» Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:51 am Also, wtih PC in mind, we wont mention the lack of any advanced graphical support, other than that supplied by a 3rd party utility, console commands or autoexec files. Will we? I am sure this is covered in depth elsewhere.
So all in all, I am vaguely enjoying the game, but this is nothing like what it shoudl be. And there is the salt in the wound.
Ifyou want to skip the EPIC post - you can skip to the conclusion at the end which pretty much summarises everything but saves you lsitening to me trying to be witty and clever (biching and moaning
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So.
I tried. I really did.
I stood against the tide of biching and moaning, and tried to defend this, I really did.
But after so many things building up as I played through the Single Player, I started to crack. Now I am at the stage where every little thing is bugging the chocolate sauce out of me.
Now dont get me wong, I am a realist, and I work in top end IT as a contractor, so I understand the corporate BS meetings where the non-technical management and marketing dictate the deadlines despite you telling them its not ready, but overall I am left disappointed. I also know a few people who work at top studios in the Games industry, and tbh, their reaction is similar tinged with a little shock and even one chuckle!
Perhaps not so much for myself. I was a recent visitor to Crysis, so I haven't been waiting years and years for a sequel. And Crysis (1) grew on me - I got a bit bored wandering around the Island and left it for a bit until a friend advised me to push on a little bit further when all hell breaks lose and it gets really trippy. I did, and it was great until I got to the last level and lagged to hell, I switched down to DX9 to fix that and then had a bit of a "end of level boss console type" ending, but it was all good in general.
Now first, let me shout about the good stuff.
The Suit. Hell yeah. This is GREAT. The improvements to the interface and the smoothness of it is brilliant.. the suit upgrades are considered and drip fed (more on that later), and the whole design of it is IMPRESSIVE. THANK WHOEVER decided to get rid of that clumsy wheel menu thing. ugh.
The HUD - nice an uncluttered. Clean. Required info there. Good.
The levels - Generally quite good, very good in places. but with some niggles.
OK thats the good stuff. Now.....
Sharon Stone's character in Basic Instinct once mentioned a small lesson in something called Suspension of Belief. When telling any story, the reader must enter a state of Suspension of belief in order for the story to become immersive. If you fail to do this you fail. The same applies to movies, books, video games etc. Even cartoons excercise this to some point, so you buy into the ludicrous scenarios to some degree.
Now, after an epic start, Crysis started chipping away at my "Suspension of Belief" pretty early on. I wont go into minute detail about when and where these happened - so a simple list of what, and why it is bad will suffice.
Most of these are typical REEKS of Consolitis, problems which prob of could have been addressed in a few weeks,. But again. Coporatae deadlines. Marketing are NOT going to sell this twice!
1) AI/NPC Spawns.
- The player should never, EVER see a human AI soldier (or whatever) materialise in front of them after wiping out a squad of them, like he has been beamed down from the Enterprise?!? This has happened at least three or four times before I even got half way through! I cannot remember any game that has allowed this to happen in my memory as it is such an immersion beater (sic) that you try as hard as possible to avoid it. Even Soldier of Fortune (1), even though they had them practically comeing wave after wave out of the wall almost, you didnt quite see it. Sure if its an alian grunt who has been zapped down, I can buy into that, but not enemies popping up in front of me like I am in a multiplayer game (and while i was reloading too! Gits!). Even the dreaded COD:BO waves of Japs was almost believable as you didnt see them popping into existance like cosmic fairy nips.
NOOOOOO! I understand C2 is a large open levelled game, but there are always things you can do, and where I could let slip an incident, you cant ignore it happening regularly.
2) AI - or lack of it.
- I am sure it was better in C1? I only played it for the 1st time about 3 months ago. I am not sure if it is because i am using the fantastically redesigned suit more, or the AI at times but there are some glaring problems with it. They occasionally stand next to me and talk to themselves while i stand unstealthed in the open no more than 6 feet away.
- Stealth. Sneak around. See group of enemies. Pick em all out (more on this spot mode later!), aim up on head, drop out of stealth, shoot him in the head, drop back into stealth. Enemies run around slightly concerned for a minute along clearly definded paths, occasioanlly askign the dead body if it is OK, then, like goldfish, they forget anything ever happened. Decalre the area clear and carry on about their business.
At one point I rampaged througha checkpoint and just as I am babout to op the last guard, a voice comes on the radio saying "YOU AINT NEVAH GONNA MAKE IT THROUGH THAT CHECKPOINT FELLA, YOU GONNA HAVE TO FIND ANOTHA WAY ROUND!"
Erm..newsflash - they are all dead.. i didnt even think it was a major checkpoint.!!
NOOOOOO! Your mate has just had his head popped open by a maniac in a gimp suit which, you know about because you were told over the radio, I heard it. Meanwhile you have a quick shimmy around then dclare the area clear and shuffle around poor Dave on the floor with his head round his ankles as if nothing happened.
3) Difficulty.
Firstly, I looked at the START CAMPAIGN menu with trepidation - after MOH's veteran mode, I was wary that even the top "dificulty level" would offer any real challange, but at the last mo, I wimped out and decided that I didnt want to be grinding my way through it when i woudl prob replay it and mop up the souveneirs etc in the process some time.
NOOOO - Veteran clearly means you are some has been retired soldier in the gutter, probably in a wheel chair. I am not sure "Post Human Warrior" coudl be much better. Surely some of the idiot modes mentioned below could be disabled irreversably in this mode.
4) Not Required Idiot proofing to the point of Patronising.
There are a number of things in the game, which are pure consolitis. I really dont care if the game is on a console as well, or if it has been co developed for a PS3 - it concerns me not. However these....
a) Minor "funny" errors&ommisions -
- Brightness settings in the menu - adjust for your "TV"
- Press START BUTTON , err.. I mean Enter to load last save game... :p
b) Annoying, immersion breaking chocolate moose. ( I know - I have an odd KB set up :p Its not WASD)
- "HEY YOU CAN PRESS "MOUSE 4" to stab this person."
- "HEY! YOU CAN PRESS DEL TO GRAB THIS MOFO AND THORW HIS SORRY BUG FACED ASS ACROSS THE MAP!"
Around this point, i thought the Office Paper Clip assistant was going to pop up and start jumping around!!
or the WORST ONE yet which was final straw and I actually put the game down for a bit....
- Loud noise of building falling down. I turn to look then - in the middle bottom of the screen....
- "HEY YOU CAN PRESS DEL TO WATCH A NICE SET PIECE WE MADE of a building falling down!
Grrr... I let it go... and continue....
- "HEY YOU CAN LOOK UP HERE _ PRESS DEL AND WATCH THE ALIEN ARM THING DO STUFF!"
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! There are better and more immersive ways to draw a players attention to something - at the very least, take control fo the players view as it does at so many other annoying times.
5) AMMO CRATES.
- AMMO CRATES AMMO CRATES - EVERYWHERE - I abrely half empty my gun and MOE AMMO CRATES.
Not just bullets .-- but nades too... in case I go bored of shooting the aliens in the face with all the AMMO!
Really? Do I need THAT much ammo - and every 100 yards of in game meterage?
this goes back to the difficulty again.
6) Weapon usefulness and progression.
I just found that I waited ages for any of the 1st "cool" weapons to come along. I then found the K-Volt, used it a few times , decided it was crap and went and picked my silenced pistiol up again. Same thing happened with the Microwave gun - picked it up, tried it, thought,... NAAAH!..and picked my scar up again. In fact, I was hard pressed if it was worth having a SCAR and an M60 as they seemed so similar so as to be the same.
I dont see the point in having weapons so similar or pointless. At the half way point - The SCAR, after a brief play with popping aliens from stealth with the shotgun, is the only weapon you really need. And perhaps a silenced pistol for stealth kills. Its kind of lacking an overall progression I feel.
7) I saved the best for last
TACTICAL MODE!
WTF?!
"HEY! Its ME again, PAPERCLIP!!! BUT ON ACID AND STEROIDS!"
So i can stealth here? Thanks.
Ooo I can climb that ledge can i? Ermm..OK.
Err,....so, I can OBSERVE from there!
NExt I suppose you are gouing to tell me where all the dropped weapons, ammo crates and enemies are ..hahaha..err.ha..uh..OH!
This left me feeling so DIRTY. I mean SOILED, like as in TRAMP SOILED - form the inside out. So patronised was I at this point I actually LOL;ed. then my self esteem so crushed I raised the gun to my head and.....
BANG! I woke up.
Really, though. this has to be the most pointless and idiotic game mechanic. I did at one point ask someone if they thought it was put in to comply with disability discrimination laws?! (no seriously!).
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Conclusion: Yes there is one.
Barring making my own game, there is little I can do, other than offer my long winded and between contracts bored opinion. Evidently, as the posts to follwo will show, no one has read all of this, but hey, I m between contracts for a few months and Im bored. :p If i had a decent game to play, I'd go do that
Its dissapointing. None of the bugs I mentioned are really that major - they arent even individually that bad. but the repetition and combination of limitless ammo, weak AI, awesome stealth and suit power, and nanny noddy hand holding pop ups and assistance starst to build up and wear thin.
And in the back of my head I keep thinking - if only Technical Person Director Stan could have convinced Marketing and Business leader Bob and Mick to give them resource to de console the PC version and do it justice. I imagine Stan was told he better pull his finger out and get the game out and wtf is the difference with the PC anyway.
I think the AI is weakened by the SUIT being so great. with some exceptions.
The difficulty levels need to be reflected more in the game. Vet or PHW levels shoudl NOT be reminding you what button to use EVERY time you want to stealth kill or grab something or use a door. An ICON would have been more appropriate if that - AND equally compatible with the console instance.
The TECHNICAL OPTIONS shoudl not exist in anything over the lowest difficulty level. (If at all?! I hate even that someone thought it should exist.!)
The INFINITE AMMO CRATES shoudl be toned down or removed, at least in higher difficulty. In all honesty. I think there is enough dropped weapons to keep stock WITHOUT the ammo crates at all. Teh tunnel level was RIDICULOUS in giving me a fresh LAV or whatever it was at every check point after whacking a few foot soldiers with rockets and cannon
The STEALTH MODE is powerful . Combined with a silenced pistol and a lot of hiding places to recharge, you can take out an army with a few 9mm bullets. Perhaps this could be toned down somehow at higher difficulty. Quicker discharge would be an obvious one - but maybe something else.
SORT TEH SPAWNS OUT. I dont want to see AI beaming in. Ta. AND....connected: Invisible walls. NO! If I want to walk or swim from point A to B, and there is no obvious reason, I dont want to break my Gimp Suited nose on the forcefield between them.
STOP PATRONISING THE PLAYER i know what button to press to punch him in the balls! No PaperClip mockery of a sham!
Other than that. Its fine really.:p
Cya when I finally got my LE code to work and join a MP server
Edit: LE CODE DOWN! GET IN!
