"Glorified tech demo"

june gloom on 25/8/2009 at 08:06

It's rubbish. What more do you want me to say?

Alright, since I know you're just going to pounce on that and say AHA YOU DIDNT REALLY PLAY THE GAME (eat it) I'll go into more detail:

Aside from the fact that the AI is broken, with superhuman hearing and fucking binocular vision, the game's main gimmick seems to be going around with the cloak on and capping assholes. So you'd think the cloak would be pretty useful, right? Except it lasts about as long as Amy Winehouse attempting sobriety, which thus renders you getting raped in the face by the 19 out of 20 guys you didn't kill.

Koki on 25/8/2009 at 08:11

Aha, you didn't really play the game.

Thirith on 25/8/2009 at 08:16

Quote Posted by dethtoll

Aside from the fact that the AI is broken, with superhuman hearing and fucking binocular vision, the game's main gimmick seems to be going around with the cloak on and capping assholes. So you'd think the cloak would be pretty useful, right? Except it lasts about as long as Amy Winehouse attempting sobriety, which thus renders you getting raped in the face by the 19 out of 20 guys you didn't kill.

dethtoll, I'm not going to argue that the game is the best ever - but my own experience (admittedly not at the hardest level) is that the cloak is extremely useful if you play it right. It's basically to be used for guerilla tactics, which is not what you seemed to be doing from what you write above. It's about sneaking (not running - you need to move slowly to make sure that the cloak's charge doesn't run out after five seconds) from one bit of cover to the next, then popping up to shoot one or two enemies in the head, cloaking again, moving to the next cover. This sort of gameplay is pretty different from Far Cry (a game I had to force myself to play beyond the first 30%).

Dislike the game all you will - I know several people whose tastes I respect, yet they loved Far Cry and hated Half-Life 2 - but your explanation above sounds a bit like the guy who complained that Thief was broken because you couldn't just run towards the guards and kill them all with your sword. (Not that Crysis is in the same league as Thief.)

Briareos H on 25/8/2009 at 08:17

I thought the general consensus was that the AI was broken because it was too easy ? :confused:

Quote Posted by Thirith

(admittedly not at the hardest level)

If you have any desire to replay it I urge you to correct that, Crysis really reveals itself with the Delta difficulty level.

june gloom on 25/8/2009 at 08:18

There's also the fact that the plot is tepid and the writing is just bad. The whole game just feels so horrifyingly generic.

Thirith on 25/8/2009 at 08:23

Quote Posted by dethtoll

There's also the fact that the plot is tepid and the writing is just bad. The whole game just feels so horrifyingly generic.

I won't argue with that. I enjoyed the game, but definitely not for its plot or writing; those only registered as far as me thinking, "Hmm, at least it's not as painfully bad as Far Cry." The game definitely lacks the certain something that Half-Life 2 had for me. Its personality is shallow, generic and boring. While I had fun during most of my play-through, I also forgot about it almost immediately. Having said that, though, I didn't experiment much with the suit, sticking to the stealth/guerilla tactics most of the time.

I still enjoyed it more than Doom 3, and I even enjoyed it more than Bioshock - although I can't say how much of that was down to me expecting more of BS and being disappointed. Actually, I can: I'd say that the gameplay was more varied and the world felt more real, while BS's gameplay was extremely repetitive, and too much of its world failed to have the coherence necessary to make it feel real.

Scots Taffer on 25/8/2009 at 08:38

Quote Posted by Thirith

True - but sometimes I don't want innovation.

No arguments from me on that, Half Life 2 fits this bill perfectly. It didn't do anything that any game hadn't done before (including its predecessor) but it just did all of them so fucking well that it almost seemed innovative when in fact it was just a glossy-coated adrenaline shot to the brain.

However, I don't have any problem labelling games like Doom 3 a glorified tech demo because it didn't add anything whatsoever beyond the engine (which didn't add much either tbh) and the game was so bloody simplistic and borderline irritatingly shit and unoriginal that I can't give it much credit for anything beyond that.

june gloom on 25/8/2009 at 08:43

HL2 was basically an improved Half-Life 1. Considering how much the first game basically consumed my life for a while, I consider that a good thing.

Taffer36 on 25/8/2009 at 08:45

Quote Posted by dethtoll

The whole purpose of the cloak is to move from vegetation to vegetation. You're not meant to stand out in the open with the cloak on, and honestly I feel like it's far better this way. It forces you to make great use of the entire jungle environment in a cool way. I played thru the game mostly relying on stealth, and I really REALLY liked how you had to crawl thru tall grass or hide in the bushes.

I really don't understand the comment about the AI, honestly. I thought the AI was fucking fantastic. They flank, spread out, work as a team (yes they actually move on you from all sides, surround you, etc.), they flush you out, they retreat, and they're really phenomenal... I thought so anyways.

It's been a while since I've played the game, so I don't recall. Did sound play a role in AI's noticing you? I remember the super-vision, though. I guess it's partially my play-style in not noticing those things, to be fair, since I mostly cloaked and hid in shrubs.

Yeah, story is dull. There's shit parts of the game for sure (that fucking helicopter sequence is the worst shit ever fucking shit aaaaaaah), but I thought that the straight-up, shooting combat was excellent.

Thirith on 25/8/2009 at 09:08

Quote Posted by Scots Taffer

However, I don't have any problem labelling games like Doom 3 a glorified tech demo because it didn't add anything whatsoever beyond the engine (which didn't add much either tbh) and the game was so bloody simplistic and borderline irritatingly shit and unoriginal that I can't give it much credit for anything beyond that.

Oh, definitely - I found Doom 3 irritating and boring myself. The gameplay was so repetitive, and the boo scenes so predictable, that for me it was one step away from a rail shooter. With better level design it could've been a good hamburger of a game, and for some people it was (apparently), but it bored me to tears roughly 1-2 hours into the game.

Unoriginal games can work brilliantly IMO if they're extremely well crafted (and Doom 3 failed on that count for me because of the all-too-repetitive gameplay and level design). More original games, the ones who have personality or soul or however you want to put it, can survive being less polished, they can be diamonds in the rough. (I'm thinking of games such as Stalker or Operation Flashpoint.) I understand why the latter don't become huge mainstream successes, though, and the lack of polish is one factor there IMO.