What have you beaten recently? What are you playing?

[Munty]

I just completed Crysis... Wow am I glad I got it cheap... The game has essentially 11 levels, not too many right? Well I could have played a much better game if it had only got 8 levels... The one in the tanks I've already mentioned and it was ****e. Then later there's another one in a VTOL thing which is similarly crap. The suit may as well not exist on this level as from start to finish you're stuck in a poorly armed aircraft with no maneouverability and pointless secondary objectives. Another mission doesn't even receive a satisfactory in-game explanation for why it exists at all. Of course when dealing with aliens there's bound to be some kind of bio-mechanical mothership/complex type level but in this case it served as nothing more than a time-wasting, frustrating maze... The enemies appear to be some kind of ghosts or gelatinous slimer-like creatures, there is no real purpose to any of the level and it is absolutely linear in every single sense. Add to that it's dark, repetitive and confusing and it would have been much better left out of the game completely...

Add to these 3 wasted levels the fact that the last level culminates with a BUGGED BOSSFIGHT! Yes that's right, they didn't playtest the last mission... As always it's a very 1990's console 'shoot the big boss here then here then here for a remarkable chain reaction' scenario but in this case... Well it just doesn't work. After I had trouble getting my 'supergun' to do what it was meant to do I resorted to a walkthrough to explain how I am supposed to achieve a lock on. I found nothing helpful as it is apparently very simple. So I played again, and again, and again... Until a quick google of my problem revealed literally dozens of posts on various sites by hundreds of gamers with identical problems.

That isn't even the worst part of this sad story. The worst part is that I bought the 'maximum edition'. That means I have to play through a whole second game! Please can somebody tell me that Crysis Warhead is an improvement on the original???

88, What's no.2 like? Any pointless missions? Game-breaking bugs?

[d_stilgar]

Beat Portal 2. Really really really really good game. Really Really short, again. I recommend playing it for sure, but I'm not sure it was worth the $45 pre-order cost.

[The boy 4rm oz]

I just completed Crysis... Wow am I glad I got it cheap... The game has essentially 11 levels, not too many right? Well I could have played a much better game if it had only got 8 levels... The one in the tanks I've already mentioned and it was ****e. Then later there's another one in a VTOL thing which is similarly crap. The suit may as well not exist on this level as from start to finish you're stuck in a poorly armed aircraft with no maneouverability and pointless secondary objectives. Another mission doesn't even receive a satisfactory in-game explanation for why it exists at all. Of course when dealing with aliens there's bound to be some kind of bio-mechanical mothership/complex type level but in this case it served as nothing more than a time-wasting, frustrating maze... The enemies appear to be some kind of ghosts or gelatinous slimer-like creatures, there is no real purpose to any of the level and it is absolutely linear in every single sense. Add to that it's dark, repetitive and confusing and it would have been much better left out of the game completely...

Add to these 3 wasted levels the fact that the last level culminates with a BUGGED BOSSFIGHT! Yes that's right, they didn't playtest the last mission... As always it's a very 1990's console 'shoot the big boss here then here then here for a remarkable chain reaction' scenario but in this case... Well it just doesn't work. After I had trouble getting my 'supergun' to do what it was meant to do I resorted to a walkthrough to explain how I am supposed to achieve a lock on. I found nothing helpful as it is apparently very simple. So I played again, and again, and again... Until a quick google of my problem revealed literally dozens of posts on various sites by hundreds of gamers with identical problems.

That isn't even the worst part of this sad story. The worst part is that I bought the 'maximum edition'. That means I have to play through a whole second game! Please can somebody tell me that Crysis Warhead is an improvement on the original???

88, What's no.2 like? Any pointless missions? Game-breaking bugs?

I quite enjoyed Crysis myself, even though it did have the few pointless levels. If you know the story line they really do make sense and the situation is expanded on in Warhead where you play as an entirely different character.

The original Crysis took me about 6 -8 hours to complete on medium (with some stuffing around), Warhead around the same. Warhead also features a lot of fixes on game play issues,

[x88x]

I quite enjoyed Crysis myself, even though it did have the few pointless levels.

Me too. The tank level was a bit annoying though, mainly because the tank was so hard to control and would blow up if you took it too fast off any ledges...

IIRC, Warhead is very similar to the parts of Crysis that you liked, Munty. IE, no alien spaceships and no tanks or flying. I can't comment on the bugs, though, as I never experienced any in any of the three games.

I quite enjoyed both Crysis and Crysis Warhead, but imo Crysis 2 is a much better game. The story is better, the suit controls are a lot more intuitive, and there's a lot more of it there. It took me just over 18 hours to beat it. I'd say that's pretty good value. My personal favorite change was in the suit controls. They made it a lot easier to actually use all the functions of the suit. Instead of having different 'modes', for 'speed', you just hold down shift while running, for 'strength', for jumping or hitting you just hold down the key longer, and to steady shots you just hold down shift. Then, for cloak you just hit another button (I forget what it defaulted to and I think I changed it). Made for awesome sniping. Just cloak, get in position, line up the (head)shot, then uncloak-shoot-cloak really fast. That way, you don't lose all your suit energy when you shoot, and even when they do realize they're getting shot at, they can't see who's shooting them.

Like The boy 4rm oz mentioned, though, with the Crysis games you do actually have to pay attention to the plot if you want the game to make sense. Most of the crop of FPSs out there these days are pretty devoid of plot, and even when it is there, it usually has little to nothing to do with the actual missions. That's actually one of the reasons I really like the Crysis games. Yes, the plot in Crysis and Warhead wasn't quite as well done as I would have liked, but it was there, it was internally consistent, and it affected the gameplay. And that's a good thing, imo. So, I guess if that's what you didn't like about Crysis, you'll really hate Crysis 2, because they made the plot even more connected to the gameplay. Personally, I loved it.

[AmEv]

I'm excited to play Portal 2 myself, but not $50 excited.

[PauL]

Portal 2 was pretty awesome, finished the game up last night. Took me 10 hrs to beat singleplayer, a couple levels really had me stumped for awhile. I only payed $15 for the game (Amazon sale + giftcard), so I definitely got my moneys worth and I haven't even tried coop yet.

I've been playing Assassins Creed Brotherhood off and on for the last couple weeks. Enjoying so far, but school has been keeping me busy. Hard to believe, but sometimes it feels like there is too much stuff to do lol.

Purchased Bulletstorm today from the D2D, only played for about an hour but it looks interesting. I noticed a lot of people say the game was fun just not worth the $60 price tag, so for $20 something, it was hard to pass up.

[Fuganater]

I'm excited to play Portal 2 myself, but not $50 excited.

So I take it your not an avid gamer?

[NightrainSrt4]

To distract myself from trying to upgrade for f@h, even though the fiancee gave the thumbs up, I started playing Demon's Souls again. Completed the game on the character I was using before.

Such an awesome game. From when you first start, to when you come back after a while, it gives such a great feeling when you get creamed every time within 30 seconds of the level to when you start to figure things out (again) and just walk right through everything.

Can't wait for Dark Souls.

[Munty]

Glad I'm not the only one who saw some levels as unnecessary :p And I must agree that so far Warhead seems to be a slightly more sensible game. I was devastated to be put in control of a hovercraft for one level though, didn't like that at all... No weapons at all but virtually impossible to damage. Add to that the fact that the guy you are chasing will never actually get away and there's only one very long, windy, confusing route to reach the finish... I just got out and ran the whole way in the end

Made for awesome sniping. Just cloak, get in position, line up the (head)shot, then uncloak-shoot-cloak really fast. That way, you don't lose all your suit energy when you shoot, and even when they do realize they're getting shot at, they can't see who's shooting them.

I'm loving the clock-snipe-cloak thing but I must say it does suck in the originals that you lose all your energy when shooting. Obviously you'd want to uncloak and fire so you're able to immediately recloak but as a player I certainly don't want to do it manually as you put yourself at risk a lot longer. Sounds like no.2 will be an improvement in that area...

Like The boy 4rm oz mentioned, though, with the Crysis games you do actually have to pay attention to the plot if you want the game to make sense.

I agree, a game with a plot is a very good thing. Blowing stuff up is fun and all but it's more fun with direction. Honestly though I don't have a great deal of good to say about the plot in the original but I haven't finished Warhead yet.

I find that the length of the original campaign is rather lacking and if anything it should be a chapter of the campaign not the entirety of it. I think the allocation of manpower is also very odd at times. One level you're a lone commando then you're being supported by tanks, aircraft and fullscale marine platoons before being once again alone in the very next level...

The focus of the story is of course the fact that there is an alien vessel on earth (or building, I never understood which) which is switching on and attacking everyone. That said, we never learn anything about them, their origins, their arrival on the planet, presence elsewhere in the universe, strengths, weaknesses, what they are (not carbon based that's for sure!) and wtf their vehicles and weapons are. How can a game include such a detailed alien race with so much to offer and then fail to disclose even the tiniest scrap of information about them?

To me, this is a game that was never finished so of course there was going to be a Crysis 2. if it sold well... And that's kind of the key isn't it. They weren't really thinking about the players but about future financial projections. Let's cut the game short and send it out then we can make another one if it sells or cut our losses if it doesn't.

I agree it's nice to see a plot in a FPS but I disagree that it was a good one. IT all comes down to aliens attacking earth after all and that's pretty much every FPS out there except the US special forces vs. communist adversaries setting. Oh no wait, it had that too...

[Munty]

Completed Crysis Warhead and I have to say it's an improvement on the first. Given that I did enjoy the first one for the most part it's fairly obvious that I've liked this one too! There was the hovercraft mission which was completely pointless and one rather redundant mission which is spent travelling through a mine but even these are less pointless than the tank and VTOL missions from the first one.

Additionally the PC is far more memorable and actually has a personality of his own which is a distinct improvement over the original. Nomad was a very bland rank and file elite soldier whereas Psycho is far deeper and easier to relate to. There are even moments in the cutscenes where you see huge chunks of his character emerging and the inclusion of a backstory between him and O'Neill (an NPC in Warhead) is another nice touch that adds further dimension to the story if not the plot.

Being a parallel to Crysis there were no surprises but that was expected and I think the plot was handled pretty damn well with some good missions along the way although maybe the game could've been longer, a problem in the original too...

So what about Crysis 2? I'm told it's an improvement on both of the originals so I'm inclined to think I'd enjoy that even more. It's nice to see a franchise that seems to better itself with each release, I just hope they don't go too far...