I've played about an hour or so of the single player campaign so far and, to be honest, I'm hugely underwhelmed.
The controls feel decent enough, although mapping sprint and crouch to the same buttons was an interesting decision that results in the odd unintended crouch. Stick sensitivity is fine and haven't found myself overcompensating when aiming particularly often.
Visuals are below-par by current standards. Many of the interior locations are bland and some of the environmental effects (dripping water and the like) are quite rubbish compared to that of, say, BioShock or Gears.
The outdoor sections are nice, though, and the scale of some of the enemies is great - it's cool to be aiming up towards towering opponents that dwarf anything found in recent FPSes.
Less great, however, is the game's reliance on instant, unforeseen death to keep the player reined in on the path/timing that the game wants. Spending too long where the game doesn't want you to be? Death. Didn't see where the NPC you're meant to follow has run off to? Death.
Set foot in water? Death.
It's not a fun game mechanic; it's just irritating, particularly when everything pauses for about 15 seconds whilst it reloads the last checkpoint, leaving a bitter taste of unfairness sloshing about your mouth.
NPC characterisation seems by-the-numbers - I've not encountered anyone particularly likeable (player-character Hale in particular is a non-entity so far). Character design is inferior to that of Half-Life 2, animation is a little flaky at times...
I've got to say that I have no real want or urge to return to the single-player from where I left off, although I will play it again to see it through. The biggest problem is that it can be compared to so many other games, and more often than not the comparison won't be favourable.
I can only presume that it's the multiplayer and co-op missions that will give the game its legs/9-out-of-10 scores (although quite why there's no co-op for the single-player story is a mystery) so I'll give those a shot today.
But in conclusion: disappointing.
The controls feel decent enough, although mapping sprint and crouch to the same buttons was an interesting decision that results in the odd unintended crouch. Stick sensitivity is fine and haven't found myself overcompensating when aiming particularly often.
Visuals are below-par by current standards. Many of the interior locations are bland and some of the environmental effects (dripping water and the like) are quite rubbish compared to that of, say, BioShock or Gears.
The outdoor sections are nice, though, and the scale of some of the enemies is great - it's cool to be aiming up towards towering opponents that dwarf anything found in recent FPSes.
Less great, however, is the game's reliance on instant, unforeseen death to keep the player reined in on the path/timing that the game wants. Spending too long where the game doesn't want you to be? Death. Didn't see where the NPC you're meant to follow has run off to? Death.
Set foot in water? Death.
It's not a fun game mechanic; it's just irritating, particularly when everything pauses for about 15 seconds whilst it reloads the last checkpoint, leaving a bitter taste of unfairness sloshing about your mouth.
NPC characterisation seems by-the-numbers - I've not encountered anyone particularly likeable (player-character Hale in particular is a non-entity so far). Character design is inferior to that of Half-Life 2, animation is a little flaky at times...
I've got to say that I have no real want or urge to return to the single-player from where I left off, although I will play it again to see it through. The biggest problem is that it can be compared to so many other games, and more often than not the comparison won't be favourable.
I can only presume that it's the multiplayer and co-op missions that will give the game its legs/9-out-of-10 scores (although quite why there's no co-op for the single-player story is a mystery) so I'll give those a shot today.
But in conclusion: disappointing.
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