Rubicon 2? 

What did you think of the design gb? Like I said above, very strong conceptually but like the gameplay, it did get repetitive because of that strong concept.

Well, there are some things that stick out, like the fisheries/docks level and the smuggler level, and also the Hephaestus core level I guess (which almost reminded me of Quake 2 or something like that).

The Apollo Square level is also different from the rest (and pretty oppressive, like some areas of Berlin right after the reunification, ie grey, ruined, worn down and riddled with bullet holes in all its massiveness), so there is some diversity.

It's just I tended to spend a lot of time in levels like Fort Frolic which does the art deco shop front thing to the extreme.

There are also sub-levels like the tavern, the wine cellar, the aviary (sp?), and the entire Arcadia thing that are pretty unique...

Crysis tank mission: Yeah, that was pretty nice and the area is indeed sandbox like (not all of them are), best thing about it was I could choose how much tank driving I wanted to do and when I wanted to continue on foot. Good use of vehicles (why oh why is the later flying mission not optional). Crumbling mountain - that was massive, yeah :-D

The mine level is also good, so is the village one. 

*apiary 

dead space 2. And yeah, Matthias worked on it too. 

Tell him to finish/release his Q1SP. If necessary, add "goddamn" and "FFS". 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbTtsezso4Q&feature=feedu

So...Good! 

Looks more fun than the new mp maps for black ops. Srsly. The only reason to buy the map pack is the new zombie map, that is awesome. 

i laughed aloud watching that. thanks for the link. :) 

yes. seriously, those screenshots looked awesome.

Also, cannot wait to play dead space 2, my balls are hurting just thinking about it. Soon, very soon. 

The bullets do no damage and the most effective weapon is your foot.

And, on the Ps3 at least, the reload and fire triggers seem inverted. I was constantly getting into place and then reloading frantically on the enemy.

It seems a curious design for the an FPS - making the shooting feel, well, weak. 

It doesn't have jumping. I mean...huh 

That wasn't my experience on the 360. I only played through the demo with the first gun, still need to try out the pistol thing and chain gun. Overall I liked it though. The only thing that was weird about it was that there's no jumping like zqf said and the animation for looking down the sight was incredibly fast. 

I liked the demo, the lack of jumping was off putting but 'if you don't need it, don't add it in.'

I did like the game-play, it was pretty wacky and innovative. I plan on getting it when I have some extra $$ and game-play bandwidth. I desperately home it comes with a level editor. DO WANT LEVEL EDITOR. 

Maybe it just wasn't Quakey enough. 

Felt to me like the lack of jumping was because Gears has made them so lazy about keeping the player within the corridor of gameplay :P I did enjoy Gears 2 but it has plenty of moments where you can't move across a stupid two foot high wall which feels rather frustrating.

Really though imo just means there will be a lack of possible variety in geometry and gameplay generally :E

Can't judge the gameplay via a gamepad though, just led to frustration when trying to land trick shots. 

I was laughing really hard at that, until I realised that it was done by the guys behind SUPER MANLY AND REAL GEARS OF WAAAAAAARRRRR 

Yea, coming from the Studio that brought you Dom's wife and 'oh dear he's wearing a helmet, bet he's got a long future' they can't really call out CoD :E

It's like James Cameron calling out Roland Emmerich for making films that are too overwrought. 

The call of duty games used to be good, before reyarch and iw went apeshit over mp, and killed the sp experience. Now instead of having good sp, they have shitty sp and shitty mp. Gears had alright sp and meh mp (lol ima shoot u while hiding behind dis wall lol). 

I don't really agree. I really enjoyed GoW and CoD4 / MW2 single player. Very polished and fun. Sure they have some preposterous scenario's in them but most "action" games and films do.

I saw a bunch of rage about the whole EMP thing in MW2 and how it was so unrealistic, but that part of the game was awesome to play! Running down streets dodging falling helicopters and planes was pretty epic in my opinion, I think people just need to relax and have fun with games like this, they take them way to seriously :)

Now if Deux Ex Human Revolution turns out to have a bunch of this completely crazy stuff in it, sure it will be dumb and crappy because Deus Ex is a completely differnt kind of game where you are meant to really care about the characters and the world, and when something completely dumb happens its jarring as hell. Not so much in call of duty! 

Just the gameplay in general was crap, imo. 

Played the 1st 2 episodes, so just getting started, if the game length is similar to that of the 1st.

I really appreciate the silent protagonist ala HL and Dead Space 1, so I'm not entirely sure I'm sold on Isaac having a personality. So far though it's been fine - he doesn't have too many one liners, and he's fairly low key. Generally not a big deal, although it occaisionally irks me.

Girlfriend/delusions - These seem somewhat meh to me - the instances I've experienced are somewhat random, and not very scary or spooky compared to the necromorphs, or even the more subtle treatment offfered in the first game. Still early though, and I think it could pan out easily into something great...

Gameplay - still very early. But so far, it has been great! the variety of combats, enemies and random semi boss fights and setpieces have been rad, and I have a feeling that it's going to get much more intense! Generally finding the scariness level to be less than I remember experiencing with the original, but that is largely due to more comfort with necromorphs etc - it still makes me very uncomfortable in parts, in a good way.

Looks wise, this game is amazing so far. The environments are so detailed, and the few setpieces I've run into have been really cool, especially the 15 minutes leading up to the end of episode 2.

I don't know, I suck at reviews, hahaha!
But yeah, loving it, having a good time with the new telikinesis abilities, and finding the flow to be pretty consistently great. worth every penny. 

firstly,
my first two points above sound somewhat negative, which is pretty misleading. I guess they would just be concerns - not even criticisms, really.
Isaac remains unintrusive and yet more fleshed out, and his more developed characteristics, including his delusions, are becoming more interesting as the game goes on.
I'm further along now, and much more is being introduced, it just gets better and better - I love this game! might be the best looking game I've ever played, definitely the best looking that comes to mind! I feel like the first little bit, though not bad by any means, is less awesome than the sections I've been (slowly, hesitantly) working my way through the last while. My girlfriend cannot be in the same room while I play it now - nightmares. 

Yeah good solid game so far, I'm at around chapter 7, and really enjoying it. Very happy the changed the zero-g gameplay, floating around in space is quite fun.

I'm almost dissapointed that most of the marketing on it is about how gory and violent it is, those things aren't what make it a good game.

It's so silly to have to stomp on corpses to get items, if you keep bashing space he'll go into a stomping frenzy and start saying "FUCK!" etc, makes me laugh. 

agreed, that's one area that is unequivocally better all around. I just finished playing what I suppose, at this point, is the main Zero-G setpiece, and it is underscoring the 'best looking game' thing for me.
There have been a couple areas where I felt like the game didn't quite do it for me, though, settings wise.
An article in The Mirror said something about parts feeling like 'bioshock in space' and while on the one hand that's reductive, I think I get where he's coming from.
Eg in bioshock, I felt like the gardens area with the markets etc was pretty interesting - it made sense that it was there - but it seemed a bit off, and thematically, it just felt a little bit too much like a novelty, an attempt to diversify the environment at the expense of some cohesion. Maybe that's just me?... I felt somewhat similar about a small portion of this game, though it was quite brief.

I agree that the gore and violence is less what this one is about compared to the 1st - it's definitely less of a survival horror and more of an actiony shooter thing (technical term, don't worry about it). Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Seems like the marketing worked though, hahaha! 

I definitely got a bioshock vibe in a few areas, especially the shops as you mentioned, and the school. Also the area with the bird cages, where you hear/read voice captions of some dead guy, that felt very bioshock-ish.
That's not a bad thing though.