Sucks

Once you have your account and client set up properly, it's not too bad (apart from being completely unnecessary) - I remember having real problems getting it working for GTA4 when I first got that. Same thing - seems to just update and fail over and over. I think the solution was to un-install Game for Windows Live and then go onto the microsoft website and download the latest client. Although with GTA4 I had to fuck around with VCC and .Net Framework redistributables too.............. 

I have extra copies of TF2, Amnesia, Audio Surf and Super Meat Boy if anyone would like a copy on Steam. 

Alpha Prime, developed by European studio Black Element Software with their own engine, is another of the lower ranked 2007 action titles with a 59% aggregate. However in some ways that's quite a generous score.

I'll start with what's good about Alpha Prime; the looks. Both the engine and level design look good, well up to 2007 standards. It's your typical corridor shooter with very few outdoor areas, but there's plenty of details and nicely built indoor areas, akin to Doom 3 and Quake 4.

The story received some criticism, but I thought it actually wasn't that bad. How it was told was the problem, as there's no cinematics so everything is told over radio. Which brings me to the first major issue; the sound. On Vista and Windows 7 the sound does not work correctly. Apparently a patch is supposed to fix it, and putting the sound on low quality improves thing, but it's still very buggy. Most of the talking throughout the game doesn't work, you simply don't hear it and instead have to rely on reading the subtitles. There are likely to be many other sounds throughout the game which I never heard because of this glitch. Apparently it has something to do with the game not supporting Direct X 10.

What ruins Alpha Prime completely is the gameplay. There's not enough ammo, there's not enough health. The enemies are all hitscan so if you jump out in the open you'll go from 100% health to dead in about 3 seconds. Now this would be okay if you want to play the game more carefully like you would a war shooter. However the weapons aren't built for that! The shotgun is useless at almost any range, the machine gun has too much recoil and sprays bullets all over the place. The flamethrower is useless unless your a few metres away from the enemy. The sniper rifle is the only effective weapon, but there's little ammo for it.

Even with an unlimited ammo cheat, the game is still too hard on normal and it turns into a save/reload chore.

I played through to the end as the level design was decent, but the gameplay is too frustrating to be any fun at all and not worth the budget price of a few dollars. 

I wouldn't mind taking a look at Amnesia! 

I wouldn't mind taking a look at Super Meat Boy myself, especially after finishing VVVVVV some while ago. Another difficult platformer game could is always a fun challenge. 

Is scary. D: 

:)) 

:)) 

All I have left is TF2, which, if you don't have it, you really should. 

Battlefield 3 is looking incredible. Probably not my kind of game, but Frostbite 2 looks to be a beast. The quick shots at the end of the trailer look especially badass.

http://vimeo.com/22333934
1080p 60fps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zw8SmsovJc
720p 

it's a 12 minute gameplay trailer 

that does look good. seems like a ton of voice acting too.

wish we could see more interesting shooters though. i'm so tired of war games. i just don't understand how they keep selling. 

Graphics and environments look awesomely well done. Style of game and stuff looks as boring as usual. 

Yeah the graphics are awesome, the battles are quite epic. Love the building falling down at the end. Shame it'll be way too hard with no quicksave and bullshit tactics to get in the way. Although in that demo there was no ordering of teammates, and he seemed to be fuckin invincible with the amount of times he got shot. maybe battlefield is becoming more like your normal fps. 

Maybe this will be the first battlefield game with a passable single player portion?

Though it doe's look quite bland in places, that melee fight with an enemy, is that just a cut-scene or do you have a say in what happens?

But really, who cares about the single player in a Battlefield game? :) 

Say in what happens? I'm guessing if you mess up you'll start over at the last checkpoint to do it until you succeed. There's only ever one way to play these games. BF:BC2's SP is plagued with invisible walls and 'you're leaving the combat zone'. Boring experience. 

so what are people's thoughts on this mechanic. I have to say I think it has great potential (probably the only Far Cry 2 mechanic I'm enjoying), adds a bit of unpredictability into the mix, yet something you (or the mapper) can control to an extent.

Of course it needs visible degradation to be fair. 

I disliked weapons that broke. It gave me incentive to get the higher quality weapons, but every single time that a weapon I used broke in a gun fight, I was a severe disadvantage through no fault of my own. And it really sucks that if you're far from somewhere to buy a gun, in the middle of a mission, you're stuck with other shitty guns that are likely to break too. It was very frustrating imo. 

You are reminding me of STALKER. 

I think the idea is good, but its implementation into games has been rather poor thus far.

Stalker is a great example, your weapon will just suddenly stop working and you are pretty much boned at that point. What if your weapon perhaps lost rate of fire as the condition got worse, bullets travel less quickly and do less damage with lack of repair. Maybe you have no way to repair your weapon before a fight, but you would know before the fight happened that your weapon will be less effective and could plan accordingly.

Complete weapon failure should only happen when the weapon is completely fucked! 

Yeah maybe a warning or something - 'weapon degredation: minimal damage' etc would be better than just having a weapon break apart in your hands. 

perhaps something like the damage HUD in the mechwarrior games, where parts of the mech would turn from green through orange to red and black when they fell off :)

Just something visual that you can check to see the condition of your equipment and any negative side effects from the lack of repair would be very welcome. Right now its like you are playing a lottery every time you fire your weapon when its below 100%. 

it jams a few times (ie need to press reload a few times to unjam) and visibly gets worn down.

So when it eventually stops working, its not that much of a surprise. 

weapon degradation didn't bother me at all in FC2. in fact, i liked it as it gets the whole scavenger vibe going and you sort of get into a routine where you regularly go swap out your guns at the shop.

stalker bothered me. mostly because unique weapons degraded. you'd get the uber rifle of awesomeness and then it'd be gone with no way to replace it except with an inferior normal gun.
thankfully, there's a mod that removes weapon degradation from uniques. mind, i wouldn't have cared if you could repair your gun. i mean, we're playing a character who spends weeks at a time out in the wilds and apparently never heard of cleaning out firearms??

as long as there's a good warning that the thing is going to fail, i don't mind very much. it's when the weapon just disintegrates in your hands and you're left holding little dust piles that it's dumb. 

STALKER never bothered me much, though honestly speaking I barely noticed it at all.

System Shock 2's however added a lot to the tension, especially if you're not well versed in firearms and repairing. Didn't mind it here much either since otherwise, it would feel like I can shoot without a care in the world besides ammo. Would lose that survival aspect and tension.

Generally speaking, it works if it fits. Wouldn't be fun to have paper quality guns in something like Quake or such for example. Horror shooters work though, or things like FC2 and Fallout (haven't played the former) because of the scavenging aspects.