Opening
Sorry that last nite, I never got to posting my opinion on this game b/c...well, somehow, this game took up in one evening during a work-week took up SIX hours (more or less) of my life away. Despite its obvious minor problems and issues - and yes, there are a bunch of them and it all adds up - in which I think most of them probably could be fixed in a patch, I couldn't stop playing. I just couldn't put it down...
So, for starters - I'd like to say, I'm playing the game on NORMAL difficulty w/ KB/mouse. I do plan to replay this w/ the X360 controller, next time around.
For the most part, I think it's a really good game - but, it COULD BE greater if they'd weed out all the minor problems. Hopefully, a few patches will improve on the game and its assortment of minor issues.
Unbalanced Weapons
The game is completely unbalanced. I been pumping purposely A LOT into the Pistols skills (got six points pumped so far into it) - and unless you're standing directly in front of your enemy, don't expect head-shots w/ a Pistol to take them out. Even if you wait a few seconds for the RED critical reticule to appear and hone in to give extra critical damage points, chance are - it still might not kill your enemy w/ one or two shots. Dice-rolls when I've clearly got a shot lined-up and no damage done at all are just uncalled for.
Then, this all brings me to the next point - Assault Rifles are just TOO powerful. I had absolutely NOT one skill point pumped into Assault Rifles. Using Assault Rifles, even from a distance you can basically mow down your enemies no problem - WITHOUT any skill points! Shocked It's nice there's a gun in the game works - but, it works TOO good here. It makes pumping points into Pistols feel completely worthless.
A little more time for play-testing would've done Obsidian some good, as I think the issue w/ the unbalanced guns is the biggest and most obvious issue in the game, from what I've seen so far. Combat would be fine as it does feel pretty good, when it's taking place - but these unbalanced weapons just don't help the make the game what it could be,
3rd Person Camera Issues
The game's camera is basically unlocked. So, when you turn the cam, it just does NOT follow behind Mike. There's no key to reposition the camera directly behind Mike, oddly enough.
I can understand having an unlocked cam at times - especially for when watching you do kick-ass Melee attacks (punches, kicks, throws, etc) look more cinematic w/ it unlocked - but if you're going to do this, there should be a key so I can always put it back behind Mike. Didn't games learn from the original Silent Hill w/ the "Reposition the camera behind the character" key? Shocked I guess not...
Another thought/idea - there could be a toggle switch for the player to hit, to Switch The Cam - a key for switching between "Toggle Camera Locked Behind Mike/Completely Unlocked Camera." That'd probably be a good idea, too.
Cover
One issue w/ covering - like other games that allow you to be able to jump in and out of cover - is knowing what you can and can't cover behind. The "Interaction" key will let the player hop into and out of cover. But, there's no icon, flashing object, or anything when you're near an object just to let you know if you can actually cover behind it. That would help matters. For the most part, though - cover works fine - as you can even roll away out of cover; run from one cover spot to another cover spot w/ a single direction and mouse click; etc etc.
AI On Normal Setting
I ain't ran into the AI doing any dumb stuff (think Deus Ex 1, where you shoot a guy dead, dude standing next to him does nothing), thankfully. Though, sometimes, the AI's just TOO alert to things here, sometimes. I'll be behind cover - and for no reason, a guy some long distance away, notices me - and I'd hiding either behind boxes or under dark light. Just...seems odd.
Graphics
So, no - they are NOT anything to write home about. They do the job, basically. The character models themselves are definitely more interesting than the environments I've seen, so far. The safe-houses look quite good, though. Performance issues here on 1024x768 just don't exist - the game is running flawlessly with everything pumped-up on High - so, they got that part right.
Though, it would be nice if they would unlock Shader 3.0, AA, and AF features since UE 3.0 supports natively, since modders have already found their way around the game and got it unlocked. The texture pop-in issue - where it takes time to load-up textures sometimes does exist, but as soon as you notice it, it's gone. It's most noticable when bringing-up your Inventory. The texture-pop is nowhere as obvious as it was in say Bioshock 2 (b/c it hangs around for a few seconds) - but yes, it's still there.
Oh yeah - everybody who didn't like Mike's stealth animation, where his ass is up in the air when moving and sneaking and all - I'm with you; it just looks plain silly.
Controls w/ KB/Mouse
For the most part, controls are fine and dandy. Most of it can be reconfigured - which is great and expected. Though, some cannot be reconfigured to where I'd want them to go. There is a radial menu for switching b/t Weapons/Ammo types, Gadgets, and Skills. They are STUCK on the Z,X, and C keys - and that is that. Personally, since I use cursor keys to move around, not WSAD. If I could've had a say in matters, I would've liked to put these Radial Menus on Insert, Home and Page Up. Also, Inventory is stuck on I key - which is fine, but I'd like the option to configure elsewhere, if I'd want to...
For now...
I will add more to my thoughts here, some time later...Got to go eat...
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