A Franchise Killer.
As I played through this game some parts were mildly enjoyable. Every game has it's good points and I'd be a fool to say that any game is all bad, but my dissapointment far outweighed any enjoyment I got from this game.
What were the developers trying to achieve with this game? I don't think they even know what makes a game enjoyable and why gamers play, they simply made a 'by the numbers' generic shooter that makes all the right noises (hypothetically speaking) but achieves nothing.
Real gamers now expect a certain standard of game play and there are several basic requirements a developer needs to meet before the game even gets started. So what happened here?
Firstly I start up the game and it seems okay so far. I scroll through the options and they are all pretty standard. There is 'Campaign, Co-op, and Multiplayer'. The games I love like 'Rainbow Six Vegas' for example have single player training options like 'Terrorist Hunt' etc..These are offline options that give huge re-play value and enjoyment. It's very useful for training or when a game has no online players you can find. Conflict Denied Ops doesn't have one but this is a small point as most games don't have one anyway. A game with a varied and exciting Campaign mode can be just as good for replay value so it's not a problem usually.
I begin the game and we head into the first cut-scene. Firstly I was surprised how 'Last-Gen' the cut-scene was. I love my original x-box and I still play it a lot but if I'm playing a 360 game I want 360 graphics! The game begins and right away I notice that the game itself also looks last gen. When I hit the zoom button the gun suddenly degrades even further to something that wouldn't look out of place on an N64. 'It's not about the graphics' I tell myself and I push on.
I start to move around and get a feel for the game and right away it needs a little tweaking. The camera movement is too slow for me. The up and down axis in particular is practically in slow-motion for me. In a game this will get you killed over and over as you try and take quick aim only to be shot dead as you turn your slow ass around to face your enemy. No problem, easy fix, I go to the controller options and look for the joystick sensitivity. Surprise, there is none. I'm stuck with this slow ass aiming. 'Okay no problem' I tell myself lets just push on. Now lets see which button is the jump. Surprise, there is none. A lot of games don't use jump so while a little disappointed I will keep an open mind, after-all the 'Rainbow Six' series has no jump and its awesome. Okay lets push on. I discover I don't like the controls much. I want a set-up where the left trigger is the zoom. I find it a much more fun experience that way. Not worried at all I go to the controller options and simply look for the configuration that uses left trigger zoom. Surprise, there is none. 'Not to worry' I tell myself, hell 'Battlefield Bad Company' uses thumb-stick toggle zoom and I love that game. So lets push on.
I continue with the game and constantly end up pressing the bumpers and the joystick toggles looking for the 'Sprint' button. Frustrated I go to the control options to find it once and for all. Surprise, there is none. Now I'm really worried. More and more I'm finding all the basic elements of a shooter game are gone. No one game has all theses things but usually a game will come up with good alternatives and other options. I'm getting a bad feeling because I haven't even started playing yet and this game has fallen short on almost every level so far! 'Not to worry' I tell myself, the game developers will take all this into account and it will somehow be awesome and play like a dream.
I play some more and start to wonder 'why is the damn gun waggling about so much when I run? That's gonna get really irritating!' No surprise, it did get really irritating.
'Not to worry' I tell myself. Hell I watched the developer diaries online a few months ago and they talked about 'Massively Destructible Environments' where things will blow up on an unprecedented level and it will be total carnage. This is gonna be awesome because 'Battlefield Bad Company' does that and its amazing. After re-watching the developers diary again all I can say to the Eidos developers is....SHAME ON YOU! What you said was a total lie. Sure some set pieces can be destroyed like boxes and bit of furniture and the odd random object, but Duke Nukem did that in 1995! 'Puncture Tech' my ass!
This whole game makes me feel like I bought a Ferrari and then discovered it had the engine from a 1998 Hyundai.
Not to worry perhaps there will be something about the game that is awesome. Some X-factor that I wont discover till I play it a bit.
I start to wonder where all the guns are. This is an FPS game. I can't stress enough the importance of 'Gun Porn'. Gamers want a variety of interesting and lethal weapons. We want guns that are satisfying to shoot with various customizable options. 'I'll take an M4 and give me a scope and oh yeah, ill take a folding stock with that and an order of fries to go.'
YOU ARE STUCK WITH THE SAME WEAPONS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME!
"Ahh but we give you upgrades" I hear the developers saying. Question: If I put new rims on my Hyundai does it make the car awesome?
Answer: No, it's still a Hyundai.
Thanks for the upgrades.
Hot-swap between characters was a nice idea though but you lifted it directly from 'Battlefield 2 – Modern Combat. I also think 'Clive Barkers Jericho' had a more interesting hot-swap premise (a dis-possessed soul hot-swapping from character to character).
The music is bland. The weapons aren't satisfying to shoot. Initially I kept on trying to pick up the weapons of people I had shot (like you can in almost every other shooter in history) cause I was just so sick of the puny underpowered sniper. But I couldn't. The look of sniper scope has been lifted from 'Syphon Filter' for the ps-one (hell why not..it looked great in 1998.
Thank god you can put in your own music with a 360. The game seems almost exciting with 'Coal Chamber' thrashing in the background. I've had to turn all the other sound down and the gunfire sound up just so the weapons with sound halfway powerful. I'm left with serious questions for Eidos...You killed a franchise with this game. All of you associated with this game need to sit down and think about what you are doing in game development. Some of you need a career change. You don't know what gamers want anymore and you are spending millions on churning out inferior games just to keep some sub-par developers in a job.
I will continue to play and finish this game (with Coal Chamber cranking in the background) It's like the lost and ugly puppy that nobody loves, so ill give it a home, take it for walks occasionally and try not to scare children with it.