General Gaming Thread

[apsham]

The person who reviewed it for Polygon experienced something that I feared - and that was essentially, the Alien yeah.. basically rubber banding to you hardcore. They said they spent 1/3 of the game just waiting for the Alien to get the hell out of the way, and by part way through that they weren't scared of it anymore. Instances where it would leave, only to come back three seconds later just sound tedious and the main reason I don't think you can really do a game like this.

Alien works because it's a movie, this will get tired after a bit.

[TKz]

I really wouldn't trust the reviews on this one. They're literally all over the fucking place. Escapist gave it a 4.5/5 (from Jim Sterling, who is probably my most trusted reviewer out there) whilst IGN gave it a 5/10. Then it's also getting 8s, 7s and everything else under the sun from all over the place.

Definitely looking like this is one you'll have to try for yourself.

[SeanDMan]

Jim Sterling gave it a 4.5 after ripping it to shreds for it's preorder scheme? That must mean it's really a 6.5/5.

[lanky316]

The person who reviewed it for Polygon experienced something that I feared - and that was essentially, the Alien yeah.. basically rubber banding to you hardcore. They said they spent 1/3 of the game just waiting for the Alien to get the hell out of the way, and by part way through that they weren't scared of it anymore. Instances where it would leave, only to come back three seconds later just sound tedious and the main reason I don't think you can really do a game like this.

Alien works because it's a movie, this will get tired after a bit.

The game is estimated to take nearly half as long as he said it took him. I suspect that he found himself getting stuck in a loop where the Alien AI knew he was in the area and was persistantly searching while he was just waiting for it to go away leading to a stalemate. As on higher difficulties it's set to be even more unforgiving and persistent it's not a surprise he struggled in that loop.

It sounds like the xenomorph programming has been exceptional and doesn't fail to meet what CA set out to do which is a relief. The problem may well be that on higher levels that's too good and too ambitious and sucks out the fun. Even on easiest level it's still supposed to be difficult but slightly more forgiving so we'll see. It's reviewed generally well, even the two or three negative reviews match up with what I was expecting and I've got a few quid extra at the moment so I'll be picking it up but think it could be one that goes either way to most.

[apsham]

Jim Sterling gave it a 4.5 after ripping it to shreds for it's preorder scheme? That must mean it's really a 6.5/5.

Not sure how much I want to listen to this guy anyways.

[TKz]

Jim Sterling gave it a 4.5 after ripping it to shreds for it's preorder scheme? That must mean it's really a 6.5/5.

At what point should shady marketing and DLC practices effect the review of a game?

[SeanDMan]

When it compromises the game? Sim City is a perfect example of marketing bullshit crippling a game to near unplayablity, but because of embargoes it was on sale before anyone had a hands on chance to see how broken it was.

[Bobfoc]

Jim Sterling never said he wasn't looking forward to the game itself, and his reservations about the pre-order bonus exclusivity were nothing to do with the quality of the product he reviewed. SimCity was a case of a developer or publisher (depending on who you believe) stubbornly pushing gameplay mechanics on people who neither asked for or wanted them, and that was something that fundamentally changed how the game functioned. As I understand it, in the case of Alien: Isolation, the game is still just as playable with or without the pre-order bonus content, so I don't see why that particular issue should negatively influence a reviewer's opinion. If it's a 007 Legends-esque scenario in which an important section of the game (the ending, in this case) was left out and sold later as downloadable content, that's another problem entirely, but I don't think that's the case here.

[RoyWill Rumble]

This is one of those times that I don't understand why the new gen consoles don't have many demos. Alien seems like it could use a good half-hour to hour-long vertical slice.

[apsham]

Boy - we really need to make sure that cross-platform stuff stays in here. I totally forgot where I was talking about Mordor and it was in the thread for the console I don't own. >_>

Either way, I am now entirely sold on the game. Every method of combat isn't optional - it's damn well needed and that makes it awesome once you get good at it. I thought the runes were shit until I saw some of the better and epic ones which totally changes the way you play and the moment that sold me was when I was taking on a War Chief who had a bodyguard with him I had no clue about. I hoped to god the bodyguard was weak to stealth finishers and for sure he was, and the moment I started to pull back the War Chief RECOGNIZED THIS IN DIALOGUE - it was absolutely insane. They really took into account every friggin' possible method that they could first spot you in and took that into account. I had an amazing fight after that and just.. damn. I love it.

This is one of those times that I don't understand why the new gen consoles don't have many demos. Alien seems like it could use a good half-hour to hour-long vertical slice.

I'd be great with a demo that sets up atmosphere (the ship itself is supposed to be the best part), a first encounter with the Alien that ends with you just nearly escaping and... demo ends. If it felt right, I would buy first day for sure.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Welp, I'm convinced on Shadow of Mordor.

Now, if only I could afford it.

[Dan]

Probably gonna pick up Mordor for PC when I get back from my hols. It's only £22.50 on one of those key websites.

[King Ellis]

Hope you've got your 6gb graphics card to run it in ultra!

[Quom]

I'm playing it with a 670 on whatever the one below Ultra is and pulling a constant frame rate around 60. I think they might have overstated the specs just a bit.

I'm enjoying it more now. It's going to be one of the few games I finish I think. The best part so far is that I can actually manage stealth. Normally when a game has forced stealth missions that's the end of it for me. I'm not great at it and most missions take a few attempts, but they aren't dismal failures. I was right about abilities too, now that I've got some of the higher ones the combat is much more enjoyable. I'm closing in on the end of the game and can't decide if I want to finish it or attempt to brand all of the Captains/Warchiefs first. I also need to skip time probably, nearly all of the Captains are dead. Actually I wonder if you can clear the board?

[RoyWill Rumble]

I know this is quite weird to post, considering none of us really like basketball, myself included, but the Raptors recent success has got me to tangentially care about basketball and NBA 2K's stellar career modes have always had me kinda intrigued by those games. And playing them on PC/a bit on PS4/Xbone made me have a greater appreciation for the actual mechanics of basketball, even if I still find it incredibly boring to watch.

So this is Shaq and Ernie somethingsomething in NBA 2K15. This kind of interactivity and just the natural tone to everything makes me really, really, really hopeful that we can eventually see an emphasis on commentary/presentation in games that allows for stuff like say, FIFA, NHL, Madden, or MLB to feel a bit more natural. MLB does a great job, but they can still do a bit better, and FIFA is almost there. NHL made good steps with getting the NBC license. They just need to go a few steps further and really immerse the player. Also, this kind of emphasis on natural interactions between commentators in NBA 2K15 has me really, really, really hopeful that something like this can happen in the WWE games now that 2K is publishing them. Maybe it won't be in 2K15, but I'm hopeful for 2K16.

[Quom]

What do you mean none of us really like basketball? It's the only sport I'm borderline fanatical about and NBA 2K15 is the only game I've pre-ordered in years (first time PC version has been as good as consoles, I really want it to keep happening so put my money where my mouth is).

Funny you should mention the presentation, the commentary from what I've heard sounds the weakest it has in years because Steve Kerr is now coaching and used to record an unholy amount of commentary for the game.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Hearing this is a first. And really? That sucks, because Shaq and Ernie dude seem awesome.

[King Ellis]

Apparently Ubisoft locked AC: Unity at 30fps and 900p on both the One and the PS4 in order to 'avoid all the debates and stuff'.

Gonna abandon the internet for a month and avoid TKz and the like complaining that the One has held the PS4 back and is ruining gaming.

Seems a bit bullshitty to me because they're all for claiming the PS brand is the best for their games with exclusive DLC but they wont favour them with better resolution and frame rate?

[TKz]

It's a weird one alright. I'm not really bothered because it's Assassins Creed, the most boring game to come out of the last gen, but it seems a silly thing to do. Why even admit it like they did - why not just say they're running at that on both consoles and leave it at that?

Oh Ubisoft. Never stop being whacky.

[apsham]

Update:

Ubisoft says it did not scale down the game's graphics to accommodate one particular system, saying Pontbriand's comments were "misinterpreted." The company's full comment is below.

"We understand how Senior Producer Vincent Pontbriand's quotes have been misinterpreted. To set the record straight, we did not lower the specs for Assassin's Creed Unity to account for any one system over the other.

"Assassin's Creed Unity has been engineered from the ground up for next-generation consoles. Over the past 4 years, we have created Assassin's Creed Unity to attain the tremendous level of quality we have now achieved on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. It's a process of building up toward our goals, not scaling down, and we're proud to say that we have reached those goals on all SKUs.

"At no point did we decide to reduce the ambitions of any SKU. All benefited from the full dedication of all of our available optimization resources to help them reach the level of quality we have today with the core Assassin's Creed Unity experience."