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vecna
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Also, speaking of unimpressive endings, Kid Chameleon. One of the hardest games there is (it doesnt start out hard, but its a very long game - it GETS hard quite gradually). Something like 103 levels, and the end is pretty much unexciting. Oh well.
Posted on 2004-08-21 17:56:49
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Interference22
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The Body of the Many section of SS2 was originally planned to be a spacewalk on the hull of the Von Braun. I think I'd have preferred that. What IS it with developers making cracking games with end sections that are NOTHING like most of the game, hence causing those sections to lose the magical quality that makes you like the game in the first place? And the ending to SS2 is passable but I'dve liked something a little more intriguing rather than puzzling and downright plot-defying.
It's like in FarCry when they introduce mutants to the mix: I was quite enjoying shooting soldiers actually. Do we have to go play the mutant card? Just give me more VEHICLES for crying out loud!
Posted on 2004-08-22 00:14:38
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mcgrue
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The body of the many segment was my least favorite. I still haven't beaten SS2 because I got lost in there and my desire to continue on waned. :(
Posted on 2004-08-22 00:28:53
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Interference22
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Quote:Originally posted by mcgrue
The body of the many segment was my least favorite. I still haven't beaten SS2 because I got lost in there and my desire to continue on waned. :(
It's a bitch. you have to swim through toxic sludge and shoot something vague. From there on, prepare to be shot at.
Posted on 2004-08-22 01:15:51
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Interference22
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Hmm, actually in hindsight: I'm adding FarCry to my "worst games ever" list. It's near the bottom, since it has some semblance of being good but the later levels are so unforgiveably AWFUL that Crytek deserve several days at the hands of a mad scientist with a set of electrodes and a keen interest in human suffering.
"Yes we're being FUN here: pitting you against monsters that hop so quick you can't shoot them effectively, creatures who have a melee attack bigger than THEY are and areas full of rocket-launcher-wielding 9ft hulks of Hell who take a whole 100 round clip from a machine gun to kill and who absolutely hate your guts. Enjoy."
Anyone who thinks *Halo* is rubbish obviously hasn't finished it. Conversely, anyone who thinks *FarCry* is GREAT obviously hasn't finished it..
Posted on 2004-08-23 23:37:50
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Alex
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Quote:Originally posted by Interference22
Anyone who thinks *Halo* is rubbish obviously hasn't finished it.
No no no, Halo *is* crap, and I've finished it twice (second time just to make sure it was as crap as I thought the first time. Which it wasn't, but it was still crap. Well, maybe crap is too strong a word, but it's no more than an average fps. Goldeneye owns it three times over imvho).
Posted on 2004-08-24 00:09:17
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Interference22
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It's one of few first person shooters with a competent plot behind it. Goldeneye didn't really need one since the movie provided it but Halo's is brilliant and - shock, horror - WELL acted!
While it manages to allow annoyance to creep into the gaming experience once or twice, the environments and fiction are compelling enough to allow you to overlook it.
I own a lot of first person shooters, and it really is my learned opinion that this is far from an average one. FarCry is average, trust me: largely irritating, rip-off plot, stupidly hard ending, occasional funky bits.
But Halo? Sure, it's isn't my favourite game ever but it's far from average and even further from crap.
My favourite games (in no particular order):
Thief 1 & 2 (haven't played 3 yet)
Chronotrigger
Baldur's Gate
UT2k4
The Broken Sword series
Deus Ex (just the 1st)
Anachronox
Morrowind
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Beyond Good and Evil
Startopia (grossly underrated, go buy!)
Outcast (EVERYONE should play this game: it's truly brilliant)
Max Payne 2
No-one Lives Forever 1 & 2 (equally as good as Halo, up there as some of the finest FPSs I've ever played)
Half-Life
Call of Duty (Stalingrad is INCREDIBLE)
System Shock 2 (not so good ending but generally great, plus co-op!)
Halo: Combat Evolved
Posted on 2004-08-24 00:40:02
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Alex
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Quote:Originally posted by Interference22
It's one of few first person shooters with a competent plot behind it. Goldeneye didn't really need one since the movie provided it but Halo's is brilliant and - shock, horror - WELL acted!
Competently acted it may be, but what's the point in good acting when it's implemented so stupidly? I would have liked ALL the talky bits to have been done in cutscenes, rather than have most of the information you're given spoken to you without subtitles, while you're shooting stuff, making it virtually impossible to hear it let alone take it in. I know that Halo was meant to be some kind of weapon that the Covenant wanted to use for some reason, but that's about the extent of the story that I managed to pick up.
(Also as someone who's into driving games, I found the vehicles to be frustrating and crappy in the extreme to control (the PC version may be different for all I know, but I doubt it), plus the tank was underused.)
Don't get me wrong, I'm not really saying it's crap, but there's absolutely nothing that I can see that makes it any better than any other fps. As far as I can see, it's just a plainly average title (with too much pointless doubling back over huge levels). And it's certainly undeserving of the "Combat Evolved" subtitle, which implies that it's somehow a revolutionary game and not, for example, just like every other fps since the aforementioned Goldeneye.
Posted on 2004-08-24 02:13:21
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loretian
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Quote:Originally posted by Interference22
Morrowind
Yes!
Posted on 2004-08-24 04:07:00
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Gayo
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Good games have no place in this thread!
Another "bad game" example: Megaman Soccer. For those of you smart enough not to play this, it was a soccer game where you played as various megaman robots. However, it was one of those stupid gimmicky soccer games, so it wasn't even good from that standpoint. You had a "super shot" that you could use periodically, and only the last two teams (out of something like ten or twelve) could actually stop a super shot, so there was no actual skill involved in scoring. Then, for those last two teams, it was incredibly hard to score. You were able to add players of teams you'd beaten to your own team, and each team's players were supposed to have special skills, but in practice it hardly mattered. Finally, when you beat it on Story mode, you got some "THE END" screen and it reset. Not even a "the world is safe now!"
Posted on 2004-08-24 14:02:14
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loretian
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Quote:Originally posted by Gayo
Good games have no place in this thread!
Sorry. Hmm.... what about that Driver's Education game? Does that even count as a game?
Posted on 2004-08-24 15:31:11
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mcgrue
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Worst game ever?
Final Fantasy 6.
Posted on 2004-08-24 16:30:55
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Omni
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Six?
Posted on 2004-08-24 17:35:06
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anonymous
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Final Fantasy 6 isn't nearly as bad as Final Fantasy 8.
Posted on 2004-08-24 18:17:50
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Interference22
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The PC version is easy to control at the very least. Not sure about the Xbox, it could just be you, you know :-).
I'm not too big a fan of cutscenes as I feel they really break the flow of a game and having data fed directly to you - be it in voice form or by direct events (see - Half-Life) is much more involving.
Subtitle-wise, I'm not sure but I think there was a feature to turn those on. Either way, you could have just upped the voice volume level if things got noise. I don't seriously recall anything important being said during loud sections anyway.
Conversely, I happen to be reasonable at driving games (enough to get by) and really enjoyed the vehicular sections, especially the Warthog and the number of stupid stunts that driving one entailed.
I SERIOUSLY cannot believe that you picked so little up about the plot: did you have CHEESE in your ears?!
**SPOILERS AHOY!!**
Halo, it transpires, is a form of research station - one of many - to investigate and detain a species known as The Flood, a highly dangerous (and highly ugly) alien race. The Covenant mistakedly think Halo is a weapon in itself and are unpleasantly surprised to discover otherwise.
First time The Flood poured into a room I nearly jumped out of my chair: the athmosphere has been building up to this point. The place starts empty and wrecked, then you turn round and WHALLOP! There's one right in your face! You shoot the bastard and then there's a noise... Hundreds of these things begin to flow into the room. A *classic* "Oh shit" moment.
And Goldeneye. Yes, it was good but gaming has progressed since then. The progression of Goldeneye has lead to Timesplitters 2, which is also very good but tends to focus on gameplay alone rather than form any specific story. Play that if that's what you want but I feel you've really missed something fundamental with Halo.
Posted on 2004-08-25 00:57:08
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Alex
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I think with the Xbox versoin of Halo coming along first, such highly advanced features as subtitles and increasing the voice volume are only in the PC version... And the Xbox vehicle controls are pretty much the same as the controls when you're on foot, point in the direction you want to go, and press 'up'. No proper steering, which is the problem I have with it, especially when you're going fast, there's just no real control.
No, I didn't have cheese in my ears, I save that for when TOTP is on. :) But I did have hordes of Flood flying at me every time that little blue floaty thing said anything. Don't know *what* the hell that level was all about...
Posted on 2004-08-25 01:26:09
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Interference22
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Ah! Guilty Spark! He's the administrator of Halo, the last of its staff as it were. You were in a digital library, a hive of knowledge gleaned from studying The Flood. A nice wide open area to mow the bastards down without having to watch in dismay as they decimate your troops.
Vehicle control was ok in the PC version: point the mouse and press forwards. It was a little odd at first but didn't really take long to get used to. It seemed to steer reasonably well and running down the covenant and watching as their bodies flew screaming into the air was fairly funny. I suppose a selection of possibilities in respect to how you control vehicles may well have been in order but I didn't have much of a problem really.
Ever notice the occasional nod Halo gives to the film Aliens? The dropship pilot looks EXACTLY the same as the one in Aliens (reflective glasses and all), the battle armour is very similar and there's a few more similarities too if you look around.
Posted on 2004-08-25 01:59:08
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Omni
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LEAVE FINAL FANTASY 8 ALONE RIGHT NOW or die!
Posted on 2004-08-25 02:21:29
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Alex
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Aliens was great, best of the trilogy* by far. Halo would have done well to take a few more leaves out of Aliens' book, like having scary enemies, no irritating hologramatic computer, and and a closing line that doesn't make you cringe.
FF8 > FF6
*EDIT: Yes, I know there were four, but I'm not counting the last one because it was so awful...
Posted on 2004-08-25 23:03:55 (last edited on 2004-08-25 23:05:43)
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Interference22
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Actually, I didn't mind the closing line either: it gave a little hope and determinism after what was ultimately a very bleak ending sequence.
I preferred the claustrophobic athmosphere of the original Alien but have to agree that Aliens certainly had something about it that made it stand out as a tense, horror-packed and genuinely entertaining sequel (something we don't get enough of these days).
And leave Cortana alone: as a mission briefer and tactical data source she certainly beat FarCry's Doyle and was less than one quarter the annoyance that Red Faction's Hendrix was. She had some level of personality for one and having a female voice give you mission info was actually quite refreshing.
Posted on 2004-08-25 23:12:58
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