We've all been there!  We log into a beta game or shortly after launch see the disaster we don't want to be a part of and not only do we not come back - the game is a black hole that we tell everyone about!  But Eurogamer has gone back to give Vanguard: Saga of Heroes a second chance now that things have changed!

The first sign of just how much has changed in the world of Telon comes when you install (or re-install) the game. Setting aside an evening to get back into the game turned out to be a mistake - in that the evening was spent simply installing and patching, with only a few minutes afterwards to run around and play with settings. At a rough estimate, the game took three and a half hours to install from DVD and then patch on a decent UK ADSL connection - we don't know exactly how much patch data that equates to, but it's certainly a hefty amount.

Once you're actually ready to go, however, the first difference between today and nine months ago is immediately apparent. The game works now; not in a creaky, half-baked sense, but in a way which actually makes it feel like a proper, tested, polished product. It loads in a reasonable amount of time, manages a decent frame-rate (the only major hardware change to our test rig was going from an ATI Radeon X1950 to a Radeon X2600 - a nice bump, but not enough to account for the performance boost), and doesn't crash. The view distances are fantastic, and you can even turn on a fair amount of detail without making your PC sob in horror.

This review is an amazing reminder that some things, DO change.  Although, apparently, SOE download/patching times is not one of them!