My spoiler free in-depth review

acetken · 07-26-2006, 05:01 AM

Hookay. Well, I started playing today (PC version) and the already the game's been beaten.
Great graphics. (All settings to max) I had to hand-edit my files to enable proper resolutions on my widecreen monitor though. Ugh.
Great models. (For the most part)
Wholely uneven sound. (The voice actors musta been recorded in different takes because the quality / distance from the mic was distinctly noticible. You could tell that things were not the same and it really detracted.)
Great gun design, although they all did pretty standard things. Kind of a letdown.
Control was good.
The no death thing... I'm for it, but it was done poorly. I don't recall the game being particularly intense and I think this was the reason. Death should have mattered more. As it stands, it was rather mundane. True, there was no reloading frustration, but there should have been something.
Story was pretty damned good. (Though a short alternate ending where I actually get to CHOOSE what to do would have been neat)

After the SUPERB demo, I expected much more kickassery. It showed a lot of potential to finally add some much needed things to the genre. Interactivity! The demo lets you play with a buncha crap in the bar, and I did. The barstools spin, the taps turn on, toilet flushes, hand dryer turns on, lights turn on & off, water heater turns off, soap dispenses, condom machine, the TV, arcade games, and the jukebox. All awesome! I spent more time in the bar than anywhere else in the game just trying to discover things.
Sadly, most of the "OH MY GOD THAT RULES" moments are IN the demo. (I can recall three that weren't. One was Jen, one was when the rooms build themselves, the other involved a plane and they're all over far too quickly and of little consequence.) The interactivity is gone once you leave the bar. There's dick all to play with, there's no "bonus" dialogue if you wander into the right spots, I didn't find any "secrets" if there were any to be found... (Clearly marked areas to go into spirit mode to get more ammo for a gun I have full ammo for already is not a secret.) Hell, even the jukebox serves no point after about 10 minutes. Why license music just for that?
After that, it's a lotta straightforeward run & gun until the end.
There were no unlocks, and no reason to go back and play through Cherokee. You didn't even let us unlock a freakin' sound test, or something. I know the 360 got concept art. (Not that anyone really cares about that, it still would have been better than nothing, though not much.) How about a character for MP exclusive to those who beat it, then one more exclusive to those who do it on Cherokee? How about a making of video? Music videos? A freaking weblink with a buncha messages from the team? (Kinda like Doom 3's PDA) A sound test mode where you can listen to the music as mentioned before along with the Art Bell shows?

And multiplayer has very few servers, all with ping over 160. No stats tracking, just the same basic gameplay modes you've been playing since Doom 1. Yawn.
Is there a reason to keep my copy of the game now that it's over? For me? Yes. Getting my direct music downloads which were supposed to be in my collector's edition but weren't. After that? Doubtful. And I even got the preorder... Maybe I can make my 3 pewter figures fight in my old castle grayskull playset from 20 years ago...

Heh. Tell you what, hire me and I guarantee all future games will at least be three times as good.

Here's some more things that would have made the experience better:
1. Talon. He was useless except for translating. Even then, he was a pain to have to wait for when you wanted to read something. (Assuming there was a landing point nearby. Otehrwise? Tough.) If you could have CONTROLLED when he attacked, it woulded have added another layer of immersion and attatchment for the player. As it sits, he's a throwaway character that has no presence.
2. The wrench became obsolete the second you get another weapon. ESPECIALLY since some weapons recharge themselves. I never found myself low on ammo, so there was no tension there either.
3. Portal use was fun for the first while, but you didn't take advantage of the technology past the basics.

I am tired now. Going to bed. Maybe I'll add more tomorrow when I've had more time to mull over things. G'night and thanks for reading.

Master Raven · 07-26-2006, 10:22 AM

Boy oh boy looking and noting all those "flaws" could you even notice if you were enjoying the game? Man I would not want to be one of your kids. Nothing would be good enough for you would it?

crunchy superman · 07-26-2006, 10:50 AM

I just want to add that "kickassery" gets my vote for officially being added to the English language.

CameO73 · 07-26-2006, 11:12 AM

Ok, can understand your point of view. Just two remarks:

1. Talon. I really liked him around (from time to time taking care of distracting enemies). Spoiler:

To me, he is more than a throwaway character.

2. Weapons. You talk about 'self recharging weapons'... I have no idea which one you refer to. There was plenty of ammo around though, so you still have a point.

Quason · 07-26-2006, 11:16 AM

The only weapon that recharges itself is the rifle. It only recharges when it's VERY low on ammo, it charges very slowly, and it only charges up to about 1/5 full (if that).

As far as I can tell, the recharge isn't useful enough to ensure that you can always shoot at monsters. All it's good for is making sure you have one or two shots so you can activate the gravity pads.

That said, I never found myself completely out of ammo and relying on the wrench, but that probably has something to do with the fact that I take the extra effort to actually AIM at things so I don't go spewing ammo all over the place.

0marTheZealot · 07-26-2006, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master Raven

Boy oh boy looking and noting all those "flaws" could you even notice if you were enjoying the game? Man I would not want to be one of your kids. Nothing would be good enough for you would it?

I'm sure the OP finds many games fun and enjoyable. However, ignoring flaws just to enjoy the game is a bit asinine. Many people found fairly significant flaws/questionable game design in Prey. He's just pointing out what he feels are detractors to having fun.

acetken · 07-26-2006, 03:08 PM

Oh, I did enjoy the game without a doubt, but in the same way you enjoy watching... say a bad porno. It's pretty, but sometimes the sheer douchebaggery and crapulance gets in the way of what could have been a really good time with a little more work and vision.

As for self-recharging weapons, I did mean the rifle. (And I also aim. I hate spray & pray... Wait. Spray & Prey?) I also explore as much as possible. I like to get my money's worth. That just was not possible here.

Edit: As for Talon, I said spoiler free and I meant that. That's why I didn't mention it. I found that I really didn't care if he sacked himself. He may as well have not been there at all for most of the game.

Quason · 07-26-2006, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Spray & Prey

*snicker*

Seriously though, I don't necessarily disagree with anything you've said so far, it's just that I didn't really see any of those things as problems. For example, addressing your three points at the end...

1. Talon wasn't the main character of the game, Tommy was. I don't WANT more Talon. He was a spirit guide - not a squad mate or a sidekick or anything of the sort. He's not there to play the game for me.

2. Off the top of my head, I can't thing of a single FPS where your "melee weapon" remains useful beyond the first few minutes of the game, outside of maybe smashing open crates. That's pretty much a staple of the genre.

3. I don't really want "Prey: NOW WITH MORE PORTALS". Portals were a nifty little gimmick and made for some trippy moments of gameplay and some interesting puzzles, but they weren't the be all end all of the game. I think it would have been easy to be overly focused on the gimmick and lose sight of the actual story and progression of the game. Take Half Life 2 for example... the first time you had to use the gravity gun to solve a puzzle it was pretty cool, right? But how did you feel after the 300th time you had to do it?

Anyway, I'm not trying to pick on you or prove you wrong or anything. You're entirely entitled to your opinion and that's fine... I'm just saying that there were some choices that had to be made in the development of the game (more or less Talon, more or less portals, longer or shorter game, etc etc), and people are going to differ on whether they made the right choice in certain situations.

Yatta · 07-26-2006, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CameO73

Spoiler:

To me, he is more than a throwaway character.

I never noticed that. When/how/why did he do this?

acetken · 07-27-2006, 12:34 AM

Yeah. It was a blink and you'll miss it moment. I didn't notice until tommy screamed his name.

Quote:

the first time you had to use the gravity gun to solve a puzzle it was pretty cool, right? But how did you feel after the 300th time you had to do it?

I still thought it was pretty freakin cool because you needed it for more than a gimmik and could be used for multiple things. Then when it started to wear off, they changed it. (Uber-gun was awesome) In fact one of my favourite mods, SourceForts uses it as a staple of gameplay.

As for your other points,
1. I didn't want "more talon" per se. I didn't want him to be a talking character or anything, but to add some character to it they could have:
A) Had Tommy say a few things to him or speak of him outside the two times.
B) As I mentioned, make the player able to control the distraction / attack if he wishes to maybe take some heat off of him. Maybe you could even send him out to gather ammo for you or some such thing.
C) Again as stated before, the interactivity would have been nice. Maybe Talon's action you could have stroked his head affectionately and spouted a "thanks for the help" line or something. Would have given the two characters some chemistry.
2. Thief and the blackjack. Duke and the kick. Even the crowbar in Half-Life was useful because it was fast enough and strong enough to kill something if you had to. The wrench was too slow and weak. Geez, they could have even let it smash frozen enemies. But no. It was too weak to do anything.
Maybe use it for puzzle solving? Smashing glass? Destroying consoles? Anything? Maybe even an amusing scene near the end where you literally have to throw a monkey wrench into the gears? (Heh...)

Straw Dog · 07-27-2006, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acetken

Geez, they could have even let it smash frozen enemies.

I tried this. Was a bit surprised actually that it wasn't possible. That would have been pretty cool and seemed like a logical thing to be able to do. But by that point all your enemies are disappearing after a few seconds which doesn't leave you much time to get your wrench out and whack em. Unfortunately.

0marTheZealot · 07-27-2006, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quason

Take Half Life 2 for example... the first time you had to use the gravity gun to solve a puzzle it was pretty cool, right? But how did you feel after the 300th time you had to do it?

hey hey hey, the gravity gun is the coolest gun in any FPS. What other gun lets you launch a toliet at a guy's head?!

acetken · 07-27-2006, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 0marTheZealot

hey hey hey, the gravity gun is the coolest gun in any FPS. What other gun lets you launch a toliet at a guy's head?!

EXACTLY.

Quason · 07-27-2006, 09:41 AM

Okay, throwing toilets IS pretty cool, I'll grant you that.

http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/568/568837p1.html

Lethe · 07-27-2006, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quason

Okay, throwing toilets IS pretty cool, I'll grant you that.

http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/568/568837p1.html

You can make parody of any game out there. And a much better parody then this not even remotely funny article. Guy who wrote all that lame jokes is extremely annoying. Gotta love the world where people get paid for that shit...

Quason · 07-27-2006, 10:29 AM

Well aren't you just a little ball of sunshine today?

acetken · 07-28-2006, 12:28 AM

Hey, Fargo's not so bad.

acetken · 07-31-2006, 02:20 AM

So as a continuation to this thread, I know a lot of people are flipping out and saying this is the best game ever, but I'd really like to know why.

If you generally LOVE this game, then (And I'm not being a jerk here) please tell me why?

d3ad connection · 07-31-2006, 10:46 AM

I love this game because it has a nice story, cool new ideas, and is fun and relaxing to play.
I don't think this game was made with intense combat in mind.

Hessian · 07-31-2006, 04:27 PM

I like the storyline, and the refreshing ideas... but even though, I mostly share your opinion acetken, but Ive leanrt how to accept negative sides.

07-26-2006, 05:01 AM	#1
acetken	My spoiler free in-depth review Hookay. Well, I started playing today (PC version) and the already the game's been beaten. Great graphics. (All settings to max) I had to hand-edit my files to enable proper resolutions on my widecreen monitor though. Ugh. Great models. (For the most part) Wholely uneven sound. (The voice actors musta been recorded in different takes because the quality / distance from the mic was distinctly noticible. You could tell that things were not the same and it really detracted.) Great gun design, although they all did pretty standard things. Kind of a letdown. Control was good. The no death thing... I'm for it, but it was done poorly. I don't recall the game being particularly intense and I think this was the reason. Death should have mattered more. As it stands, it was rather mundane. True, there was no reloading frustration, but there should have been something. Story was pretty damned good. (Though a short alternate ending where I actually get to CHOOSE what to do would have been neat) After the SUPERB demo, I expected much more kickassery. It showed a lot of potential to finally add some much needed things to the genre. Interactivity! The demo lets you play with a buncha crap in the bar, and I did. The barstools spin, the taps turn on, toilet flushes, hand dryer turns on, lights turn on & off, water heater turns off, soap dispenses, condom machine, the TV, arcade games, and the jukebox. All awesome! I spent more time in the bar than anywhere else in the game just trying to discover things. Sadly, most of the "OH MY GOD THAT RULES" moments are IN the demo. (I can recall three that weren't. One was Jen, one was when the rooms build themselves, the other involved a plane and they're all over far too quickly and of little consequence.) The interactivity is gone once you leave the bar. There's dick all to play with, there's no "bonus" dialogue if you wander into the right spots, I didn't find any "secrets" if there were any to be found... (Clearly marked areas to go into spirit mode to get more ammo for a gun I have full ammo for already is not a secret.) Hell, even the jukebox serves no point after about 10 minutes. Why license music just for that? After that, it's a lotta straightforeward run & gun until the end. There were no unlocks, and no reason to go back and play through Cherokee. You didn't even let us unlock a freakin' sound test, or something. I know the 360 got concept art. (Not that anyone really cares about that, it still would have been better than nothing, though not much.) How about a character for MP exclusive to those who beat it, then one more exclusive to those who do it on Cherokee? How about a making of video? Music videos? A freaking weblink with a buncha messages from the team? (Kinda like Doom 3's PDA) A sound test mode where you can listen to the music as mentioned before along with the Art Bell shows? And multiplayer has very few servers, all with ping over 160. No stats tracking, just the same basic gameplay modes you've been playing since Doom 1. Yawn. Is there a reason to keep my copy of the game now that it's over? For me? Yes. Getting my direct music downloads which were supposed to be in my collector's edition but weren't. After that? Doubtful. And I even got the preorder... Maybe I can make my 3 pewter figures fight in my old castle grayskull playset from 20 years ago... Heh. Tell you what, hire me and I guarantee all future games will at least be three times as good. Here's some more things that would have made the experience better: 1. Talon. He was useless except for translating. Even then, he was a pain to have to wait for when you wanted to read something. (Assuming there was a landing point nearby. Otehrwise? Tough.) If you could have CONTROLLED when he attacked, it woulded have added another layer of immersion and attatchment for the player. As it sits, he's a throwaway character that has no presence. 2. The wrench became obsolete the second you get another weapon. ESPECIALLY since some weapons recharge themselves. I never found myself low on ammo, so there was no tension there either. 3. Portal use was fun for the first while, but you didn't take advantage of the technology past the basics. I am tired now. Going to bed. Maybe I'll add more tomorrow when I've had more time to mull over things. G'night and thanks for reading.

07-26-2006, 10:22 AM	#2
Master Raven	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review Boy oh boy looking and noting all those "flaws" could you even notice if you were enjoying the game? Man I would not want to be one of your kids. Nothing would be good enough for you would it?

07-26-2006, 10:50 AM	#3
crunchy superman	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review I just want to add that "kickassery" gets my vote for officially being added to the English language. __________________

07-26-2006, 11:12 AM	#4
CameO73	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review Ok, can understand your point of view. Just two remarks: 1. Talon. I really liked him around (from time to time taking care of distracting enemies). Spoiler: Especially when he sacrificed himself in the Mother's Embrace level. To me, he is more than a throwaway character. 2. Weapons. You talk about 'self recharging weapons'... I have no idea which one you refer to. There was plenty of ammo around though, so you still have a point.

07-26-2006, 11:16 AM	#5
Quason	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review The only weapon that recharges itself is the rifle. It only recharges when it's VERY low on ammo, it charges very slowly, and it only charges up to about 1/5 full (if that). As far as I can tell, the recharge isn't useful enough to ensure that you can always shoot at monsters. All it's good for is making sure you have one or two shots so you can activate the gravity pads. That said, I never found myself completely out of ammo and relying on the wrench, but that probably has something to do with the fact that I take the extra effort to actually AIM at things so I don't go spewing ammo all over the place.

07-26-2006, 03:08 PM	#7
acetken	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review Oh, I did enjoy the game without a doubt, but in the same way you enjoy watching... say a bad porno. It's pretty, but sometimes the sheer douchebaggery and crapulance gets in the way of what could have been a really good time with a little more work and vision. As for self-recharging weapons, I did mean the rifle. (And I also aim. I hate spray & pray... Wait. Spray & Prey?) I also explore as much as possible. I like to get my money's worth. That just was not possible here. Edit: As for Talon, I said spoiler free and I meant that. That's why I didn't mention it. I found that I really didn't care if he sacked himself. He may as well have not been there at all for most of the game. Last edited by acetken; 07-26-2006 at 06:37 PM.

07-27-2006, 09:41 AM	#14
Quason	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review Okay, throwing toilets IS pretty cool, I'll grant you that. http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/568/568837p1.html __________________ "Look at you hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect immortal machine?" - Shodan

07-27-2006, 10:29 AM	#16
Quason	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review Well aren't you just a little ball of sunshine today? __________________ "Look at you hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect immortal machine?" - Shodan

07-28-2006, 12:28 AM	#17
acetken	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review Hey, Fargo's not so bad. __________________ http://www.insult2injury.org -end transmission-

07-31-2006, 02:20 AM	#18
acetken	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review So as a continuation to this thread, I know a lot of people are flipping out and saying this is the best game ever, but I'd really like to know why. If you generally LOVE this game, then (And I'm not being a jerk here) please tell me why? __________________ http://www.insult2injury.org -end transmission-

07-31-2006, 10:46 AM	#19
d3ad connection	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review I love this game because it has a nice story, cool new ideas, and is fun and relaxing to play. I don't think this game was made with intense combat in mind.

07-31-2006, 04:27 PM	#20
Hessian	Re: My spoiler free in-depth review I like the storyline, and the refreshing ideas... but even though, I mostly share your opinion acetken, but Ive leanrt how to accept negative sides.