catbarf on 29/10/2008 at 00:30
I'm on hydroponics, and the game just hasn't managed to scare me. I don't feel like a scared, vulnerable ship's engineer. I feel like a stoic, grim-faced badass motherfucker as I slaughter through hordes of the enemies. Being able to chop them into tiny chunks doesn't help dispel that impression. The only time I actually panicked was in the room on Med when you're trapped with the invincible bastard, because I got swarmed.
Meh. As a shooter, it's fun. As horror, it fails utterly.
Angel Dust on 29/10/2008 at 02:03
Yeah, it's not scary at all but it can be tense in an exciting action way eg the tentacle beast that grabs you by the leg . That doesn't really bother me too much though since I never expected it to be scary, since none of these 'horror' games really are 99% of the time.
swaaye on 29/10/2008 at 05:38
System Shock 2 seriously unnerved me on my first play through. Shock 2 was actually almost too much for me, to be honest. And playing Doom3 alone in the dark with headphones was pretty intense as well. This game, not so much. It's still a "rich" world with lots of attention to detail all the way down to the audio though.
I think the 3rd person view is a major impediment to immersion. That and the constant action and obvious helping-hand item placements/panels everywhere. You are this massive, lumbering man-tank (vacuum safe) with wicked industrial tools for weapons going up against fleshy tard-zombies. ;)
I constantly find myself reminded of Bioshock, Shock2, Resident Evil 4, and Doom3 while playing. And yet it still feels fresh in ways. An interesting game.
mothra on 29/10/2008 at 13:21
advanced a few levels, switch to hard. still not warming up to it. design is nice, engine is so-so, combat is nice but e.g. the gore is somehow....subdued. yeah, you can stomp around and squash the monsters into tiny little pieces but it doesn't "feel" or "look" gory. I expected bloodstreams flowing over the floor, dripping down from the ceilings onto my rig, making me have to wipe it away from my visor to see clearly again. but no just a little splat-splat here and there and then the "gore/blood" is gone into low-res gif-texture land.
I would say the bulletimpact in FarCry2 with its associated blood squirts look more brutal to me. but like FC2 it's an OK game, just not the awesome thing I was hoping for. and DeadSpace certainly has all the right ingredients, it's just .... too .... samey and I never have a feeling of urgency, the "missing" girlfriend is always a bad way for motivation since it's a npc we only know of from video chat logs....
and can anyone explain to me WHY an engineer working for a rescueteam or anybody on a corporate mining vessel has to BUY his equipment from an SHOP ?????
I mean, i work in an office and we didn't have to buy the PCs ourselves, our employer usually gives us all the tools we need for the job.
Matthew on 29/10/2008 at 13:44
Simple, he's using up his budget for that financial year! :p
vurt on 29/10/2008 at 14:08
I didnt think that was weird.. i mean they don't come prepared for it, and its not like he's using his sallary, he uses the money he finds laying around on the ship to unlock the weapons, suits etc.
It's just on of those gameplay elements you shouldn't analyze too much, i mean how fun would it be if you got the best armor, best weapons and all the potions you could wish for in the begining of every RPG or shooter. In 99% of them you're "the choosen one" who's gonna save the world, nevertheless they wont give you their best armors or weapons no, no! Like you didnt have problems already trying to save their sorry asses from eternal doom lol
mothra on 29/10/2008 at 15:31
I would have loved to have a set of tools (maybe 1 or 2 specials you could pick up / search for as a sidemission) and then being able to modify, alter and enhance them via the bench upgrade system, using those power nodes. I just can't see credits having any other use on a spaceship besides private entertainment/food whatever. but to sell a plasma rifle to everyone on the ship ? even more awesome would have been a "crafting" system where you can make your own weapons out of stuff you pick up around the world. just more depth/possiblities and restrictions in this direction. it just doesn't make any sense. it just since this game does such a wonderful job of keeping all the "gamey" aspects in the background or integrating it subtle into their presentation (3d menues, the pathfinding-system) and then they want to make you believe that a normal engineer or just "anyone" working on a mining vessel would HAVE TO (or even have the possiblity) to purchase the most dangerous mining and shooting equipment known to men (the 2ndary on the pulse rifle is just.....wow).
swaaye on 29/10/2008 at 21:30
I'm actually somewhat amazed that they didn't call this System Shock 3. It is really what I'd expect them make of a Shock sequel. It's a combination of SS2, Bioshock and Resident Evil 4, IMO. With it having an original name though, we're more lenient with it.
I think it's a good time, but yeah I would definitely like to see much more realism. The game design here is very casual/convenient. It's obviously a simplified game meant for the modern day state of gaming (plays best on my 360 gamepad for Windows). But it's still a good diversion and I'm having some fun with it.
I am just cruising through though because it is easy to figure out what to do next. You can't get lost because only the doors for your current objective are open. Exploration is pointless and, actually, rather impossible anyway. You can't backtrack to previous decks just for fun.
Angel Dust on 29/10/2008 at 21:44
Quote Posted by mothra
I would have loved to have a set of tools (maybe 1 or 2 specials you could pick up / search for as a sidemission) and then being able to modify, alter and enhance them via the bench upgrade system, using those power nodes. I just can't see credits having any other use on a spaceship besides private entertainment/food whatever. but to sell a plasma rifle to everyone on the ship ?
Yeah, it is a bit silly and Bioshock had the same problem, made even worse due to the grating and garish presentation of the vending machines. Why couldn't they just copy SS2 and make it you have to hack the machine in someway to get it to create the good stuff?
Still I really like this game, I still can't get past Chapter 6 due to that crash but I'm just replaying the first 5 Chapters again since it's really satisfying my action fix.
driver on 30/10/2008 at 02:33
The vending machines in Bioshock should have only been able to provide what they already had stocked as they didn't replicate things like in System Shock 2.
That said, the Ammo Bandit machines were silly.
