BattleCry

[Tundra]

Is it me or does this character in the promo art bare a striking resemblance to David Beckham?

[Tundra]

[Justin Leego]

He also happens to be a great crosser.

[Gormongous]

Isn't how these things are often done, with an artist just pulling a picture off of Google Image Search to base a design around? It's sloppy, but I know I've seen plenty of mysterious lookalikes, though rarely so uncanny and obvious.

[syntheticgerbil]

Are crossbows not two handed weapons? It seems inefficient to have one in each hand.

[brkl]

haha, what, is that what David Beckham looks like these days?

[Bjorn]

Bend (a bow) like Beckham.

 

The crossbow in his left hand is like a mini-crossbow.  It's half the size of the other crossbow. 

[TychoCelchuuu]

These days unless a multiplayer game like this is either knock-it-out-of-the-park popular (Battlefield, Titanfall, Counterstrike, Call of Duty) or fits into a cool weird small niche (Natural Selection 2, Insurgency) it just tends to die. We'll have to see if BattleCry can hit one of the two highs - otherwise I'm not sure I'd want to buy a game nobody will play after a few months.

[Twig]

Yeah it's frustrating to find a really sweet multiplayer game and watch as it dies in your arms. Of course, maybe this game isn't going to be good. We can only hope...

[ariskany_evan]

Polygon's headline calling it a "stylish WWI game" seemed kind of bizarre.

 

Remember the most deadly and yet most boring war in history?  Well, yeah, it was pretty boring, so forget all of that trench warfare.  We're imagining WWI as if it was a multiplayer deathmatch arena.  We're keeping the guns, though. It'll be really authentic, just like WWI!  No, actually, scrap that, none of the guns.  In our alternate universe gunpowder is banned.  The design of the melee weapons will at least be true to the techonology of the time:  "... soldiers fight each other in up close and personal battles using technology of the time."  You know, like a "retro-futuristic" sword that "can transform into a shield".  Or a character that can cloak.

 

The way thoughts are brought up and then concluded in this article make for a very confusing game reveal.

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/28/5755698/battlecry-preview-bethesda-softworks-pc

 

(I wasn't a big fan of Zeno Clash or using the melee character in Borderlands, so the premise for this game aside from the confusing PR doesn't seem super exciting)

[Nachimir]

It's nice to see Victor Antonov doing something new (I was a little disappointed that aspects of Dishonored so closely aped his work on HL2). The setting almost put me to sleep though.

 

Are crossbows not two handed weapons? It seems inefficient to have one in each hand.

 

Yes, really dumb. Even if there was a goat's foot on either of them to make cocking easier, they're still two handed.

[melmer]

How does he load them? Also, the off-hand crossbow has a vertical bow. Didn't you know? Vertical crossbow are cool, all the kids are using them

Is it a bad thing that's its a total rip-off of TF2. I don't know if it being so blatant will turn people off. "Hey! Stop playing TF2 and come play this poor mans version!"

[Twig]

I could imagine a gunpowder-less world in which someone manufactured an one-handed, easily-loadable crossbow!

 

Maybe.

[melmer]

No gunpowder, but there are laser guns! Why use a sword in a world with energy cannons (I'm calling them energy cannons)

[Bjorn]

Why use a crossbow in a world with energy cannons?  Unless the crossbows are actually energy cannons in disguise?  And the bolts are just for his cosplay outfit?

 

Edited to add: Okay, just watched that trailer.  It's like someone asked, "What if we take TF2 and Borderlands, strip out all humor and personality, and then make it bloody as fuck?"  Also, maybe the crossbows are some sort of weird energy weapon:

 

[melmer]

...annnnnd with a focus on melee! Only not... We have to keep the shooter fans happy after all

[Twig]

Wait. There are energy cannons?! What the fuck is the point of banning gunpowder then?

 

WHAT.

[melmer]

Come on you cynical bunch! Let's look at the positives...

Looks like at least two classes can be played as either a male of female and not an armoured bikini in site.

I say "at least two" as I'm not sure if they'll have a female version of the mechanical armed brawler? If there is I'd be curious about the design and all the pink DLC mechanical arms, oh wait I've become cynical

Side thought. The ascetic can't remain humourless for long considering the amount of customisable DLC they'll want to offer

[Twig]

As cynical as I'm being, if it's actually reported to be fun to play, I'll try it out. I mean, it's free, so I might just try it out regardless.

 

But yeah I'm not very optimistic. Especially about the idea of a lasting community.

[Bjorn]

I didn't realize that Rich Vogel was the head of this studio.  Weird.  Kind of an interesting trajectory to go from 2 Star Wars MMOs to a weird TF2 rip-off. 

 

Also, this quote from the Polygon article killed me:

 

While defeating your enemies and fighting a global, bloody war are at the heart of BattleCry, the game's developer is hoping that players will treat each other with respect and positivity after each match. Once the victor has been decided — along with a handful of MVPs from each team — players will have a few moments to congratulate each other on their accomplishments in-game with salutes. They can even award each other medals for valor. This feature, Davis said, will help the team develop a strong community behind BattleCry (emphasis added by me).

 

That's just...I don't want to say anything too mean about it.  It actually feels like they are tying to ape the Dark Souls gestures system with it, but not understanding the role that gestures play in the Souls community in general. 

[Tundra]

I like the fact theres a faction based on the Royal Marines.

How about a game with OLD gunpowder that's incrediably smokey and hard to clear?

After everyones let off a round of shots the whole map will virtually be unseeable, and naturally force players to go melee or risk being ambushed mid way into a 40 second musket reload.

Id find that cool, as the players who excel in sniping only have a short time to make an impact on the game and visa versa to mental-knife-kill-guy.

[Nachimir]

I've not touched TF2 in ages, but a friend said it's not been good recently. Maybe that will end up a poor man's version of this. Anyway, cynical as I'm feeling, I don't think it's particularly fair to call any multiplayer death match a TF2 rip off.

 

I could imagine a gunpowder-less world in which someone manufactured an one-handed, easily-loadable crossbow!

 
But extra difficult to aim with the RadGangsta™vertical bow. The RadGangsta™vertical bow almost completely defeats the point of a pistol form-factor, but looks rad! Video games!

 

Wait. There are energy cannons?! What the fuck is the point of banning gunpowder then?

 
This is one of the reasons the setting almost put me to sleep, it seems like poor world building. Which is surprising, given just how much effort Antonov put into City 17; i.e. they had narratives along the lines of "What happened her an hour ago? A month ago? A year ago?" for pretty much every location, which were just used as part of the level design briefs.

 

It's possibly an interesting constraint to impose on the people designing weapons for the game, but in narrative terms "because the world government banned it" is a cruddy reason. What's the point of banning gunpowder when there are so many other weapon technologies? What about mining and demolition? If it's post-apocalypse, how is there any authority than can spread that far or be that overbearing? If such an authority exists, why has geopolitics come down to people fighting in an arena? It reminds me of

.

[melmer]

Just stumbled upon this

Screenshots

http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/28/5754792/battlecry-first-screenshots

[Twig]

I skipped through that video and there was no gameplay. Worst.

[Tundra]

I skipped through that video and there was no gameplay. Worst.

You skipped a two minute video?