What are you playing at the moment? - Page 163

Belmit · 29-06-2009, 12:52

Been playing Mirror's Edge after a long gaming hiatus, thanks to Leo!

This could have been one of the greatest games of recent times except for a few minor niggles that really put me off. Plus points for me were:

- Innovative game style. It lies somewhere inbetween FPS and sneak-'em-up with its free running aspect - you'll never come off best in a full on fight but have far superior speed and agility to get you out of trouble.

- Amazing yet simplistic graphics which give a sandbox feel despite pretty much constraining you to the set routes. Obvious setups for routes can be forgiven as using them is so much fun.

- Decent-ish story with nice animated comic-book cut scenes.

- Minimalist HUD and control system gives good flexibility and makes the game flow well.

But the bad:

- Pretty short. OK, so the levels are usually fairly big as you do a lot of running about but it would have been nice to have a bit more substance and/or more of the same fleeing across rooftops. Some of the best bits were just the parts where you're a couple of steps ahead of the enemy and making split-second decisions. These were the least complex bits with just obstacles on roofs (rooves?) and they could easily have added a few more.

- Combat. If you're up against more than one enemy, forget it. Disarming them is just too hard to do when there's another enemy shooting at you, and the fact that they're spot-on accurate unless you're moving and never run out of ammo just makes it nigh-on impossible. I would dearly love to have been able to run up to an enemy, disarm him and instantly use his weapon on the next, but the combat just has no flow to it and you'll either die or get punched down as you mis-time the disarm. There was one great bit where I slid along the ground and kicked an enemy off the rooftop, and more of that kind of thing would have been amazing. Instead you're either resigned to running away and getting shot in the back, or trying to machinate a situation where you isolate an enemy to get his gun then systematically take the rest out by trying to line up the reticle in cover and darting in and out, which sucks. More instances of using the environment against the enemy would have been great, but aside from that one piece of rooftop awesomeness there was simply none. Oh and once you get a gun you have about 6/7 shells or a clip of about 15 bullets before you have to discard it. Bloody double standards!

- Pipes and shimmying. In a world where speed and decision-making is key, why make it so unbearably slow to climb a pipe or shimmy across a ledge? Everything else is so quick and counts on timing your leaps, slides etc. so that you don't lose momentum. Then you have to climb a pipe like you have one wooden leg and no thumbs. With people shooting at you it really is a kick in the teeth when fighting the enemy isn't an option and running away is equally likely to get you killed.

- Precision. Having to redo parts you've already successfully finished because you just walked off a ledge is infuriating. There really ought to be more of a Tomb Raider style fall-prevention system where getting too close to the edge causes the character to scuffle and regain balance rather than just fall emotionless off the edge like a sack of zombie potatoes. Other times I found the controls oddly sporadic. Sometimes jumping off a pipe will cause you to spring gazelle-like through the air and cling to the next... and sometimes you just seem to let go and plummet. Occasionally I'd just get stuck on the edge of an obstacle and stop dead, which in this kind of game is unforgivable.

Overall I really liked the game, and will be going back to get achievements, but these things will continue to annoy me. Especially on the hard difficulty, where getting shot by multiple enemies is going to present a very big problem. My controller may be heavily dented by the time I'm finished!

NokkonWud · 29-06-2009, 13:06

A lot of those things in your negatives actually change in the Speed Runs and Time-Trials because you learn to do stuff an entirely different way, it's not as linear or as strict on a path as it seems in the story mode and at one point you pretty much need to speed disarm a guy and kill his companions, so it can be done. You can also leap from pipe to pipe quick, including leaping off a balancing beam, but it's all in the timing.

I'd give the game a 7/10 in terms of story mode, but 9/10 with the Speed Run and Time-Trials which are actually the best, and most infuriating, part of it. But I have 1000/1000 in it (not including DLC), so there's your benchmark

.

Belmit · 29-06-2009, 14:12

A lot of those things I can forgive on the whole as the game is a lot of fun. Unfortunately it seems to be single areas in the game where those cons really affect the flow of the game. I'd say on average there was at least one bit per level where I had to restart 10-15 times, most infuriatingly where the first time you get pretty far, and subsequent times you keep messing up. It's just the imprecision of a jump that gets you killed, or a flock of enemies at the end of a long set of obstacles which means you have to redo the whole section. Hopefully the time trials etc. will fare better.

Psymonkee · 30-06-2009, 02:20

Still inFamous although losing the will to live. Just finished the lamest bos fight on earth (on hard, attack spammer) only to still not got a tropy for Hard Finish or Evil Finish.

Little bit fed up tbh

Oh well, Tomb Raider next I think

KennyBhoy · 01-07-2009, 19:48

Just completed Ghostbusters on PS3. Quite enjoyed it. Came accross a few bugs though. Biggest one was on the last level, going through a cemetery with Ray. Turns out if you don't entirely clear out an area, Ray refuses to go any further! So i triggered a cutscene and assumed Ray would be there after it finished. He wasn't but his voice was and other A.I characters behaved like he was. The last part of the level just constantly looped enemies because he wasn't there!

So had to restart it. PFT!

Good rental game though!

Dunketh · 01-07-2009, 19:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by KennyBhoy

Just completed Ghostbusters on PS3. Quite enjoyed it. Came accross a few bugs though. Biggest one was on the last level, going through a cemetery with Ray. Turns out if you don't entirely clear out an area, Ray refuses to go any further! So i triggered a cutscene and assumed Ray would be there after it finished. He wasn't but his voice was and other A.I characters behaved like he was. The last part of the level just constantly looped enemies because he wasn't there!

So had to restart it. PFT!

Good rental game though!

Does it look as bad on PS3 as those comparison videos make out? A friend of mine says it looks like a PS2 game

KennyBhoy · 01-07-2009, 19:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunketh

Does it look as bad on PS3 as those comparison videos make out? A friend of mine says it looks like a PS2 game

I think it looks quite good. I'd seen comparison 360/PS3 pics on Kotaku and the 360 looked sharper no doubt but the PS3 pics they showed looked far worse than the game actually does. The scale of some levels looks quite impressive. Even though you follow a very linear path through most of them. It does suffer the odd bit of slowdown but it's not too often.

Certainly no PS2 looking game.

Dunketh · 01-07-2009, 20:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by KennyBhoy

I think it looks quite good. I'd seen comparison 360/PS3 pics on Kotaku and the 360 looked sharper no doubt but the PS3 pics they showed looked far worse than the game actually does. The scale of some levels looks quite impressive. Even though you follow a very linear path through most of them. It does suffer the odd bit of slowdown but it's not too often.

Certainly no PS2 looking game.

Ah that's good to hear, I'll probably rent the PS3 version rather than wait for the 360 version then.

Cheers.

Streeteh · 01-07-2009, 20:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunketh

Does it look as bad on PS3 as those comparison videos make out? A friend of mine says it looks like a PS2 game

The developers made a post on their forums basically debunking those early comparison shots. It doesn't look as good on the PS3, but it's nowhere near as bad as those shots made it out to be. As usual with many cross platform games the PS3 just lacks the 2xAA that the xbox provides 'for free'

NokkonWud · 01-07-2009, 21:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunketh

Ah that's good to hear, I'll probably rent the PS3 version rather than wait for the 360 version then.

Cheers.

My 360 version is doing the rounds. Borrow it after Creature if you'd like?

29-06-2009, 12:52	#1621
Belmit The Mouse King of Denmark Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: The Winchester Posts: 6,476	Been playing Mirror's Edge after a long gaming hiatus, thanks to Leo! This could have been one of the greatest games of recent times except for a few minor niggles that really put me off. Plus points for me were: - Innovative game style. It lies somewhere inbetween FPS and sneak-'em-up with its free running aspect - you'll never come off best in a full on fight but have far superior speed and agility to get you out of trouble. - Amazing yet simplistic graphics which give a sandbox feel despite pretty much constraining you to the set routes. Obvious setups for routes can be forgiven as using them is so much fun. - Decent-ish story with nice animated comic-book cut scenes. - Minimalist HUD and control system gives good flexibility and makes the game flow well. But the bad: - Pretty short. OK, so the levels are usually fairly big as you do a lot of running about but it would have been nice to have a bit more substance and/or more of the same fleeing across rooftops. Some of the best bits were just the parts where you're a couple of steps ahead of the enemy and making split-second decisions. These were the least complex bits with just obstacles on roofs (rooves?) and they could easily have added a few more. - Combat. If you're up against more than one enemy, forget it. Disarming them is just too hard to do when there's another enemy shooting at you, and the fact that they're spot-on accurate unless you're moving and never run out of ammo just makes it nigh-on impossible. I would dearly love to have been able to run up to an enemy, disarm him and instantly use his weapon on the next, but the combat just has no flow to it and you'll either die or get punched down as you mis-time the disarm. There was one great bit where I slid along the ground and kicked an enemy off the rooftop, and more of that kind of thing would have been amazing. Instead you're either resigned to running away and getting shot in the back, or trying to machinate a situation where you isolate an enemy to get his gun then systematically take the rest out by trying to line up the reticle in cover and darting in and out, which sucks. More instances of using the environment against the enemy would have been great, but aside from that one piece of rooftop awesomeness there was simply none. Oh and once you get a gun you have about 6/7 shells or a clip of about 15 bullets before you have to discard it. Bloody double standards! - Pipes and shimmying. In a world where speed and decision-making is key, why make it so unbearably slow to climb a pipe or shimmy across a ledge? Everything else is so quick and counts on timing your leaps, slides etc. so that you don't lose momentum. Then you have to climb a pipe like you have one wooden leg and no thumbs. With people shooting at you it really is a kick in the teeth when fighting the enemy isn't an option and running away is equally likely to get you killed. - Precision. Having to redo parts you've already successfully finished because you just walked off a ledge is infuriating. There really ought to be more of a Tomb Raider style fall-prevention system where getting too close to the edge causes the character to scuffle and regain balance rather than just fall emotionless off the edge like a sack of zombie potatoes. Other times I found the controls oddly sporadic. Sometimes jumping off a pipe will cause you to spring gazelle-like through the air and cling to the next... and sometimes you just seem to let go and plummet. Occasionally I'd just get stuck on the edge of an obstacle and stop dead, which in this kind of game is unforgivable. Overall I really liked the game, and will be going back to get achievements, but these things will continue to annoy me. Especially on the hard difficulty, where getting shot by multiple enemies is going to present a very big problem. My controller may be heavily dented by the time I'm finished! __________________

29-06-2009, 13:06	#1622
NokkonWud BD Recruitment Officer Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Smogville Posts: 3,880	A lot of those things in your negatives actually change in the Speed Runs and Time-Trials because you learn to do stuff an entirely different way, it's not as linear or as strict on a path as it seems in the story mode and at one point you pretty much need to speed disarm a guy and kill his companions, so it can be done. You can also leap from pipe to pipe quick, including leaping off a balancing beam, but it's all in the timing. I'd give the game a 7/10 in terms of story mode, but 9/10 with the Speed Run and Time-Trials which are actually the best, and most infuriating, part of it. But I have 1000/1000 in it (not including DLC), so there's your benchmark . __________________

29-06-2009, 14:12	#1623
Belmit The Mouse King of Denmark Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: The Winchester Posts: 6,476	A lot of those things I can forgive on the whole as the game is a lot of fun. Unfortunately it seems to be single areas in the game where those cons really affect the flow of the game. I'd say on average there was at least one bit per level where I had to restart 10-15 times, most infuriatingly where the first time you get pretty far, and subsequent times you keep messing up. It's just the imprecision of a jump that gets you killed, or a flock of enemies at the end of a long set of obstacles which means you have to redo the whole section. Hopefully the time trials etc. will fare better. __________________

30-06-2009, 02:20	#1624
Psymonkee A cat wearing a wet suit Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: St.Andrews Posts: 2,023	Still inFamous although losing the will to live. Just finished the lamest bos fight on earth (on hard, attack spammer) only to still not got a tropy for Hard Finish or Evil Finish. Little bit fed up tbh Oh well, Tomb Raider next I think __________________ Sonisphere FMC Code: 1k949178

01-07-2009, 19:48	#1625
KennyBhoy Long Island Iced Tea Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Glasgow Posts: 168	Just completed Ghostbusters on PS3. Quite enjoyed it. Came accross a few bugs though. Biggest one was on the last level, going through a cemetery with Ray. Turns out if you don't entirely clear out an area, Ray refuses to go any further! So i triggered a cutscene and assumed Ray would be there after it finished. He wasn't but his voice was and other A.I characters behaved like he was. The last part of the level just constantly looped enemies because he wasn't there! So had to restart it. PFT! Good rental game though! __________________