1 Response

1. Glazius Says:

   Storyline
   Design
   Gameplay
   Detail

   @GlaziusF

   Feedback from a low 40s DB/Fire brute, diff 2. Mission Engineer stubbornly refuses to earn itself.

   —

   …I get to be target practice. Oh boy oh boy.

   Man, these guys are just a bunch of stooges.

   Although, when you’ve “faked a plural” by giving single objectives the same plural text, you can’t count on the single text to show up right. (Dr. Howard’s the last one up but the HUD says I need to take out Dr. Fine.)

   I like the visuals on the suits, though, and they’re not too overpowering either. They even have autopilots in case the pilots get mentally compromised! Because automated combat systems never decide to wipe out humanity!

   Actually, I don’t know.

   …oh, the lead project scientist has a dead wife. That’s a harbinger of stability.

   Ah, sorry. I guess late nights bring out my inner cynic.

   —

   Little typo in the briefing for number 2. “Meesenger” for “messenger”. But it’s never just a courier run.

   I see how it is. Lull the hero into a false sense of security and then HAMMER HIM WITH TWIN BLAST SETS.

   Seriously, nice work on the extra suits, though the Augmentors look a little too much like standard Arguses to tell apart at first glance.

   Once again the wrong singular comes out of the plural.

   —

   Some ancient mystery of the past, hidden away in Eden, is the key to all this? Alright, I’m on board, I’m not bored. Let’s chop some mushrooms.

   Hmm. The objectives in the HUD look weird. Did you fill in any text for ‘em?

   Okay, so the dude loves his dead hot wife. …and she’s actually a slimebeast now? Or possibly a Malta Titan. Or a Rikti! Maybe a Carnie ring mistress? A Warwolf?

   (I am making a subtle point that FREAKING EVERYTHING IN THIS GAME IS SOME KIND OF TRANSFORMED HUMAN BEING WHAT THE HELL)

   Ah, that kind of transformed human. Okay.

   —

   Oh, the Augmentors are kinda purply now that they’re in good light. Needs to be a couple shades lighter I think.

   Hmm. Tenements are more row-housey and less warehousey. You might have gotten away with an abandoned office or something here.

   Nice seeing these knuckleheads again, though.

   —

   And now it’s time to stick a blade in a crazy man’s head.

   Or words to that effect, anyway.

   Hmm. Eliza still has C’Kelkah’s default description and there’s no special text for getting her out.

   Hmmmmm. She sticks around, and Doc Walter shows up right by the door and mows down my following help. Well, half of it, anyway. The fight’s nice, with a couple (apparently) unannounced ARGUS ambushes, a final announced one, and some Rikti reinforcements.

   And Eliza is just kind of standing there, watching, unhittable, all this time. I’m thinking something might have gone wrong there.

   —

   Storyline - *****. Crisp, clear, nicely self-contained. Only one problem - did the doctor recently head into his old base and write down the truth about Eliza, or was that sitting around for a while? It seems like the kind of thing Sister Psyche would pick up on.

   Design - ****. A little weirdness on the map choice for mission 4, that odd color tinting on the Augmentor that doesn’t show up distinguishably in some lighting conditions, two silent waves of reinforcements in the final showdown, and Eliza’s weird clingy spectator behavior. But everything else was quite solid, especially the design of the customs.

   Gameplay - *****. The Argus suits were definitely hard but not unmanageable, though they got a lot tougher after the first mission. DIdn’t have much trouble finding my way through the missions or figuring out what to do, either. Solid playing.

   Detail - ****. The incidental scientists are great, but there are a few too many objectives with just their default HUD text and a little unevenness in the singulars of early plural objectives.

   Overall - *****. This one gets rounded up. The story’s good, if predictable, the customs are visually distinctive and generally distinguishable, and it just needs a little polish to get 5s across the board.

   Posted on May 31st, 2009 at 10:18 pm