Koki on 26/2/2012 at 18:15

---

Call of Duty meets Apocalypse Now in Dubai and what?

Here's a funny one: There was supposed to be a coop mode but they felt coops are too willy-nilly-teabag and it would be detrimental to the tone of the game.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_hF0xurPqg) what

Koki on 20/6/2012 at 12:19

---

Demo is out on untermensh consoles

Koki on 20/6/2012 at 12:38

---

Back in my day it was Slowpoke.

Angel Dust on 21/6/2012 at 01:09

---

Gave the demo a go the other day and I liked it. The shooting is nothing special but solid enough* with enemies going down in one of two shots, which is a big plus in my book, and your squadmate AI striking a good balance between not being idiots and not doing everything. I don't really like the slight bit of slow-mo that occurs every time you get a headshot, it seems to be at odds with the tone the game is striving for, and the generic rock music that plays, thankfully rather quietly, during combat is bleh in the extreme (the Dead Man-esque twangy guitar stuff that plays elsewhere is aces though). One cool thing that did happen was that equipping my silencer and taking out two guards quickly, let me creep up closer to the main force and overhear a conversation that I wouldn't have otherwise (if you don't take those guards out quickly or silently enough, an alarm is raised and it's on), as well as be in a more prepared position for the upcoming firefight.

So the combat is fine but what's going to make or break the game is the setting and story. From the demo it looks like they've nailed the setting - it's visually striking and captures some of that eerie, not quite of this world feel that Apocalypse Now had. Lots of nice touches like realising that during a firefight amongst airliner wrecker that the row of sets I was taking cover behind had a couple of mummified passengers on the other side, and the obligatory 'intel' collectables being context appropriate e.g. you can find the aforementioned crashed airliner's black box and hear the frantic last seconds of the crew. For the story side of things, it's just too early to tell. The writing is fine but your squad is more than a little generic (blandly handsome white protagonist, sensible black man, wise cracking white dude). In a way that is the ideal setup for a game that's looking to subvert the usual gung-ho military game cliches. The voice acting is good, however, and would seem to be up to the challenge of taking these characters deeper (there a small hints of it in the demo - your character in particular seems a little wearied at times).

Henke's right in that this is no AAA production. It's not some cheap low budget thing either, just that middle tier (I've seen it called AA in some places) that THQ's stuff usually occupies. Basically, if the reviews say the story works then I'm gonna pick this up.

* I should note that I hardly ever play third person shooters so I might not be the best judge. I've seen a few people around call it bland and coming on the heels of Max Payne 3 is probably not going to do it any favours.

Jason Moyer on 21/6/2012 at 05:21

---

Yeah, you know, like the third-person shooter this thread is about?