Ostriig on 18/3/2010 at 01:18

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Heh?

mothra on 18/3/2010 at 08:55

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I'm sorry to say, this game sucks.

nothing against linear shooting - i knew what I was up for but the game even fails to design good linear shooter encounters. yes, yes, it goes through all the cliches and does them OK - the hold-position, the defend-mate, the indiana jones sequence but when you are left to your own to navigate the environment it evaporates.

- a follow mission where you get split up but your mate never aknowledges it or your objective changes

- many trial & error encounters where you HAVE to do a specific thing at a certain time that you stumble upon more by accident

- stupid AI that doesn't notice shot out lamps

- AI that stands around and loudly talks about "x is unsafe, if a spy would find it..." - this gets really old fast

- bad level design that actively leads you AWAY from the "only" possible path

- boring monsters, extremely boring monsters
did I already mention how boring the monsters are ? and how generic looking ?

the librarian thingy where they tell you you HAVE TO keep eyecontact with the monster is a boring Mario level where you have to find out the triggerpoints and prescripted scare-moments to navigate the level. your character has to do stupid things all the time where you think you steer a moron, not some guy bent on survival. I just gave up to play the game like it wants you to play it and just shot them dead (on HARDCORE !) or just ran through. as soon as you know the triggers you just have to run through the building and one door and you are safe. SOOOOOOO LAME.
ah, and it plays in daylight, where is the creep in that ?

characters you meet depart without explanation only to rejoin you 2 levels later - WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LEAVE THEN IF WE HAD THE SAME DESTINATION.

the stations are filled with people but void of life. mannequins. everytime I wanna do something in the level or try it there is an invisible brush or its cut off or you just can't do it.
the few "epic" first-person cutscenes don't help either. It's modern warfare-itis, not to speak of some "dubious" controlscheme choices that certainly stem from being multi-platform.

all in all: A for effort but only C in execution and D in storytelling (not story)

(and there are quicktime events aaaaaaaarrgghhh)

PS: badly placed checkpoints as well. so many amateur mistakes or carelessness. STALKER is looking like a nobel prize project now.

mothra on 18/3/2010 at 15:48

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I'm sure it will wind up on many GOTY lists. I wanted to like it as well.
But it has nothing on Valve/HL, not even on Cryostasis. Good story and the best engine on the market didn't outweigh the flaws for me. I was just constantly annoyed by how the game is and how it could have been. It's sad to see how far ahead Valve are with a genre/way to make games that I thought was antiquitated but just as any other shooter in recent years (except open-world ones) proved: nobody has a fkn clue and Valve can just shit on the floor and it will be better designed than somebody else's whole game. And Bioware now as well with ME2. and since this is such a by-the-book shooter you don't even have anything to replay. In HL2, especially EP2 there were at least 3 "bigger" encounters that played out a little different. In Metro2033 your margin for error is non-existent. At least on hardcore. What a waste of dev time imo.

mothra on 18/3/2010 at 17:24

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monsterdesign ? wait, design..... WHAT ?

rat,
fat rat,
fat rat with long nose,
fat rat with wings,
fat rat with an ape face (librarian),
and a 1:1 copy of the bloodsucker shape for the dark ones and the electro anomaly for the .... anomaly :)

their attacks consist of: run towards you, jump, hit you

you're kiddin, right ? in hl I could at least steer the vehicle i am in WHILE shooting. In metro i can only hold mouse1. or tap quickly E to not die. and have no lean or prone.

PS: game is pretty stable on my system, FOV and ratio are OK, what is the patch solving ?

ZylonBane on 19/3/2010 at 04:26

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Hard mode is actually hard? OH NO!