Ben X

The Big FPS Playthrough MISSION COMPLETE

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Yeah, it's not a particularly inspiring campaign. The multiplayer was a hoot though. 

 

Also, I love Operation Flashpoint, but I can't fault you at all for giving up on it. It's like taking up a modern military flight sim.

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There are some fun bits here, particularly when they throw a bit of variety in. Gradually making your way down a cable-car line, and a relatively well-made stealth section that felt very Far Cry. But there are a lot of frustratingly difficult sections; I've got it on normal and am regularly getting slaughtered - lots of snipers, supersoldiers and the like, and not really any way to deal with it except for brute-forcing your way through. I'm basically waiting for them to give me a high-powered gun with no cool-down time and lots of ammo.

 

The cutscenes are incredibly dull, too, almost as if they're trying to emulate dozing off in front of an old war movie on a Sunday afternoon.

 

Funnily enough, you don't seem to spend much time in Castle Wolfenstein - the first few levels are about escaping, then you're off on a jaunt around Germany.

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Okay, I'm close to giving up on this now, I'm not actually enjoying it that much. The AI and sound design are good, but there are a lot of cheap deaths and the shooting is just not that fun. I guess maybe it's a byproduct of being a WWII shooter, but the weapons aren't very satisfying or useful. My next game is Allied Assault so I'll be able to directly compare the two...

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Just looked that up, sounds like it goes a very different route with its weapons.

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I played RTCW a few years ago and it's fun for a while but gets tired quick. Even on release the points you make were valid so it's not a case of aging badly so much as it is a case of it was never a fantastic game. When are you starting allied Assault? I think I'll play that along with you.

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Yeah, I've had enough of this now. Endless grey corridors, having to reload every 2 minutes because someone fired a rocket launcher at me as I moved through a bottlenecked section.

 

Onto Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault

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I definitely remember digging Allied Assault, but then my fondest memories are related to the multiplayer. Starting to see a trend with how I relate to these old shooters.

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Okay, I'm enjoying this a lot more in general. It doesn't look quite as nice, but the shooting is a lot more satisfying and there's a bit more variety to stuff. There have been stealth and escort missions but they haven't been too annoying. Also the objectives and compass markings are really helpful. Again, the story isn't up to much - it's a rather dry history lesson - but there are lots of nice moments in the game, like being told your mission is to follow a senior officer through a level giving him back-up, only to have him get shot two minutes in and telling you to go on without him.

 

The main problem is that there are regular sections where you're pinned down in a tight area and suddenly all the enemies are crack shots and near impossible to get a shot at, there's unavoidable explosions going on, and the game wants you to take a very exact route  - it's really frustrating. The famous Omaha Beach section is one of these - it's very atmospheric and dramatic, but also quite unfair as a game level, and having to quicksave every three steps kind of deflates the drama.

 

I've got pretty far through, but I'm currently stuck on a bit where I have to progress up a road but there are invisible snipers ahead and what may be infini-spawning enemies behind. I think I'm supposed to clear out those in front so I can get to a sentry gun for those behind, but I'm finding it pretty much impossible. It's weird, the game occasionally seems to forget what the limit of your abilities are. I might have to watch a playthrough to see if there are any tactics I'm missing.

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Yeah AA and RTCW both released quite close to one another(RTCW a few months before I believe) and RTCW was the better looking game but AA was the more fun game. I remember magzines at the time sort of putting them up against one another since they're both WW2 shooters but there's really very little comparison.

 

What difficulty level are you playing on? From what I remember you're quite far into it. I know the level you're talking about, and it is a bit of a pain alright. I don't remember it well enough to give you any advice though.

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Thanks SS!

 

Paul - I'm playing on normal. It's been pretty easy so far except for those occasional spikes. I think my next tactic will be to comb back through the level for any lingering enemies and optional objectives, then head back to the bottleneck and try again. Then if no further luck, check a walkthrough, failing that I'll quit! It's a shame these games don't let you change difficulty setting midway through - I know Half Life 2 did, I'm not sure if it became an FPS standard at any point.

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I don't remember any particular difficulty spikes from MoH:AA, but I am literally humming the music to it. It does get tougher towards the end. I remember the sniper level, and of course Tiger Town.

 

Are you going to play the first Call of Duty? It's a different take on a campaign from the same developers. I remember moving almost seamlessly from one to the next.

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3 hours ago, Badfinger said:

I don't remember any particular difficulty spikes from MoH:AA, but I am literally humming the music to it. It does get tougher towards the end. I remember the sniper level, and of course Tiger Town.

 

Are you going to play the first Call of Duty? It's a different take on a campaign from the same developers. I remember moving almost seamlessly from one to the next.

He's only going to play the fourth Call of Duty.

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On 1/5/2017 at 1:15 AM, TychoCelchuuu said:

He's only going to play the fourth Call of Duty.

 

Correct! Spoilered in the OP is a list of the games I'll be playing. I'm only doing this to clear my backlog out, so unless someone buys me a game (as Paul did with Allied Assault, actually!) I'll be sticking to those on the list.

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Bah, it's back up to €20 on Steam. I bought AA for you because I feel it's a landmark FPS, as is CoD. They both set the bar for the trend of cinematic FPS campaigns which came off of them. So they're important points in the history of the genre.

 

It's interesting replaying AA because it's definitely more of a Half-Life style FPS in that the levels are quite open and you're free to move around them, by the time we get to COD they've started to go into the more scripted more directed campaign. Then unfortunately by the time we get to MW3 if you took one step wrong at times you'd get a game over screen.

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Yeah, there lots of little steps towards that directed campaign thing, where you're running about with a platoon and getting given orders by a captain, or running and gunning along with a spy by your side. It does give extra atmosphere, but those parts tend to be the ones where you get funnelled down a corridor of death - really the open sections should be harder as you can approach them in different ways, and the corridors/scripted bits should be easier.

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On 1/3/2017 at 4:14 PM, Ben X said:

I'm currently stuck on a bit where I have to progress up a road but there are invisible snipers ahead and what may be infini-spawning enemies behind. I think I'm supposed to clear out those in front so I can get to a sentry gun for those behind, but I'm finding it pretty much impossible.

 

Turns out they are infini-spawning and the only way to get through this section is in fact to just leg it past everyone and get to the truck before they catch you.

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Aaaand I've just got to the sniper level, which takes the worst problem with the game - hidden enemies with magic aim - and fills an entire map with them. It's like the equivalent of pixel-hunting in an adventure game, except if you don't click the object within two seconds flat you have to start again. Knowing exactly where every enemy is doesn't even help, this is stupid. I may well have to give up on the game, unfortunately. I feel like it deserves it for all these incredibly frustrating sections in between the good stuff.

 

I can't be bothered with Serious Sam 2, especially as I only have the HD version, so I think I'll move straight onto STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast™ (Dark Forces 3).

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Okay, I've played it for about ten minutes and it's pretty nice so far. Looks really good (the exterior textures are really nice for once), nice little cutscene with Mon Mothma, some light puzzles at the start, and stormtrooper banter is always good. Seems quite difficult already - I might restart on baby mode. The blasters are clumsy and random, which is true to lore but a little irritating when you're firing straight at a trooper and not hitting them; I got my health knocked down pretty easily in a firefight. I seem to remember hearing this game really only gets good once you're given the 'saber. Also, the shadows are a bit wonky, but these little glitches seem to be pretty standard as I go through these 2002 games.

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Thanks! I was considering that but wasn't sure if it was strong enough to make it worth it, will give it a go.

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2 minutes ago, Ben X said:

Thanks! I was considering that but wasn't sure if it was strong enough to make it worth it, will give it a go.

 

I think the alternate fire is a charge shot that's strong enough to be a one-hit kill for your average enemy, too?

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Ahhh, thanks! I'm planning to read the manual if I can find it, as like the previous games it's got bacta tanks, binoculars, force powers, saber fights, all sorts of stuff to get my head round.

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