Alright, any true FPS player (the original ones back when CS1.0 was the shiat) knows that FPS games have been dumbed down since Halo came out. Modern Warefare 2, the most recent FPS for n00bs, is essentially Counter-Strike with aimbot and wallhack. I'm referring to the PS3 version. With the majority of FPS players now on consoles, I'm still pissed off at the fact that I have to use a controller. Then all of a sudden...I saw this game.
There are a few things I'm afraid of though:
1. Is this actually an FPS? From what I've heard, it's 3rd person. This means that everyone will be indirectly wallhacking. As long as we ALL do it, then meh. That's true, but the game is really fast paced - enough so that the advantages of someone being able to see you around the corner will not mean you will instantly die as soon as you walk around it; unlike a game like cs, if you have 3rd person availability, you will just own everyone with an AWP.
2. Is this going to play like Fallout? Long story short, Fallout 3 was NOT an FPS-RPG. It was a frickin' RPG put into first person view with a gun. Bullets would automatically home and do incredibly stupid things. There was no need for precision. Essentially my question is: is a head shot a headshot? I'm pretty sure most original CS players will be damn pissed if the hitboxes in this game are messed up. No, this is definitely not Fallout. In actuality, it feels a lot like Team Fortress 2 but with more speed and RPG elements to it. Customization of character, skills, etc. About the headshot thing, I actually tested it, but I am leaning towards no. Although something like attacking the player from behind will do a lot more damage. From a CS player's perspective, this is a little annoying. But I will say this: The aim system in this game is not the same as CS; CS is all about precision and quick deaths, whereas GA is basically trying to dish out as much damage as you can to the opposing player - the feel is quite different. Like I said, the game plays a lot more like TF2 than CS.
3. Are we gonna have numbers popping up above people's heads? I sure as hell hope not. Yes, there are numbers. But I don't really find it a problem and it's actually quite useful. There might be an option to turn it off but I don't see why you would.
When beta servers come up, throw all your hate and love for the game here if you were one of the CS players 10 years ago. Especially if you remember how stupidly big "Cal-i" leagues were for your e-peen lol I will say one last thing: I just played for about an hour and the game really had me going. I played as a medic and I was feeling the same intensity and rush as I did back in the cs days. There really is a lot more to this game than just spamming your gun; if you know what's going on around you, you will be at a much higher advantage than other players.
I've been playing Counter-strike since beta 6.0 around 11 years ago. I've also played almost every single half-life mod since then as well as many inependent games. So my background in FPS is quite extensive.
edit: Looks like you've already played, so you should agree with most of my points!
You're right about almost all points, at least my opinion is very similar with yours. It doesn't seem like this game has different hit boxes, pretty sure it's just one MASSIVE hitbox. Playing as the tank class, I noticed that the chaingun damage downgrades depending on how far the target is..which again, emphasis on tactics.
Unless you were playing sniper your entire life (which btw, is the most useless class in TF2 imo) this game is very similar. There is MUCH more weapon changing compared to TF2 and melee is more viable in this game than others.
The one thing that is turning me off is the fact that this game revolves around team play. While I enjoy pubstomps and a good scrim, I don't have enough friends who would be into this. I just got my ass handed to me because my team had no medics, where as this other game I had a pocket healer sticking my ass like a Priest + Warrior back pre-BC. The diference? We lost 900-120 in the first one, won 900-90 in the other. I'm not saying that I alone made a difference, but if your team composition is good and everyone has an idea of how to work together...that's great. But ever since WoW instances and DoTA with pubs....I still conclude that the average individual is more stupid than a lab rat.
1. Character creation, meh. Reminds me of Mass Effect.
2. Crosshair is funny. It doesn't give me the same feel as Counter-Strike, Modern Warfare, or any other "standard" shooter. I also have a feeling this means lack of proper hit-boxing.
3. Emphasis on switching weapons. This reminds me of TF2. I have an instinct to switch to melee weapons to either
a. insult somebody
b. because it's a better idea (Pyro w/ Axe after setting someone on fire, Soldier on 2fort after rocket jumping to kill snipers because I don't want to reload, a Heavy screaming across a bridge as you sneak up behind him and bat the back of his head).
4. Jetpacking is NOTHING like Tribes (sigh), but makes the tactical option of retreating into cover much more valid. The movespeed is fast enough that majority of players will not be able to hit somebody jetpacking (not saying I can't, but it's only slightly slower than a rocket jumping soldier which nobody can hit for their life in TF2).
Overall, good first impression. Looks like the posts here were right and they're gonna emphasis on team play and tactics. This means....inhouse pubstomps like DoTA will make people rage quit.
OMG YOU RETREAT?!?! or are you talking about people retreating from you? because you seem to be chuck norris's child spawn
LoS style retreating buddy lol
I've already had a few times where I retreated behind a corner and indirectly wall hacked some sorry idiot and meleed him to death. It's amazing just how many people forget that 3rd person view = wallhack.
Every since CoD w/ the UAV I've always felt like it was an indirect wallhack. I still remember the stalemates in CS where it was 1v1 and you'd be walking to cover your footsteps.
We don't have to blast our headphones/speakers anymore for footsteps, now it's either a minimap or turning the camera lol
Shee-it, and here I am with all these players that started playing shooters back with Quake 2 Lithium on gamespy network, or better yet midi, were the true FPS players. Might just be my habit of not liking people with a limited scope of understanding though...
CoD actually feels too easy for me when playing on consoles, I just zoom in with the weapon and take a quick shot in the process and the auto aim built in does the rest for me. Have to turn it off whenever I feel like actually having fun and that just makes me wonder why I'm not just playing a game like Battlefield.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
I played it ever since the got the servers stabilized, which took awhile, but after the problems were solved I didn't experience any lag. I found that to be surprising for a beta.
The game plays a LOT like Mass Effect, but is more dependent on tactics and teamwork (well, of course).
The hit boxes aren't as big as you might think given the aiming reticule. I did quite a bit of testing and there is pretty good collision detection for shots. So, that said, weapon choice certainly has an impact as far as how easy it is to hit your target. For example: The minigun really doesn't require much aiming and, in fact, has no precision aiming mechanic....not that it should....it's a minigun. Rifles on the other hand require you to be pretty spot on your target, namely because the minigun flings way more projectiles around than the rifles do.
The relatively small energy pool is very nice and so far weapon use is nicely balanced with that pool and power regen. It's a very nice new take on ammo. Every shot needs to count. Sure you wont run out of 'ammo', but when you run out of power while you're trying to spray and pray your target will just dance around and then take aim and mow you down.
Health pools are big enough that I don't think there will ever be a way to alpha strike somebody down. The game has a very nice focus on tactics, very nice change of pace. It will be very interesting to see what kind of vehicles are in the game since I have yet to see a screenshot of any.
Anyway - so far so good as far as I'm concerned. Gameplay is smooth and plenty engaging enough for both the medic and assault. Money well spent in my book. An mmo (a version of an mmo, I don't care if you don't think it is one) that can't be botted (in theory), has basically taken away any point or way to hack (aimbot is useless, wallhacks are useless, speedhack is probably not possible with the server checks). And the PvE actually provides a nice challenge, you can't just tape your left mouse button and start running through.
Oh and the way setting up your gear works is awesome too. Very nice ability for customization pretty much across the board.
The ability to grab and jump up from ledges is pretty interesting too. The detection for it is pretty snappy too. It's saved me once or twice from ill-timed jet pack jumps.
PS - It will be nice if things start up right on time tomorrow, lol. I wanted to keep playing when they went to shut the servers down.
Comments
I've been playing Counter-strike since beta 6.0 around 11 years ago. I've also played almost every single half-life mod since then as well as many inependent games. So my background in FPS is quite extensive.
edit: Looks like you've already played, so you should agree with most of my points!
@vince
You're right about almost all points, at least my opinion is very similar with yours. It doesn't seem like this game has different hit boxes, pretty sure it's just one MASSIVE hitbox. Playing as the tank class, I noticed that the chaingun damage downgrades depending on how far the target is..which again, emphasis on tactics.
@TF2 comment
Unless you were playing sniper your entire life (which btw, is the most useless class in TF2 imo) this game is very similar. There is MUCH more weapon changing compared to TF2 and melee is more viable in this game than others.
The one thing that is turning me off is the fact that this game revolves around team play. While I enjoy pubstomps and a good scrim, I don't have enough friends who would be into this. I just got my ass handed to me because my team had no medics, where as this other game I had a pocket healer sticking my ass like a Priest + Warrior back pre-BC. The diference? We lost 900-120 in the first one, won 900-90 in the other. I'm not saying that I alone made a difference, but if your team composition is good and everyone has an idea of how to work together...that's great. But ever since WoW instances and DoTA with pubs....I still conclude that the average individual is more stupid than a lab rat.
OMG YOU RETREAT?!?! or are you talking about people retreating from you? because you seem to be chuck norris's child spawn
LoS style retreating buddy lol
I've already had a few times where I retreated behind a corner and indirectly wall hacked some sorry idiot and meleed him to death. It's amazing just how many people forget that 3rd person view = wallhack.
>,>
Every since CoD w/ the UAV I've always felt like it was an indirect wallhack. I still remember the stalemates in CS where it was 1v1 and you'd be walking to cover your footsteps.
We don't have to blast our headphones/speakers anymore for footsteps, now it's either a minimap or turning the camera lol
CS makes people true FPS players?
Shee-it, and here I am with all these players that started playing shooters back with Quake 2 Lithium on gamespy network, or better yet midi, were the true FPS players. Might just be my habit of not liking people with a limited scope of understanding though...
CoD actually feels too easy for me when playing on consoles, I just zoom in with the weapon and take a quick shot in the process and the auto aim built in does the rest for me. Have to turn it off whenever I feel like actually having fun and that just makes me wonder why I'm not just playing a game like Battlefield.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
I played it ever since the got the servers stabilized, which took awhile, but after the problems were solved I didn't experience any lag. I found that to be surprising for a beta.
The game plays a LOT like Mass Effect, but is more dependent on tactics and teamwork (well, of course).
The hit boxes aren't as big as you might think given the aiming reticule. I did quite a bit of testing and there is pretty good collision detection for shots. So, that said, weapon choice certainly has an impact as far as how easy it is to hit your target. For example: The minigun really doesn't require much aiming and, in fact, has no precision aiming mechanic....not that it should....it's a minigun. Rifles on the other hand require you to be pretty spot on your target, namely because the minigun flings way more projectiles around than the rifles do.
The relatively small energy pool is very nice and so far weapon use is nicely balanced with that pool and power regen. It's a very nice new take on ammo. Every shot needs to count. Sure you wont run out of 'ammo', but when you run out of power while you're trying to spray and pray your target will just dance around and then take aim and mow you down.
Health pools are big enough that I don't think there will ever be a way to alpha strike somebody down. The game has a very nice focus on tactics, very nice change of pace. It will be very interesting to see what kind of vehicles are in the game since I have yet to see a screenshot of any.
Anyway - so far so good as far as I'm concerned. Gameplay is smooth and plenty engaging enough for both the medic and assault. Money well spent in my book. An mmo (a version of an mmo, I don't care if you don't think it is one) that can't be botted (in theory), has basically taken away any point or way to hack (aimbot is useless, wallhacks are useless, speedhack is probably not possible with the server checks). And the PvE actually provides a nice challenge, you can't just tape your left mouse button and start running through.
Oh and the way setting up your gear works is awesome too. Very nice ability for customization pretty much across the board.
The ability to grab and jump up from ledges is pretty interesting too. The detection for it is pretty snappy too. It's saved me once or twice from ill-timed jet pack jumps.
PS - It will be nice if things start up right on time tomorrow, lol. I wanted to keep playing when they went to shut the servers down.