If you follow PA you know that Robert and I played a lot of Splinter Cell multiplayer. The demo dropped this weekend for the new multiplayer portion of Double Agent and for me at least it’s a huge disappointment.
On the Merc side they have completely removed your ability to alter or manage your environment. For me the thrill of playing as a Merc was setting up my defenses. Trying to anticipate the spy’s moves and then laying out my inventory of mines and motion sensors. One of the best feelings in that game was hearing a mine explode and know that you got one. Or hearing a motion sensor trip and knowing exactly where the spy was coming from. Laying traps for spies was what made being a merc fun.
As if removing your ability to protect the level wasn’t bad enough they also removed all the built in cameras. It used to be that the spys had to deal not only with a merc’s improvised defenses but also a network of built in motion alarms and cameras. As a merc it made you feel like the level was actually your ally. Without the strategy of learning to read the level’s built in defenses or placing your own, the merc side of the game devolves into a generic Halo style FPS. There’s no tactical element beyond the basic hide and go seek stuff that’s always been there.
Oddly enough breaking the merc side has also broken the spy side. It used to be that the spy had to navigate the map without being detected or blown to shit. It wasn’t just spy vs. merc it was spy vs. the level and the fucking merc. You had no idea how the merc might have laid out their defenses so you really had to sneak. Every game was different and exciting. The feeling of creeping through a level slowly disabling a mercs traps and then hacking the system without ever giving away your position was incredible. That was the thrill of being a spy. Now it’s just don’t get seen by the guy with the gun.
They’ve dumbed the game down in an effort, I assume to appeal to a wider audience. They want those FPS twitch kiddies and they want them bad. My feeling is that they’ve missed the mark though. They’ve dumbed it down to a point where the people like me that used to enjoy it don’t anymore but it’s still too strange for the Halo 2 crowd. The first time MaZteRCH33pH jumps into a game and sees some fucking ninja with no gun snap his neck he’s done.
There’s some neat stuff in the game. It’s not a complete waste. It’s just that they are not additions to the game I already liked. If things like the ability to hack from a distance or escape moves had simply been in addition to everything I already liked I’d be one happy camper. Instead they created a completely different game. You can like this game, that’s fine. But it really is a new game. This isn’t Splinter Cell multiplayer, this is Halo hide and seek.
-Gabe out
<-- huge dork
(CW)TB
The Burning Crusade expansion for WoW is coming, so named because of how the game devours human lives, leaving them a smoldering ruin. It offers up a new race for Horde players in the form of the Blood Elves, whose potent innate abilities and supernatural homestead almost - almost - make up for their unstoppable urge to feed on demonic energies.
We did a bunch of comics for Brady's first WoW guide, and they must have been well received because they've asked us to contribute a few to the BC guide also. Hurrah!
Joystiq linked to some "leaked" shots of a few Playstation 3 titles that will make up their answer to Live Arcade/Shop Channel - and they're stunning. Okay, the Sudoku doesn't really look stunning, but they did the best they could with the available material. I'll say it again: for those games whose primary goal is not juggling integers, I find the quality of these images shocking.
Sony's online service (which shall remain nameless!) is "free," but there's not a Goddamn thing on this Earth free. Someone is always paying for it, it's just a matter of how much, and how long they're willing to continue doing it. I'm not making a dark proclamation, unless you think the way the world operates is dark and I'm simply reaffirming your position. In this case, you are paying for it. Not with an explicit charge, but they're betting that we'll find their steaming electronic smorgasbord irresistable. They're right, too. I'm not even buying one of the Goddamn things, and already the saliva has beguin to well.
The truth is that Sony is in a position to make a fuckload more money than Microsoft is on their online proposition, (supposedly onerous) subscription fees or no: between microcontent, new games, the music store they've got hooked in, digital video, games like Gran Turismo where you purchase your game experience "a la car," instant, most likely highly addictive access to PS1 and PS2 games, and (if their startlingly updated Lemmings is an indicator) an onslaught of unbelievably resonant Psygnosis classics, they stand to get well in excess of four dollars a month. It may be fair to say that the Playstation 3 owner will (in the manner of Scrooge McDuck) leap from a great height into a gigantic, articulate catalogue of digital content.
I purchased Sid Meier's Railroads! yesterday, and yes, I think you're supposed to italicize it. In any case, I'm afraid to install it. I have things I actually need to accomplish this week.
Oh, and also - this is the sight that greeted me as I entered the workplace:
I guess Nerf makes a sniper rifle now? That's Fantastic.
(CW)TB out.
