Yeah, you read that right and your eyes aren't going bad, I said Haze and I'm not seeing it as all that bad so far. Anyways I ended up getting Dishonored GOTY edition since that was cheaper than the actual DLC, and alongside it picked up haze for under $5. I played the demo quite some time ago, and I never understood the whole problem with it. Don't get me wrong, its no answer to Halo nor is it by any stretch of the imagination worth $60. Its a cheap B grade shooter that is very cheesy, basic, and out of place. I went in with the excuse that this was a rushed release window game for the PS3, and it really looked that way as I installed things. Then I was shocked to figure not only was my memory of its development quite off, but it was released in 2008 along the time World at War was coming out, Bioshock had been out, Orange box made and ported, and an incredible game as Killzone 2 would be on the way around the corner of next year. Heck even for a B grade game, go for Alpha Prime, Quake 4, or TimeShift instead. Still is it awful in every way, painful to play, or a total loss of your money/time? Not quite close to that either.
Now I haven't gotten that far yet, and haven't seen the rebel plot twist that even the back of the box stupidly spoils. So I still have yet to make it to one of the bigger complaints. However I just don't see it as a seriously messed up shooter. The tech is obsolete, but its still functional. Its not as nice as other games of its time, but its not bad. So that's fine. Now the gunplay is where I'm more concerned for, and I can see why it was shrugged off. Like the tech, it works, but its behind its time. Iron sights are actually a lazy scope that teleports your view inward, your guns are either floaty with a shallow crosshair bobbing or semi-auto that feels good but takes too long to fire to keep efficiency. I picked up a mini-gun in a multiplayer match, and there's a flamethrower to, but outside of those two things all I know is things are just ordinary military weapons without any charm or feel to them. So... yeah multiplayer wont last much, though I will give the gunplay credit for spongy health and R3 aiming. Though I haven't mentioned the worst part either, I got on a vehicle turret where the iron sights are actually made so that you literally can't see through them. No seriously, the alignment is messed up and a bar piece is actually overlapping your crosshair center so that your precise him is a guessing game. Still everything else that I know of so far works, and its not bad enough to ever be mad at. Things move along at a pace where you move through a jungle, kill people, and some dialogue happens, and that's actually a pace that feels pretty decent for this game.
However that pace would be garbage without any dialogue or set pieces worth talking about, and boy does that change the conversation. I'd argue its the best part of the whole game, and its actually one of those things that are so bad they're good. The dialogue is like a cheese riddled parody of what would become the future with self-critical gaming, where the soldiers pound on their chest and literally talk about how good it feels to be desensitized murders paid to kill everyone, and how its somehow "good" mixed in with some outlandish claims about the enemy team being cannibals that skin everyone. Oh and as the plot is giving it away, they're like this because a government drug drives them insane and stupid, and they're regulated to take that stuff. It sounds like the game was written by paranoid tin-foil nuts and its actually beautiful in a cheesy B grade way that so suits the game. The soldiers really get in to it, and its just hilarious to hear them talk, especially one line where the guy's talking about how cool it was to "pow, pow, pow" then interrupts his own rabid excitement with how he got some amazing pictures to. Its like a little kid playing one of those rail rides at an amusement park.
To try and summarize my experience... nothing is really so good except how amazingly cheesy the dialogue is, but there's just nothing too bad either. Like outside of the fact the inventory HUD isn't useful, and the jeep turret problem, there just isn't anything bad enough worth going into details over. I can't find anything too wrong, its just that that great either. For $5 or less, its a great grab. I wouldn't have mind this game being some low budget PSN shooter that released on the store recently, it really feels kind of like that. I'll be continuing it in good time. That is if I don't get dazed by the awesomeness of the other thing I'm enjoying....
Dishonored DLC
Finally! Love Dishonored, but I went over all that in my last "now playing" and I really haven't completely put it down yet. However my main run on Hard is postponed because I've got fresh content in the form of GOTY edition that went cheaper than the actual DLC by itself. I'm still playing the 1st piece of Daud's story, but its been good.
At one point I got frustrated and slightly stuck at one point, and kept slipping up around some guards and butchers around the exterior of the whale factory. Ended up cutting all the crap, and teleported around choking out all 5 in an instant with no interruptions, collecting, or fooling around. I guess that's how the skilled youtube videos get made, when I stop goofing off and I look to progress things get done and then I'm cleaning up afterwards. That's when the fun really started, as I got a grip on the new world, fooled with stealth a bit, and now I'm deep in the 2nd level playing with all the interesting contraptions and tricks that the clever developers came up with. I got a mini-street battle that went off as I broke a barrier between the gang and patrol, and got the whole gang wiped out and the patrols off their positions where I needed them to be. Its great!
It is weird getting used to all the subtle changes though. As I used blink with the new timestop function, I felt so weird and out of place. My accuracy felt all screwed up, as I got used to pulling it off on the fly. The stopping time is great, and has been useful, but it took me a good few tries to get a grip on it. Likewise I miss the hub piece with upgrades, Daud's face creeps me out in the pause menu, and Billie Lurk (an assassin assistant) got me with an unintended jump scare at one point. That said though, the DLC is full of awesome surprises, some interesting lore bits (like Billie describing your face when you get talked to by the outsider), and a similar type of level design that made me love the main game. I'm confused as to how my actions will carry over in part 2, or if they do, but its fun as it is and I'm glad to feel like I'm getting a refreshed reason to play a game that I love. I'm actually more excited for later though, because Daud feels a bit faster and has more interesting layout for killing. I really look forward to a high chaos playthrough after I'm done.
No comments:
Post a Comment