New computer, new danger

[SethP]

[Konedima]

[Sergenth]

I also forgot to mention I'm a little excited about Bioshock... but my computer was only able to stay 14-34 fps for Doom 3.

But yeah, Bioshock!

[SethP]

[Poo Bear]

Ah yes, Doom 3, forgot all about that. Tried the demo a long time ago and it was too slow and with everything turned down/off it was extremely dark.

Thanks for the Supreme Commander demo links, I'll give it a go and see if it runs ok.

[Rup]

I'd recommend Quake 4 over Doom 3, although they're both pretty good. Doom 3 was probably scarier but Quake 4 was better polished and more fun.
Demo on Fileplanet or direct from id or lots of other places.

[edit] mind you, seeing all the old Doom bad guys was good nostalgia, and the boss-fight at the end was pretty cool. So maybe I wouldn't recommend one over the other after all.

[Slyh]

[Rup]

Actually I liked the flash light. It's a trade off: you're less ready to fight but you can see better and IMO it worked well. You need to play it with headphones really so you've got sound as well as vision to get you through.

The levels get a bit samey after a while, sure. Also monsters appear from walls behind you which seems a bit unfair to start with. But once you're used to that (headphones, listen!) it's a very good survival-horror-type game. Could have done with a few more large firefights I suppose but the game isn't balanced for that so'd you die quickly if you're not careful.

[Poo Bear]

I was doing a little survey of prices at my local game store and spotted Quake4 for $5.99 - gulp <faints>


So price has tipped my hand I'm afraid and initial impressions are mixed.

I haven't played a First Person Shooter in sooo long, yet it immediately felt a little too familiar. It seems a little awkward to manage weapons and at least in the first ~3 hours or so there isn't much need really. Just go through each weapon one at a time as ammo permits. So far there has been no need to conserve ammo. The only weapons that require some thought are:

1. the pistol (avoid at all costs).
2. the grenade launcher (you'll kill yourself if you aren't careful).

Game play is totally scripted, which is fine if the story and game play are riveting, but with Q4 it's hovering just above "ok". As the game lets you into a new section you do have freedom to follow different paths, but even though each area is very small I've managed to get lost many times. I think it's been done on purpose to heighten the sense of fear and sometimes that works, but sometimes it's just frustrating and you wish there was an objective marker (or even better - sign posting). I think it would have been fine if the corridors and rooms hadn't been so dark.

Getting to ride around on the back of a truck with a fixed machine gun and piloting a tank adds a modicum of fresh game play. So far there is heavy presence of team mates and it's working well, they hardly ever get in the way and definitely make the game feel more "alive". It seems a shame you cannot actually interact with them at all.

Graphically this game is very odd. The tricks Id have used mean I can run it at 1024x768 with X2 anti-aliasing, shadows and every bit of whizz-bangery on max while still pulling a very high frame rate with zero slow down. It's amazing really. The down side is there is no ambient lighting at all, which means if something is in shadow it's usually jet black. Another niggle is that occasionally a very low res texture will spoil the view.

Most of the time the game looks utterly fantastic, at least to someone who has only just got hold of a decent computer I'll run through corridors and rooms and because I'm a developer I know how many artist man hours have gone into this thing and it just astounds me. I wonder if the artists get depressed when they've worked for a month on some gorgeous little ornament, yet most players won't even notice it as there is so much going on.

So to conclude I'd say that so far the game play is fine, but all too familiar. Graphically it's stunning, but I think the same tricks that let it run so fast have ruined the lighting. Would I have preferred lower poly counts and lower frame rates for a better lighting model? Yes, but I must remember how old this game actually is now. At the time it was released it made perfect sense I suppose.

I wonder how long it will last? I can't believe how much content I've ran screaming through with all guns blazing.

Having played this I doubt I'll bother with Doom3 as it looks very similar.

I'm tempted to get a more modern FPS just to see if things have improved in terms of game play and graphics. I suspect if they have it will be at the expense of frame rate though.

A variety of friends have sprung to my aid after reading this thread and let me have some of their old games. So I now have:

1. X3
2. Half Life 2
3. Guild Wars

I know Half Life 2 is supposedly technically superior to Q4 with a greater reliance on shaders so I'm looking forward to giving that a try. I did have a quick look at X3 and once again everything seemed a bit dark. The space ships and space stations looked amazing though. I didn't actually play it properly yet as the interface seemed very complicated and they'd used just about every key on the keyboard. I tried the "quick action" mode which puts you straight into a fire fight. I couldn't hit anything! I don't know if I'll ever have the time to surmount the learning curve with this one, which is a shame.

Impressions of main stream games so far:

Wow, they look really pretty.
Gosh, a lot of artists have put a hell of a lot of work into into this wonderful conveyor belt of eye candy.
The actual game play hasn't changed much.

Will these impressions change as I move forward in time i.e. Quake4 -> Half Life 2 -> farcry -> Fear?

p.s. I think I'm going to get Fear, based on Icarus' description it sounds groovy. Farcry seems to be very cheap these days so I'll probably give that a try too.

p.p.s I'm also feeling the pull of Oblivion and finding it hard to resist. I just need more time and more money .

[Rup]

D'oh. Sorry for recommending a duff game. Do you have Mr Robot gift purchases implemented yet? I'll buy one in penance.

TBH a few of your faults probably appealed to me: I've always preferred the Quake games, UT just felt wrong, and I don't mind if the ride is pretty mindless as long as it's fun. Things get a bit more varied after the 'event' (I won't spoil it but if you read anything about Q4 back in the day you probably know what I'm talking about) but it's still a fairly old-school run around and kill things game. I never went in for the multiplayer much - it felt wrong after Q3, particularly since they've just copied a bunch of Q3 levels.

I nearly recommended the Sin Episodes game which is a shamelessly old-school FPS - which I really enjoyed, except it's not all that long - but you'd have probably hated that more

[Poo Bear]

[icarus]

Well I will probably buy Far Cry next. Once a get a new job. And finally pay for Mr robot.

And if you buy FEAR: get the directors edition, Scan the comic, and e-mail it to me. (i thought they would have it in the gold edition )

[simonb]

Am i the only one excited about Enemy Territory 2?

[Poo Bear]

I'm only listing games I can get now.

I think ET1 was the last fps I played. It was wonderful, most fun i've ever had in multiplayer. It was a shame they stopped supporting it as it became riddled with cheaters and all the admins seemed to tweak the setup and just unballance everything.

ET2 looks lovely, but I'll miss the whole WW2 theme, the scifi quake setting doesn't resonate quite so much.

Watching the trailers I get the impression they might have added a lot to it i.e. new units, more commands and options. The danger being it gets over complicated, it took quite a while to get the hang of ET1.

It's certainly a game I'll be watching closely.

[simonb]

I just purchased Company of Heroes. Best RTS game in the universe. Try that