On the Brink of innovation, on the verge of nothingness, on the vast plains of possibility, I found only tumbleweed.
I pre-ordered this game - such was the extent of my excitement. It was when I read the review, I shuddered with fear.
This game offered a lot of potential, and when I say a lot, I mean bucket loads. Attempting to intricately design awesome characters, with a decent arsenal, creative character level ups and multi style supportive and cooperative game play fell into the ocean that the Ark floats upon.
Character layout was fantastic. Jumping in and designing your character was cool. I thought there could have been a few more options before unlocking them, but in the end that became the only reason I persisted. That and to reach Level 5 for character class ups.
There are only 8 or so maps to the campaign... what? That's right, and they are levels, with no story line. You go through entire maps without seeing a soul and then when you reach your objective it's nigh on impossible to achieve your objective without dying too many times against the swarm of flies hovering at a choke point. What then is the point of designing a whole map?
There's no deathmatch, no other form of multiplayer, just the drudgery of small objectives. There are four classes to choose from and three different body types. These variations are supposed to alter the way you play the game. That's a big fat no. You get weapons in all classes and each class has little advantage over the others. I found it best to choose an Engineer to help build turrets and mines, and also thought they had been given the most objectives on any given map. Being a Soldier was just plain boring. Medics had their function, but an Operative was nearly pointless.
The maps don't change if you're a Resistance either. It just switches the perspective on the same level. So while you might be defending 'x' while playing Security, you get the same map from the other side as a Resistance fighter trying to attack 'x'. BOR-ring!!!
It doesn't matter what body type you choose the only one to stay with is the medium body type. It's tediously slow moving around as a heavy build and as a light frame you get shot up too easily. As for choosing a light frame to parkour around the maps? Stupid. You forget jumping around and trying to explore new ways to sneak up on enemies, because the maps are so simple you just want to finish them as soon as possible.
Worst of all I tried playing online, and no one, NO ONE is playing this game. So I couldn't even test out what it would have been like with real minds at work. AI was far too clever at times and then surprisingly dull at others.
Weapons are ok, but you can only unlock them in challenges. The problem with the weaponry (perhaps this was the AI again) was that most weapons were useless. Just pick the one with the best stats and off you go. I tried 15% of the weapons.
There's nothing in the game to keep you playing for hours. I can't believe they tried to sell this game as an online multiplayer. I was so disappointed. I truly gave the developers some credit. As for Bethesda, I used to align that company with quality. But I've played just as many misses (if not more) than hits.
The game DOES have potential. There were times I felt like it was all going somewhere, that I just had to get in on the secret they were talking about. But it was just dribble. There were so many spikes and lag issues and I was only playing the single player (!)
Characters moved stiffly, maps looked shoddy, gameplay was repetitive, objective voice overs were bloody annoying. I can't see why anyone would want to play this game after picking it up. Two of my friends returned it.
The potential you spoke of, you failed to deliver. The shred of hope in this game that may offer any chance for a sequel and a possible following, has been shattered by a garbage truck of problems. The only thing you can take pride in is the marketing campaign. It was unbelievable.
So much so, you forced my hand...
Never again...