State of the Gaming Union.

[I am RKO]

After the bad reviews i’ve been reading and getting, from people who have played Frontlines: Fuel of War, i’ve decided to write this rant about the PC game releases over the past six-seven months. Some of you may agree with all of what i say, some may disagree with all of what i say, I encourage you to formulate your own opinion in this thread. I’m going to break it down in steps, talking about each release. If i miss any out, its because i’m not qualified to talk about them (Haven’t played/got them)

Basically, I'm asking what games you think have sucked/been really good, why you think there has been a blip in PC Games, do you even think there was a blip? How do you think things will go on from here?


My views, as taken from my beautiful blog.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
A game, forged in the raging infernos of win. Graphics are stunning, almost perfect. The game feels edgy, and emotional, but also gritty and in your face. The story isn’t bad either, no politics involved. Your just there to stop the bad guys, and you begin to care about the characters you play with and as. Multiplayer, as always is addictive and immerses you inside, so you don’t ever want to leave.


Crysis
Crysis is as i like to say, the “Jessica Simpson” of games. Looks absolutely gorgeous, water reflections, trees falling down and tornados blowing. 6000 exploding barrels falling through the sky like a dreamy car advert. Very Picturesque. However, it lacks a spinal column and a pair of tests. The story is pretty dodgy, aliens land on an island, yadda yadda yadda, everyone dies.. blah blah blah. I forgot the obvious, needing a god damn supercomputer to enjoy the game, properly. Crytek can build all the crappy PCs they want, I’m not convinced.


Half Life 2: Episode Two
Visually, the HL2 franchise is amazing. The engine allows for some awesome puzzles and the monsters are down right frightening. I don’t have a fear of spiders, but after completing that game, I hate a nightmare about Antlions chasing me across a field, jumping and making that noise of some old dude snorting snot back up his nose. The ending was, okay. I hate the endings. Not because they’re rubbish, they’re good, I just hate having to wait for the next episode which is like a year with no trailer or screenshots to keep me going.


Medal of Honor: Airborne
After the clusterf**k that was Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault and their retardedness at not releasing European Assault, MOH needed a resurgence of life. So, they based the game on jumping out of a C-47 and focused on the 82nd Airborne, instead of ‘Lets make a World War II game with the only division in the entire war, 101st Airborne’ and dropped them all over the place. The idea, you could land in a safe zone, or with the wrong tapping of the directional keys, on a Nazi’s head was a breathe of fresh air for the franchise which has after the MOH:AA games been declining. Singleplayer was very good, enemies everywhere, blowing up tanks, Gammon grenades. I also got it pre-owned, a day after it came out for £10 less, than retail. I guess the person who bought it, played Multiplayer. Hahah. Mind you, MOH hasn’t really been a very good Multiplayer game ever. First online game i played, was MOHAA, then i found Call of Duty and it’s expansion, and i knew instantly what love was. No difference here, Multiplayer blows like an overkeen pornstar.


I’m not going to go into Team Fortress 2, which quite frankly has the characteristics of a cartoon, and the gameplay of Counter Strike Source. Portal, is a joke really. It’s gearing you up for the use of the portal gun in HL2:EP3. Come on, you know its gunna happen, however, it did make the Orange Box, worth the money.


I’ve resorted, in peoples eyes going to play a lesser game in World of Warcraft. Let me tell you people something. You can only play games, for a certain period before they begin to annoy you or bore you. I don’t want to ruin what me and Call of Duty 4 have, by overplaying. I’ve started playing San Andreas Multiplayer again too, after leaving that behind. I’m now playing COD4, WoW and GTA:SA awaiting to jump to the next lily pond. Assassin’s Creed may be able to keep me going until my break from the PC, to go play GTA4 which everyone knows is going to be amazing. If they have a launch event at midnight, I’m going to camp outside a game store (Not with a sniper rifle, you dummies! :P) and get that game. But, apparently Ass’s Creed is repetitive, and its also not out till the end of next month.


People have asked me, why not go back and play 2142. To those people i say, If i can’t stand Battlefield 2 anymore, what honestly makes you think i want to play a glorified modification for it.


Thats all, for now. I hope i don’t do drugs and end up buying FFOW. That would be terrible.

[iQue]

I’m not going to go into Team Fortress 2, which quite frankly has the characteristics of a cartoon, and the gameplay of Counter Strike Source. Portal, is a joke really. It’s gearing you up for the use of the portal gun in HL2:EP3. Come on, you know its gunna happen, however, it did make the Orange Box, worth the money.

That is in my (and many others) opinion very very wrong. I somewhat agree to the other things you pointed out though.

[Numptie]

i have to agree with the RKO, almost completely, but i cant really comment on Medal of honor: Airbourne. the las MOH i played was pacific assault, and the only reason ive still got it is cos i cant get rid of it.
if Airbourne is anything like pacific assault, it is very poor.

[Mo0by]

TF2 is awesome. I've never played CS but the games appear very different to me.

[Chris_Redfield]

If there was a Total synonym for "epic fail", it would be called RKO. Your "research is laughable", more like a sum of minireviews of games you liked or did not like. Theres a lot more meat to the problem, and the problem itsself is very obvious. In simpliest terms, developers arent doing enough research.

[I am RKO]

My research? I haven't gone and read peoples reviews, apart from FFOW.
I've given every single game fair chance.

What do you mean by Developers are not doing enough research?

Instead of saying that i am epic fail, because of my account of my experiences with the games that i've played, perhaps you'd like to go into more detail about your points instead of being so vague.

I don't think its fair to put all the eggs in one basket and say games suck because developers don't do their research. Developers take chances and sometimes get it right (Bioshock) and sometimes get it wrong (Crysis). Whether its working with a new engine like DICE are, or whether its going for a game that most low-end to medium-end spec players can't enjoy properly (Crysis).

I'm not about to demand every body shares my opinions, on the contrary, but i'd rather you explain yourself than take a potshot.

[[DR]S|Pvt. Voop_Bacon]

Im going to have to disagree on both you Orange box and Crysis sections. TF2 for me is really not like Counter-Strike. It is a much more fun and hectic(in a good way) shooter. And Portal a joke? Portal was my favorite part of the Orange box and is probably the best single-player out there.

Now, finally Crysis. Not sure why you didnt like the campaign. Besides the visuals, i found going through the jungles with the suits abilities(especially stealth) to be very entertaining as well as on-the-fly weapon modification to help you adapt to the situation. Plus the earlier levels give you and unseen amount of freedom.

The Orange Box and Crysis for me the best games of 2007. And yes ive played CoD4. Im waiting for it to go down to $40 before i buy it though.

[Hawkers]

How could speak ill of Portal? :shock:

[Chris_Redfield]

My research? I haven't gone and read peoples reviews, apart from FFOW.
I've given every single game fair chance.

Hmm. No.

[I am RKO]

Lmao, what do you mean no?
Just because i don't love the same games you do, you want to be a smart arse?

Why don't you take the time to explain why my review is full of holes, instead of taking chunks of my posts and going "Hmmm.. No." I love hearing peoples opinions when they actually have one, but your response was as good as reading the whole review and going "Your mum, lol."

Hawkers, my views on Portal are that it's a good mod for HL2, even though its a proper game. Portal is okay, and made me lulz, but its like when i bought CoH, last christmas. I got Dawn of War free, and i hated playing DoW. Portal is an extra, at best. HL2 = Untouchable.

[iQue]

I still can't get over the fact that you think the gameplay of TF2 is like CSS...

TF2 is like the opposite of CSS... :laugh: Makes me wonder if you have actually played the game.

[L3adcannon]

MOH hasn’t really been a very good Multiplayer game ever

Oh comon. I should have stopped reading at Crysis but that sealed it, lol.

[I am RKO]

It really hasn't play COD:UO and MOHAA and you'll know. Allied Assault was the best Medal of Honor game to date, and i'm right in thinking it was the first one.

As regards to Crysis. I'm sorry that i haven't had a very good experience with it. I don't have a high spec supercomputer, and i like my games to be maxed out.

"I still can't get over the fact that you think the gameplay of TF2 is like CSS..."

You pick a class, and run around a map, killing and respawning. Sounds like CS:S to me, same fonts, same layouts basically, although TF2 has cartoony characters.

Maybe i haven't played TF2 or CS:S for very long, but thats because i hated it. I bought CS:S for the add-ons for Garrys Mod.

You tell me, why Crysis is good and you tell me, how TF2 differs from CS:S.

[MrChris_CJ]

I detect a certain bias towards COD here, the obvious anti MOH, given Airbourne was pants some of the previous games were nothing short of class in terms of SP and MP

You give far too much praise to COD4 a game that is uninventive and apart from whizzing into the future a bit is as much the same old cod as ever and teh story? Jesus christ the COD story was bad, WE ARE GOING TO THE "MIDDLE EAST" chaps, give me a break. The multiplayer is ofc a redeeming feature, but not enough to put it above other more worthwhile games such as Crysis in the gameplay area...saying all of that however there are moments in COD4 that made my eyes light up with joy, and others that made me want to turn it off, it was a pity it was so short

The Crysis SP was one of the best SPs of the year, Crysis was very much hyped and perhaps didnt live up to its expectations but at least like Bioshock it wasnt overhyped and overrated to the point where you wanted to cry for putting it on your HD, the gameplay was fun and inventive as well as being based on the player, less on a scripted story that forced you down a very rigid gameplay path. The excellent engine might mow a few current pcs, but for the experience + the editor i couldnt give a **** if it runs at 30fps, because with the effects in Crysis it doesnt matter. The MP has its moments but is far more of a niche, but then again its quite challenging and isnt for everyone, the lack of modes also and the general unfinished feel to the MP made it a letdown, but with a game like Crysis all you need is mods

Episode 2, was also a great piece of SP, it does however suffer from a bit of stale air, as in the previous episode starting off with no guns is getting a bit old, but it also demonstrated Valves superiority at creating a brilliant piece of storytelling and gameplay far beyond other studios. The MP area which is TF2 is stellar, it is nothing like CS AT ALL and has the ability to make me laugh uncontrollably.

Portal is loved by all for a reason, it is a brilliant puzzle game, not everything has to be about cliched stories and blowing **** up in Iraq or something (flame) its witty, funny and clever and a joy to play for the 3 hours, short and sweet it was the main highlight of the Orange Box, saying otherwise is plain ignorance. People bought the Orange Box not just for one single game admittedly, how could you when there were 3 pieces of genius packed in there, but like it or not Portal was at least as anticipated as Episode 2

I acknowledge that these are your opinions, but if you are going to write a blog that examines PC Games (you should recognise the console influence) from a supposed non bias pov then at least do it in detail and try to at least be balanced

[I am RKO]

Well, it's not an unbiasied review. Its what i think about the games that have come out over the past 6-7 months that i've bought.

I read what you wrote, and it was very well written. I'm not anti MOH and pro Call of Duty as such, but it's just ever since Call of Duty: UO, COD has owned Medal of Honor.

I'm not that much into consoles these days unless there is no other way to play a game (GTA4) than to play a console.

In the Crysis demo, I actually enjoyed the mission you got to play. I just played the rest of the singleplayer and it was kinda mundane.