Reviews - Rick_Dagless

OOHH, THE GALAXY IS BIG PLACE

Consider this more of a first impressions.

The Good:
- New areas triple the size of the game world, old areas reworked extensively enough that they feel new as well.
- Some decent looking graphics changes

The Bad:
- Zero optimization. The updated graphics don't even come close to justifying the performance drop.
- The AI is blind, deaf, and dumb, but can put you down in one shot if they land a lucky random headshot.
- New inventory mechanic where you have to put "clips" of ammo on your belt from the pool in your inventory. This is completely useless inventory micromanagement that adds literally nothing but clunkiness to the game. If this was originally meant to be put in SHoC, then I applaud GSC's good sense to remove it.

The Ugly:
- It seems they forgot to do anything with the weapons, aside from re-implementing ones removed from original SHoC. They look just as dated and sound just as flat and wimpy as ever
- The SVD has either a misaligned scope, or is less accurate than a smooth bore musket, either reason is unacceptable

Second, probably last impressions (1.30013 patch):

The installer gives you the option to reset your settings to default. DONT ******* DO IT. For some incredibly brilliant reason, they removed an option in the menu that glitched the sound when turned on, EXCEPT THEY FORGOT TO HAVE IT DISABLED BY DEFAULT. Every sound associated with player movement/behavior, such as foot steps and breathing effects, is disabled due to this which completely breaks the immersion.

Still dealing with that nonsense, I reached the level changer to The Garbage and was immediately turned back with the message (paraphrased) "ROAD CLOSED BECAUSE LAND SLIDES LOL". **** you, devs. Honestly. I immediately deleted this mummer's farce from my harddrive.

The devs of AS put a shameful amount of effort (basically zero) into making any of their skirmish missions fun, entertaining, or varied. But they had the courtesy of including a powerful map editor so the community could properly finish the job, which Sir Hinkel has done. Absolute must download for anyone who wants to play SP/Coop AS.

Good for a number of hours until you get over the learning hump and you realize that despite first impressions and appearances, the game has almost no depth to it. Ultimately, it comes down to going from star to star, doing side missions for one of the TWO factions to gain enough relations to buy the wares you want and/or bribe gate blockades to go to the next star system on your way towards the main quest missions.

The side missions boil down to killing ships of the opposing faction and/or collecting something, or escorting some ships which boils down to killing enemy ships if you feel like it and not being functionally retarded enough to kill the friendly ship with friendly fire.

Some systems offer secondary missions, which require you to kill ships of one faction and/or collect something.

Usually in each system there will be random events happening in one or more sectors, where you can kill ships of either faction and/or collect resources if you run low.

The main quest missions typically requires you to kill enemy ships and/or collect something. Sometimes you'll have to defend your mothership, which can be tricky because it usually requires you to be awake.

Obviously this game has lots of combat in it. Combat consists mostly of pointing your ship in the direction of the enemy and clicking. Or if all your weapons are on turrets, getting in range of the enemy and clicking. Or if you have drones, just flying in the general vicinity of the enemy. The combat in SPAZ is very boring and uninspiring, with little-to-no complex, tactical, or strategic thought required.

"Designing" ships consists of interchanging different modules on otherwise unmodifiable ship hulls. Finding the optimal configuration/ship for your play style requires a minimal amount of trial and error. There is almost no point in putting anything but the most powerful modules on your ship as you have unlimited of every module.

A relatively bland shooter that's similar to Doom 3 in relation to it's predecessors, except where Doom 3 brought something new to the table that made the game in of itself a good interesting fps, Quake 4 does nothing. The atmosphere is bland, the generic weapons are bland, the unique weapons are bland, the shooting is bland, and most the levels are bland except for some of the Strogg complex levels that are very cool to look at. The worst/blandest part of the game however are the vehicle and mech sections that are basically black holes that suck all enjoyment out of the game, and you'll be lucky to have the will to keep playing after them.

Also I never played the multi player but I can safely bet that it sucks given this games focus was clearly on the single player aspect.

Most negative reviews I've seen for this game are written by driveling idiots and this site is no different. Seriously, complaining about no walking mechanic in a relatively fast paced shooter? I'm guessing that guy wrote his review during lunch time at the mental asylum. Anyways, if the only thing you liked about the first FEAR was the horror, then yes, you'll probably not like FEAR 2. If however you loved everything about FEAR then you'll most likely enjoy FEAR 2.

The story isn't quite as good but it has its moments and still beats out the stories of the majority of FPSs out there. The AI is noticeably worse but again is still more than you'll usually find in an FPS and on the plus side the enemy doesn't randomly give away their positions by screaming "****". The solid gun mechanics and weapon variety are still there, along with the fantastic graphics and effects and level design. Also the mech section of the game is actually fun and doesn't make you want to stop playing the game forever, like the one in Quake 4.

****

Pros:
-3 large completely new areas to explore

-Retains the amazing atmosphere of the series. There are some locations you will be very reluctant to enter just from their haunting appearance.

-Vastly improved game engine that's more stable than the previous X-ray versions and delivers better visuals than any other engine out there with much better performance when properly tweaked.

-NPC interactions feel much more connected and meaningful compared to the previous two STALKERs.

-Upgrade system properly implemented and enhanced from Clear Sky

-Side missions feel more like actual quests rather than chores. No more go kill random stalker and get money quests.

-The modding potential is massive, and mods are capable of fixing every negative aspect of the game

Negatives:
-The zone feels fairly inactive. Very little happens without you being directly involved. The most random action you'll find are groups of 2-3 stalkers fighting each other or a small band of mutants

-Weapon handling feels incredibly unnatural, though this is probably necessary to make some of the upgrades even worthwhile.

-Far too easy on the hardest difficulty. Your primary enemies are zombified stalkers which are pushovers. Medkits are common to find on dead stalkers/zombies and stashes are spawned from the beginning making it easy to become well equipped from the start if you know where to look.

-The game goes downhill in the last third of the main quest (I.E. when you reach Pripyat). The final mission is a joke, especially to anyone who finished SHoC's gauntlet of a level with the best ending. Nothing is a threat once you get the gauss rifle. The endings are cookie cutter slideshows similar to the Fallout 3/Fallout NV endings

-The main story is not very interesting overall.