The first and last time I put money into the pockets of Bethesda.
1. Bethesda told its paying customers the DLC would be out in June. It was not. Then early July. It was not. Then late July. It was not. Delays are OK, but why were they delayed? Silence from Bethesda. Any apologies? Nope. Silence. They have no respect for their customers, and therefore I have no respect for them.
2. DLC did not address any of the core issues that continue to ensure this game remains a broken, steaming sack of diarrhea. Instead we get 2 new maps (one of which is very cool, the other of which is a boring, forgettable throwaway), a few more weapons and perks, and 2 new outfits for the characters, in addition to a few bugs being fixed that no one cared about anyway. AWESOME! TOO BAD THE MATCHMAKING SYSTEM COULDN'T BE WORSE SO THERE'S NO ONE TO SHARE THE EXPERIENCE WITH.
3. The DLC will be free for only 2 weeks. It should be a part of the original game. People paid $60 for this $15 turd and in 2 weeks they will have to pay more for 2 maps, for a total of 10 maps? The game still won't be complete. Wow, talk about being urinated on and told it's a fresh rain.
4. No pre-game lobbies. No server lists. No merging lobbies. No additional game types to add variety. A tiny scrap of additional content that adds practically no value. Practically everything the customers asked for was ignored.
I know, I know...I can seek people out and find people to play with on the forums or chat rooms. Why do I have to do that? This isn't eharmony.com. This is the year 2011 and an online multiplayer FPS should be able to do what games have been doing for almost a decade. I prefer to meet people when I play to determine whether or not it would be good for me to add them to my friend list, instead of some FPS virtual blind dating scenario that wastes my time. I prefer to be able to pop the disc in my console whenever I want and find new people to play with, instead of setting up dates and times to play with the small handful of people who are too deaf, dumb and blind to realize this game is crap.
Bethesda giving us this DLC is the equivalent to a doctor giving a Tylenol to someone in the final stage of brain cancer, and smiling while doing it.
As you can see in my review below, I started off with some decent praise for this game. But that was after only about 10 days of playing. Since then the objectives have grown stale. Also, during the first 4 weeks there were people playing it. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't too taxing to find a game with actual humans in it. But then the overwhelming majority of unfortunate saps who were snookered into buying this rubbish came to their senses and returned it. So now any online game is a ghost town, and Bethesda has shown only a shred of half-hearted interest in keeping it alive. That's because they got all the money they know they're going to get for the game, and they assume their customers are all idiots and will forget about this nonsense and just keep plopping down their money on the next product that looks cool. Not me. And hopefully not a lot of other intelligent gamers, so the industry doesn't go right down the toilet. This game is a perfect example of how it can happen. If this is the future of gaming, then gaming has no future. It isn't just the fact that this game sucks that bothers me. A lot of games suck. It's the complete scam surrounding its advertising and broken promises. I sincerely doubt there was ever a game that contains as big a disparity between promise and delivery as this one. Homefront was a scary start. This one was undeniably, exponentially worse.
This is the first game I ever purchased that I will be returning. I take care and serious thought to a game before I purchase it. This game was falsely advertised to the hilt. Bethesda lied to its customers and ripped off so many people. They collected their money at launch, and when word was out the game was a tattered mess they abandoned the game, and their respect for their customers. What a bunch of swindling bottom-feeders. I hope I can get at least a dollar in exchange for this piece of garbage, since Gamestop employees are probably swimming in used copies.
Original review is below:
First of all I love this game. So why do I rate it a 6? Because much of the value of what I love about it is offset by unforgivable mistakes and acts of negligence in its development! So much awesomeness in this game, and so many failures. It's the darnedest thing. I've never seen a mixture of so much greatness and so much awfulness in a single product.
Secondly, I must provide a counter-argument to some of the negative waves that have been generated about this game:
1. "THE AI SUCKS!" Not true! NOT TRUE! Yes, they are idiots...BUT, you have to figure out how to get them to work in your favor. Follow them to secondary objectives. Help them capture command posts. Don't go at an objective alone. AND THEY WILL HELP YOU. Most people are so used to lone-wolf style campaign games they try it here. The enemy AI will almost always be well coordinated and be excellent marksmen. So it's up to YOU to figure out how to work with your team to beat them. It works, and it is fun if you do it. If your teammates were as good as all these people wanted them to be, there would be no game. You'd just run from one end of the level to the other while they do all the work. Kids these days want a game to be so easy. CoD games are easier on their most difficult setting than this is on "normal." That's refreshing to me. Besides...I've played with plenty of humans that are far more idiotic than the bots.
2. "LAG ONLINE!" This problem was fixed recently. There is still a little bit of it I will admit. But it's not that bad. And it will get better I'm sure. No online match in Brink is unplayable because of lag, as it was at launch. So if the lag complaints are deterring you from wanting to buy this game, do not let them. It's old news.
3. "The S.M.A.R.T. movement system sucks! It doesn't even work!" That is such a load of crap. I have never had a problem with it. It's smooth, fun, and unique. Whoever thinks it's broken is a complete FOOL. It requires some practice and skill...is that a bad thing? Good lord. It ROCKS. If you cannot use it well, then you are a moron.
Now I'll highlight my experiences with it; the good and the bad. Since I'm an optimist I'll start with the bad and finish with the good:)
BAD
1. Terrible online matchmaking (in 2 parts)
A. There is no pre-game lobby. WHAT?! I have to join a game before I can saddle up with friends...and this is in a game that focuses on teamwork. I cannot fathom why in 2011 this is even a question. What were they thinking? I have to spend valuable game time trying to invite my friends to the game...and if I'm inviting more than one person, chances are it will result in a failure that will require me to reload my efforts.
B. There are five game "modes" from which to choose but 3 of them are always filled up with bots! So 99 out of 100 games have 2 - 3 humans, and 13 - 14 bots. If I want to play with bots, I'll play OFFLINE. So I choose a mode for humans only...and since NO ONE wants to play with bots, everyone flocks to those modes and when I get in, the game will be either too full for me to invite my friends, OR the match will be completely empty. That's right: COMPLETELY EMPTY. I'll be running around by myself for an entire game without any humans popping in. I experimented with this; I decided once to actually see it through and it was a 20 minute game. NO ONE showed up. I sat there for 20 minutes by myself. God, I'm a loser. The bottom line is: you either have to have 12 - 15 friends with the game, or go it solo and play with strangers. Otherwise you'll be spending more time trying to get into a decent game than you will actually playing!
2. Poor Animations: the graphics are good, but the animations are bad. This game's claim to fame is the movement system and appearance customization of the characters. It's very cool, but when you play, it looks awful. The character movement is so choppy and laggy you can't tell really what anyone looks like, or what they are doing for the most part. If you want to see how cool one of your teammates looks, you'll have to stand 2 feet apart and stand perfectly still. Or you can use your imagination. Also, the environments render as you view them. Objects are blurry, and you have to get them on your screen for a moment or two before they fill up with detail. If the maps were huge and the environments were interactive this would be forgivable, but the maps are about the size of CoD maps, and there is absolutely NO INTERACTION whatsoever (you can't even shoot through glass). Again, in 2011 it's very lame for textures to be popping in so slowly.
4. Useless weapons: yes, there are a lot of guns from which to choose. But half of them are useless. Why use a gun that's specified with no accuracy and no damage when you can just use the one that is accurate and does a lot of damage? This isn't a huge problem, but it's still a noticeable one. The only incentive to use half the guns is to just play around with them.
5. Lack of content: Only 8 maps and the objectives are getting stale, really quickly. Yes, with the variety of objectives and ways to play you can change it up, but most of the action tends to gravitate toward the primary objective...and if you want to win, you'll end up bailing on the secondaries and focusing on the primaries...the result is an intense fire-fight in a tiny portion of an otherwise decent sized map. This is why they need to add more game modes like team death match or capture the flag. The lack of content and maps would be forgivable if campaign mode was different than online mode, but it's the SAME EXACT GAME, except with ALL BOTS (in other words, it's the same exact game anyway because online every game is 95% bots anyway!). Yes, 2 more maps are coming with the first DLC...but only two? MW2 started with SIXTEEN core maps and FIVE maps on each DLC.
6. Cannot change body types or characters between matches: you can be light, medium, or a heavy fighter. Heavy makes you stronger, but slower. Light makes you faster, but weaker. Get it? But some matches are better for different body types. And if you want to change body type you have to drop out of the game to do it...and then you'll be dealing with complaint number 1 above. So most people stick with the medium body type. Also, when you create different characters you can give them different strengths and weaknesses, so you should also be able to switch characters between matches. Since you cannot do that, most people pick their most well-rounded character. The result of all this is: lack of variety that was intended to be a part of the game.
7. Campaign story is shallow: The concept of The Ark and the two fighting forces at odds with each other is very cool. Each side has a leader and several key characters. Between each level is an animated sequence to keep the story moving. But it's shallow. There is no character development. You won't know who is who, and you won't care. As a result, accomplishing objectives will make no sense regarding how they impact the "story." And then, the game is just over.
Now, on to THE GOOD (whew!):
1. Character appearance customization: at first I thought this would be silly and useless, but for some reason I'm just mesmerized by all the different outfits, face paint, tattoos, hair-styles, head-gear, masks, etc...it's a load of fun. I find myself playing around with that a lot more than I thought I would. And more outfits and gear are on the way in the first DLC. Very cool.
2. Character perk customization: this is really cool. There is a huge variety of abilities to use. And you can create as many soldiers as you want, rank them up, and give them each different abilities. UNFORTUNATELY YOU CANNOT SWITCH CHARACTERS BETWEEN MATCHES ONLINE! GOD!!!
3. Weapons mechanics: the hit detection and recoil is very cool; very realistic and challenging. You actually have to practice and have good aim, unlike CoD where you find the most over-powered weapon and let the game aim for you.
4. S.M.A.R.T. system: this is awesome. I love it. When I'm not working on an objective or engaging the enemy in combat, I love bouncing off walls, climbing over objects, jumping off objects, leaping down from high heights, sliding under things, slide-tackling the enemy, etc...it's a blast. And it works so well. It's such a refreshment from running a mile and a half in Bad Company 2 only to get stuck on a small tree limb and getting shot in the face while trying to get unstuck.
5. Maps: while they are not interactive, they are cool. Lots of detail; lots of interesting paths to take. There are choke points, but there are always many ways to approach them.
6. Constantly changing objectives: this adds a lot of intensity and variety to the game-play. You can go for a primary objective, or go for the many secondary objectives. You can focus on capturing command posts, creating flank paths, escorting objectives, carrying objectives, or escorting the person carrying them. You can focus on healing your teammates, upgrading their weapons, or you can be an operative and focus on getting behind enemy lines to sabotage them and their equipment. Unfortunately like I said before, since each match is determined by one primary objective only, everyone tends to get sucked in to that objective and the variety is diminished.
7. Weapon customizations: scopes, muzzle breaks, silencers, speed slings, grenade launchers, modified magazines for faster reloading, or faster gun-fire....your gun can always be what you want it to be. Very cool; and the interface is cool where you can zoom in on the gun and spin it around and admire it on the screen while you customize it.
8. Sound: I know it might not seem important but it really does add value. The sounds of the players, the sounds of the weapons, the equipment, it all sounds crisp, clear, and realistic. Also the microphone system online is magnificent. Everyone with a decent head-set sounds loud and clear. Also you can modify the audio settings so the game sounds play through your earpiece. It's really cool.
9. THE PROBLEMS CAN BE FIXED: if Bethesda LISTENS to its customers the majority of these problems will go away. Splash can add team death match and capture the flag EASILY. They can add pre-game lobbies EASILY. They can modify the match-making to merge lobbies EASILY. They can get rid of the online bots EASILY. They just need to WAKE UP and give the customers what they paid for! I am optimistic it will happen.
This game was released too early because Bethesda did not want it to compete with MW3 and BF3 (understandably so) in the fall; and they didn't want it to come out in July or August because they didn't want gamers to say, "well...it looks cool...but BF3 and MW3 will be out in a month or two, so I'll pass." So they released this game before it was finished, with a broken online system and a shallow campaign. It's a huge shame because the concept is so great...but, IT CAN BE FIXED! If these issues are in fact fixed I will raise my score to an 8 or an 8.5 easily. COME ON, BETHESDA!!! DON'T LET US DOWN!