So, I actually played some Xbox 360 tonight.
First game I played was Halo 3 ODST.
What a piece of sh*t... Ok it's not that bad but.... It's certainly not good. The graphics are jaw dropping and it has super fancy presentation up the ass, I'll give it that. But aside from that I was incredibly underwhelmed. I mean... this really IS Lasertag: The Video Game. But nowhere near as fun.
First off I don't like it when shooters use weapon swapping instead of an inventory, I know it's meant to be realistic, but blah, the control layout for this thing is so convoluted and yes I'm a total noob at it but it shouldn't be so f*cking complicated just to try and figure out how to open a goddamn door.
The AI for your allies is downright useless, a lot of times I get caught in their line of fire and most of the time it's not my fault, they often run around getting in my way like total dumbasses and this pisses me off because the enemy AI has a ridiculous advantage at all times it seems. There's sh*t raining down on you at the most inconvenient spots where you can't take cover anywhere, and this isn't helped by the visual style, I mean my f*cking god, you think that's enough bloom guys? Seriously. It's like staring at a light bulb, and most of the time it means I dont know what the hell I'm doing.
Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and swapped this game out in utter disgust and bewilderment. Next up is Gears of War 2.
What a piece of....... awesome.
Wow, I can't believe I said that
I
like it. I can't f*cking believe it. I LIKE IT!
Don't worry I still got some things to bitch about, but surprisingly, not a whole lot, this is a damn f*cking good game.
Perhaps it's just fresh to me because I haven't played many third person shooters before. I know I've previously complained about the duck and cover system in some shooters so I didn't expect to like a game based entirely around it but... it works. The controls are fluid, the camera is great and most of all it perfectly captures the atmosphere it's going for, it really makes you feel like you're a part of something epic. And I f*cking love that chainsaw gun.
The graphics actually impressed me, turns out, brown ISN'T the only color that's used in this game, there's some black and grey too, sweet. I thought the environments were very well done as well as all the cinematic events that occur during the game, enemies like those giant spider things are awesome, everything has great texture. The voice acting is pretty decent too.
But... it's always more fun when I rant so here goes.
First big issue I have with this game is that while ducking and covering works incredibly well.... sometimes it only works when it wants to, unfortunately I find that a lot of objects that I thought could be used for cover couldn't. And this wouldn't be such a huge issue if the cover and dash moves weren't the same f*cking button. Which means that I often jump around like a total jackass because I thought that big rock could protect me as there's a shower of sh*t coming down on me. Sometimes when I try to take cover behind something, instead I leap forward right into enemy fire.
Again there's the dreaded gun swapping but it works a lot better here than in ODST. I still hate how you have to stand in such a specific spot to swap your weapons, but oh well. Scarcity of ammo is another issue, I realise it adds suspense, but sometimes it won't even let me swap weapons and I have no idea why. I will say it gets quite tense when I fight a big mosnter and I'm out of ammo so I have to backtrack and scavanger hunt the place for some ammo or a new weapon while some big ass thing is trying to kill me, but sometimes I don't find anything. Not to mention most enemy guns have a pathetic amount of ammo compared to my default gun and since the default gun is my favorite weapon in the game, I would rather there be a lot more ammo boxes lying around.
Another issue is that while the AI is incredibly well done, it's not perfect. Sometimes my allies get in the line of fire, thankfully it dosen't kill them. They're also pretty helpful in guiding me around the environment when I don't know where to go but sometimes they don't follow me when I want them to, you're supposed to be the leader but sometimes it feels like the other way around.
Another thing I hate is that because just about everything is either black, grey or brown in this game I sometimes confuse my enemies with allies, I'll shoot madly at an ally thinking he's a locust. And while I'm glad it dosen't hurt him OR motivate him to shoot back at me, it does ruin the realism a bit. I mean I could shoot at a buddy and he's just standing there totally oblivious.
I'm still not a fan of the character designs and how everyone's neck is larger than the bumper on a monster truck. As cliche as the characters are though some of their conversations are pretty entertaining in an 80s action movie kinda way. Cole Train is awesome.
I f*cking hate Dominic though, when he's not constantly whining about Maria, he just says the stupidest things. Like the second chapter when you're exploring the cave and the roof starts to cave in, "guys I think this place might be unstable".
GEE, YA THINK?
So you know, I actually do wish I could kill my allies just to put this asshat out of his misery.
Flaws aside though, I really enjoyed the few hours I've had with this game, I'll gladly admit when I wrongfully generalize about a game before actually playing it and this is one of those cases. Does it make me want a 360? Not really. But I will certainly be revisiting this game sometime again.
Last edited by boo boo; 11-22-2009 at 02:00 AM.
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