Boomtown CS:CZ Preview

[JdeFalconr]

I'm not entirely sure there's even a reason to release CZ, short of the fact that so much time and money have gone into it. It all depends on when CS2 is comming out, I'd say. When CS2 shows up, which I could see happening soon after HL2, interest in the original CS will sharply drop, I think. And if that happens before they manage to get CZ out, then there will be little point in CZ at all.



The other scenario I envision is Ritual rushing like crazy to get CZ out and what they end up publishing will be so bug-infested, low-quality, under-tested, unfinished and unpolished that it will head straight to the bottom of the bargain bin.

[x7-Superman!]

enough dam previews release the damn game already

[Mr. Poophead]

Anyone who says that CZ isn't going to be an improvement is full of crap. Compare Aztec/Inferno on 1.5 to Aztec/Inferno on 1.6 (that would be killer if they did that kind of thing for Dust & Dust2) and throw in new player and weapon models and that is an improvement.

[RockSteady]

i was excited to play the gearbox version of the game with the challenges and whatnot. trying to get through the level with a usp, then trying to get through the level with an ak with only one clip. sounded fun; like tony hawk.



this sounds boring and gay.



i'll have to wait and see obviously.



p.s. i couldn't give a rats arse about so called "visual" improvements. I want fun.

[abel]

--deleted--

[rizzuh]

I'm sure the Gearbox version was canned solely because it was so fun and the Tony Hawk gameplay worked so well.



Wake up, folks. If it was working, then VALVe wouldn't have wasted their time on Ritual. You're judging two different games and saying one is better than the other while having no experience with either.

[Gatorade]

I heard Gearbox did a lot of work to spruce up the engine, did Ritual use the graphics from what Gearbox did or did they just start from scratch... again? -_-"

[NuclearTeddyBear]

I'm going to reserve judgment on the game until it comes out, but isn't this whole story starting to sound like something that would have been on that dumbest moments in gaming history list a little while back?

[entRo]

Mr. Poophead wrote..

Anyone who says that CZ isn't going to be an improvement is full of crap. Compare Aztec/Inferno on 1.5 to Aztec/Inferno on 1.6 (that would be killer if they did that kind of thing for Dust & Dust2) and throw in new player and weapon models and that is an improvement.

What's so nice about the new inferno? OMG they changed some textures and added random lights that no one asked for or needed. Should we be thankful? The new aztec (the latest version that we havn't played yet) doesn't look too impressive either. The CT domination is gone, but it looks so extremely hard for CTs to stop a DD rush that the balance is probably going to shift to the Ts. Oh, and we also got some random lights that don't do anything.



Go download new player and weapon models if they actually mean that much to you. Dust is awful as it is, don't update it, delete it. Dust2 is perfect the way it is.



Thanks but stop trying to fix things that aren't broken.

[orphy]

ShoNuff wrote..

and wtf is the space invader doin on the top right hand side of those screenshots.....

FFs Valve.

You idiot, that's how Boomtown marks all their own images. DUH.

[bozer]

rizzuh wrote..

I'm sure the Gearbox version was canned solely because it was so fun and the Tony Hawk gameplay worked so well.



Wake up, folks. If it was working, then VALVe wouldn't have wasted their time on Ritual. You're judging two different games and saying one is better than the other while having no experience with either.

True, I have no experience playing either. But I do have experience playing tons of FPS games, and I really can't tolerate scripted style games anymore unless theres some amazing graphics or some other amazing feature that can pull me in. This game definitely doesn't have the amazing graphics of HL2 or some new fancy physics either.



The "finish the level with one clip" idea had me really interested back in June of last year when I pre-ordered my copy. Luckily I've moved to a new apartment since then and this new version will be shipped to the old address.

[FatboyTim]

NuclearTeddyBear wrote..

I'm going to reserve judgment on the game until it comes out, but isn't this whole story starting to sound like something that would have been on that dumbest moments in gaming history list a little while back?

Very true!



It was really Valve's early support of Counter-Strike, (from beta 5 onwards,) that allowed it to grow from a relatively simple mod, into the biggest online FPS ever. You can understand why they wanted to exploit the hype behind it, by releasing a single-player title.



What is less easy to comprehend is, how on earth could they have let such a potentially huge title become so out of control? It all seems to stem from Valve's poor management of the various teams it has hired to create Condition Zero.



Perhaps Rogue, Gearbox and Ritual each had too much creative control and not enough guidance from Valve? After all, a team of amateurs, or even a single mapper can create successful single-player mod. Conditon Zero is based upon another game, so the majority of their media is already available (skins, sounds etc.) How difficult could it be?



The Counter-Life team successfully ported the weapons, and money system to single-player Half-Life. Figure in a bunch of new maps, re-skin the human grunts as terrorists, modify a few lines of code and Robert's your fathers brother...

[ja]2ev]

Believe it or not, I didn't want to start a Gearbox/Ritual debate...and none of us can make any judgement calls as to how the game will be for sure.

I don't think that 1.6/CZ will be the death of CS or make CS as a multiplayer any less uber-amazing, but I was really excited about gearbox-CZ's single player experience that was supposed to happen and I'm not excited at all anymore about ritual-CZ's concept.



If I want linear gameplay and crappy AI (I hope they implement the 1.6b AI into CZ) there is a ton of games out that I can run around shooting bad guys.

I hope they do it justice, and I would like to say that I won't buy CZ if it comes out after HL2, but, as a tool, I know I will.

[Softy's 24/7 Fraggin]

Edited by [user="3670"] @ [time="1057768098"]

i got some issues with this game. i canceled my pre-order last fall. when CS/CZ finally comes out it's going to look like Pac-man next to HL2 and Doom3. CS/CZ is a lame attempt to cash in on a free mod. playing CS against AI is boring compared to on-line play. how long would you play CS if it was single player only? you can't play both sides of all the CS/CZ missions: lame, boring and repetitive.

[David Johnston]

entRo wrote..

Dust is awful as it is, don't update it, delete it. Dust2 is perfect the way it is.

I wouldn't say 'perfect', but in my own eyes, neither needs any renovation. Ok, they look a bit graphically outdated (well, not on the Xbox so much), but who really cares? I know I don't. I want them to die gracefully without the need for constant changes as soon as someone gets bored. They do their job, and I don't want them to do it any better or any worse.



Consistency is as useful and annoying as change.



I'd agree with IIABDFI.