Here’s a game that allot people have been crowing about, so I had to give it a go. What I found was a game that was better then it should be because 50% of it is strong enough to carry the rest of the game. What am I talking about? Read on.
Now, naturally, anyone who’d played the game doesn’t actually have to read on to know what I mean. The multiplayer modes are this game’s strength. Be it online or splitscreen, this may be my favorite console multiplayer shooter ever, and one of my favorite ever, period. The matches range from tense standoffs to cat and mouse to frenetic action, depending on the situation. Setting your load out is as engrossing to me as min/maxing my stats in an MMO endgame. Even earning the gear for your load out is a fun, worthwhile endeavor.
Omega (my best multiplayer gaming bud) and I played some splitscreen recently and it was chaotic. Following another player – especially a Rambo-style player like Omega – can be hard, even in the same room. I know that it can be done by coordinated buddies, but random groups can be worse then a World of WarCraft pick-up group.
The controls are some of the best console shooter controls I’ve ever laid hands on. Even Halo doesn’t feel this good. The graphics are also sweet. I love the detail and the feel of place. The particle effects are awe-inspiring at times with billowing smoke and blazing fires. The sound is just so-so, however and sounds just about like any other military shooter you can find. Actually, the win/lose screen after a multiplayer game reminded me heavily of Battlefield 2’s end-of-match screen.
A minor gripe is that the AI bots are less then stellar and can only compete in death match team death match modes. All of the other modes are apparently too complex for the bots. Why is that? I don’t know. Even old games like Red Faction II had their bots playing all of the varied modes, and the Unreal Tournament series does too, so I’ll chalk this up to a ‘didn’t care’ on the developers’ part.
Of course, allot of players don’t care about the bots so it’s a minor issue.Combine excellent action, superb controls, and some really nice visuals, and it makes up for much of the ‘meh’ story and haphazard off-line experience – but not all of it. I’m going to recommend this to everyone, because it’s one fine shooter. Alphasim, over and out.
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