never had. Now that I want to play The Sims 3 with expansions, though, I finally cracked and got it.
So... how is it? Let's find out.
Note that this review won't cover the EULA, because A. it's boring and B. apparently, Steam and EA are on equal footing there, now.
INSTALLATION
Installing was a breeze (not accounting for the horrendous lag that came with the introduction of the Humble Bundle). Once I downloaded the installer, I was greeted with a clean grey-and-white installation wizard (no image). After selecting a location of install, it then asked if I wanted shortcuts, Origin to boot on Windows boot, Origin kept up to date, and "Share Hardware Specifications". It's pretty much the same thing that Valve asks for, but I unchecked the box anyways.
The client installed quickly, and then it booted. It promptly asked me to register an account. HOWEVER, to my pleasant surprise, it claimed that a classic EA account was perfectly serviceable as an Origin account. I have one of those from playing Mirror's Edge. I quickly plunked in the name and password, and boom - I was in.
FIRST IMPRESSION
On the whole, first impressions are good. The client immediately dropped my library in front of me, where it's taken the gog.com approach of showing all my games by cover on a grid (I immensely prefer this to Steam's giant list of doom). Unlike gog.com, you cannot move them into groupings of your choice, but they are kept in alphabetical order, which is fine.
http://imageshack.us/a/img833/2386/fu37.png
Immediately, the client can tell that I have Alice: Madness Returns and Mirror's Edge on Steam, as well as a physical copy of The Sims 3. Curiously, Mirror's Edge is marked as "already installed" while Alice is marked as not. Oh well.
INSTALLING THE BUNDLE STUFF
I use the "Redeem Product Code" option in the Origin menu to redeem my Sims 3 key, and begin downloading.
http://imageshack.us/a/img823/8320/5o7k.jpg
Well, this is awkward. The platform differentiates between my physical copy of the Sims 3 and my digital copy. Thankfully, there's a "Hide Game" option if you right click on the game icon, so I go ahead and hide my physical copy. Now everything is going smoothly.
BUYING A GAME
Something I've always wanted but couldn't access on Steam is the Time Trial Pack for Mirror's Edge. I may as well grab it now.
Here's the Origin and Steam stores side by side.
http://imageshack.us/a/img138/681/jytx.jpg
As you can see, they aren't really all that different. Looking up Mirror's Edge in the search box finds me the trials.
The page is clean and to-the-point. The price is easy to see, there's a clear "YOU NEED THIS BASE GAME" warning, a game cover, and some pictures. Clicking the picture scrolls down the the HD Photos box below, showing some impressive high-resolution pics of the game (or, in this case, the base game). Further down is a box with a sales pitch, game information and description and a tab that shows the system requirements.
http://imageshack.us/a/img836/8279/d8b0.jpg
I buy it. The buying is pain free. It requests a credit card or Paypal account. I enter my credit info, and it pops up a card logo once you've done so, which helps you verify that you entered it right.
The game promptly ejects to my library, so let's install it.
After downloading the pack, I can install it by hovering over the game cover and clicking the "Install" button in the resulting info balloon. You run installed games the same way.
http://imageshack.us/a/img191/2784/bgta.jpg
"Please reinstall Mirror's Edge"
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001786093/101230625_scared_face_RE_Happy_Valentines_Day_s301x226_136612_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg
INSTALL REPAIR
Oh well. I right-click the game and see a "Repair Install" button.
http://imageshack.us/a/img109/8503/hojy.jpg
The repair analyzer reaches speeds of a hundred MB/s as it analyzes the Steam installation of the game. It then churns for a bit, decides that around 3 GB of the 7 need to be redownloaded, and gets to work. Better than a complete reinstall, I suppose.
INTERFACE
OK, stuff is churning, so let's actually look at the interface.
Right clicking on a game tile in the library will open a menu. The menu has Play, Show Information, Options and Add To Favorites on it, as well as context sensitive stuff (like Pause Download). The options menu is pretty simple, in Mirror's Edge, it's literally just a "Command Line" argument and the ability to remove the Origin in-game interface.
On the upper library bar, you have the ability to refresh the library, show the library by platform (PC/Mac), or show by what you've played this week, your favorites list, what's currently downloading, what you've hidden from the main list, which games have been installed, and which games are not from Origin.
http://imageshack.us/a/img51/3670/ln5r.jpg
The Origin menu has a redeem code option, a refresh-the-library option, a "manually add games" option, and "Launch Featured Today". I don't know what this does, clicking it just tells me that I don't have any featured items. There's also application options, profile/privacy, offline mode, log off and exit program.
http://imageshack.us/a/img812/5894/m5an.jpg
The Friends menu has links to the Friendlist (so alone ;__
, Add-A-Friend, change avatar (?), an option to start a group chat and the ability to set your status to online, away and invisible.http://imageshack.us/a/img560/1530/gnvx.jpg
The Help menu links to the documentation (complete with a button allowing a live chat or computer-call to a EA support representative, a very nice touch), the forum, and the "About" screen.
SETTINGS
The Settings screen has the standard array of general settings, notification settings, overlay settings and advanced settings.
http://imageshack.us/a/img822/9590/rma4.jpg
There are a few options in the "Advanced" screen that I quite like. Not only can you select where your games are installed to, you can also choose where the installers are installed to, and whether or not you wish to keep them after use. It also has an option that lets you enable or disable the program that allows Origin to interact with certain hotpots on the internet.
At the bottom of the Advanced list is the hardware specifications sharing checkbox (unchecked from installation)... as well as a "share system interacton data" checkbox (checked by default).
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001786093/101230625_scared_face_RE_Happy_Valentines_Day_s301x226_136612_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg
Thanks for the option to uncheck it, Origin, but you should have put that in front.
The Account/Privacy screen is similar to the normal settings screen (no picture, too much personal info on it) with the normal expected options on it, as well as a tab dedicated to order history and your payment options (again, a cool touch).
(No more images due to glitching, sorry.)
STORE CONTENT
Clicking the "Deals" tab was the most depressing moment of the day. It's entirely empty aside from full-price preorders. Steam has them beat so very, very, VERY badly here.
The Free Games tab, however, has a decent selection to look through. There's eight games there as of right now.
Currently, there are only four demos on the Demo tab.
The Origin library is small, smaller than gog.com. This makes sense, as it only sells EA games. It's notable, however, that they also sell console titles through the Origin service, complete with free shipping at the moment (the only thing of note on the deals tab), and even PC discs, in some cases.
OFFLINE MODE:
I didn't test this very thoroughly, but I did test it a bit. If you're logged into Origin on computer A, and Computer B attempts to log in, you'll be offered the option on computer B to either force computer A into offline mode, or go into offline mode itself. This is a good way to do it. Once in offline mode, the game library remains open and playable. If you attempt to log in with no internet connection, the client appears to store the username and password on your computer, so if you enter your login information, you'll "log in" to offline mode. Assuming I didn't get any of that wrong, this is a perfectly serviceable and useful offline-mode. If anyone can verify a "You Must Check In" time limit, please comment.
OVERALL?
The client is sleek.
The client is entirely functional.
The client appears to be glitch free.
The client's offline mode is nigh-perfect.
There's an in-client Phone-For-Help option.
There are fairly extensive options.
There is an order history tab.
The online store is cringe-worthy.
The data sharing options are defaulted to "on" (but you can turn them off).
There appears to be some slight compatibility issues with games bought from Steam.
FINAL VERDICT:
I can't speak for Origin before, but it's working great now. I actually love the appearance and function of Origin, and wish that Steam ran this way. You won't be making all your purchases at this store, though. In fact, many of you won't even use the store at all.
If you plan on attacking Origin over EULA tomfoolery, go ahead. If you're annoyed by the forced use of it, go ahead and complain. If you plan on attacking it for function, though... think twice.
A-, would recommend.
PS. A cookie goes to whoever can figure out what order I took the screencaps in.
