Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Swamp_Thing on February 10, 2005, 08:40:54 pm
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As most of you have heard, Volition was making The Punisher. And yours truly has got his hands on it. So, you want to know how it is?
In all honesty, i am disapointed. Very much. I thought V would do better. My first impression was a striking similarity to Manhunt. As in Manhunt, the game takes place in 3rd person. As in Manhunt, you fight with a variety of weapons, from beer bottles to baseball bats, and to heavy machineguns. As in Manhunt, there is an excess of violence, lots of grusome ways to kill your oponents. And like in Manhunt, the weapons are surrounded by a blue glow, a spitting image of Manhunt. It´s so much like Manhunt, that i´m inclined to call it Manhunt II, the sequel.
Only one diference exists between Manhunt and The Punisher. And that is, that Manhunt was fun to play, unlike The Punisher.
Basically, The Punisher is a "shoot´em up", you pick up guns and you shoot them. After a while, it gets boring. And the fact that the AI is so dumb only helps the party. Watching how the AI runs backwards past you, looking to the other side and shotgun in hand, and doesn´t fire a shot while you stand there laughing at their dumbness, is common throughout the game. And the fact that the player can withstand a huge ammount of punishment without loosing a bit of energy, is shamefull. You don´t even need to take cover. Just run towards them and shoot. They will either miss you by a mile, or actually hit you, but you won´t feel a thing. The bullits are more like pesky moskitoes, you swat them and move on. No harm done. Literally.
Sorry Volition, but you botched it up. You should have been doing FS3 instead of this poor Manhunt lookalike. I know THQ only wants to make easy money, but you should keep up to a certain standard.
Actually, come to think of it, if [V]´s stardards are this low, it´s all the better that they leave FS3 alone. They wouldn´t live up to our expectations.
:doubt:
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So, other than that was it good?
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Anyone else think that Max Payne 2 with about a week's worth of character re-moddeling = awesome Punisher game?
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Probably. You've even got a similar plot device.
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I have also played The Punisher briefly, I was also disappointed. Everything said above is true, this game simply is not worth the money. Even my buddy who also tried the game, said it was the worst game he's ever played. Even if he was exeggarating, it was still striking.
Sorry :v:
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This only reinforces the fact that there are few, if any, of the team that brought us FS and FS2 left at :v:
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Originally posted by Liberator
This only reinforces the fact that there are few, if any, of the team that brought us FS and FS2 left at :v:
or the exact other way around. last I heard most of them were still around.
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i beat the game in a day on HARD!!! *interrogates :v: with Gun Tension*
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eh, can't expect Volition to make good games all the time, eh?... mind you.. the freespace series was the pinnacle of Volition's developing career.
then THQ happened.
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Originally posted by neo_hermes
i beat the game in a day on HARD!!! *interrogates :v: with Gun Tension*
No kidding! I´m already sorry i started in "normal". I should have tried in "hard", at least it would be a little (very little indeed) bit more challenging. As it is, it´s just a walk in the park, firing heavy weapons at totally dumb enemies...
If Volition expects to get out of the slumb with this, they have another thing coming. They haven´t produced anything remotelly good since Red Faction 1. And some may argue Red Faction 1 was as bad as RF2. I guess they must be up to their eyeballs in debts, and thought making a money graber game would help them. THQ probably waved a fat check in front of their faces.
Let´s all be glad they don´t make FS3. Can you imagine the fiasco FS3 would be, if they made it with this *cough* quality?
:ick:
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After playing the Punisher demo, that's exactly what I thought. I don't want Volition to make FS3 anymore, because if this is any indication it'd probably look worse than the SCP and play worse than the original FS2.
The problem seems to be they haven't moved forward at all with technology. This thing looks and plays about 2 years old.
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I don't know if it was V's fault. I can't remember the last time THQ came out with a decent game, V needs to get away from THQ and get picked up by someone like Ubi-soft, Electronic Arts, or Sierra. I've never liked the thought of V paired with THQ.
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Maybe Ubi-soft
EA == more suckage than me
Sierra == worse than EA
There is a disturbing lack of publishers these days.
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Hmm, people! Editors are bad, baaaaaaaad people, but they don't make the game. If the game sucks gameplay-wise, IA-wise or whatever-wise, it's the developers fault. If that Punisher game thing sucks, it's not THQ's fault, it's Volition's fault.
Get real, for a change.
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I never said it didn't suck. My point was that there are too few publishers out there, with only one of the 3 that I could name off hand producing anything in the last year that wasn't 95% hype and 4.99% T&A and .1% creamy gaming goodness.
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I don't say you didn't say it sucked, I said it was V fault, not THQ's ;)
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is Sierra still going ? On the subject, I hear Vivendi are struggling at the mo (despite/because of [?] the recent HL2 release).
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Don't dis the punisher, I liked it.
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Gamespy Review (http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/the-punisher/582649p1.html)
3.5/5 stars, not bad. They said it's a good, but formulaic FPS.
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I don't think V can do good FPS'. Or at least good PC FPS', I think the console versions of Red Faction got ok reviews(?).
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Originally posted by aldo_14
I don't think V can do good FPS'. Or at least good PC FPS', I think the console versions of Red Faction got ok reviews(?).
I heard that was mostly because it was one of the first console shooters out there, so no one knew what to expect.
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First? Er. What about Goldeneye and co.?
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Originally posted by Ransom Arceihn
First? Er. What about Goldeneye and co.?
one of the first.
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Goldeneye wasn't released for the PS2, one of the next gen of consoles (at the time) :p
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But it wasn't really one of the first, since there was an entire generation of console FPSes before it.
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It was the first on a modern console :p
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Only if you define 'modern' very tenously. Even the SNES and Megadrive had FPS' (Doom conversions in particular).
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Perhaps [V] needs to leave the FPS or TPS alone and focus back on Space Combat?
That doesn't necessarily mean they have to make another Freespace. Why not just make a new Space Combat Sim franchise? A new name and new location? You know, its in Space and its a Combat Sim, but its not Freespace. Or it could be, just with a different name. We'll call it Space-Free. Sounds good.
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Originally posted by Nico
Hmm, people! Editors are bad, baaaaaaaad people, but they don't make the game. If the game sucks gameplay-wise, IA-wise or whatever-wise, it's the developers fault. If that Punisher game thing sucks, it's not THQ's fault, it's Volition's fault.
Get real, for a change.
Actually a publisher has a really big say in what the game will be.
Especialyl sine they can move your dedline and you're forced to publish a by-product that should apss only as alpha...
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A game development company should have all the time in the world to make games...
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within reason, if they had all the time they needed, nothing would ever come out.
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Originally posted by TrashMan
Actually a publisher has a really big say in what the game will be.
Especialyl sine they can move your dedline and you're forced to publish a by-product that should apss only as alpha...
They have saying in what the ideas are, not how the game is programmed. And not all games are rushed. Did that game come out for Xmas or after? If it was during Xmas, maybe it was. If it's after, I doubt it.
And, really, if I look at all the :v: games, AI programming has never been their forte, nor are 3rd person shooters...
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Originally posted by Liberator
within reason, if they had all the time they needed, nothing would ever come out.
Too true. Take Duke Nukem Forever for example.
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FreeSpace=Competent spacesim mixing the best from X-Wing and Wing Commander.
FreeSpace 2=An 'expansion set' style sequel, with many improvements.
Summoner=Good plot, uninspired gameplay. (failed attempt at mixing Western and Japanese RPG gameplay)
Summoner 2=Really good plot, uninspired point and twitch console gameplay
Red Faction=Uninspired FPS, with innovative features poorly implimented
Red Faction 2=Ultra-uninspired FPS
The Punisher=Super-ultra-uninspired FPS
Anyone see a pattern?
I'm not even pretending to like Volition anymore, I liked the first games that the folks made such as Descent and Freespace but they've lost their touch.
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The simple fact is that :v:, I'm sorry to say, is not good at anything but space-type shooters.
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Well, even though The Punisher is a mediocre game, i´m still playing it. And now i´m blocked in it.
I´ve reached the point where you have to stop a russian general from launching a nuke, and i´m at the point where you have to fight this big arse russian, for the second time. But i have no idea how to kill him! Bullits are useless on him. I tried blowing up the fuel drums before he throws them at me, but they don´t blow up. Anyone managed to get past this point? I need to know what i have to do to kill this brute. Anyone? I think i saw someone say they had finished the game already, so could you please inform me how to kill the russian?
:confused:
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Originally posted by Unknown Target
The simple fact is that :v:, I'm sorry to say, is not good at anything but space-type shooters.
imagine the greatness that would be achieved if V joined forces with DA/Warthog. :p
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Originally posted by Liberator
Maybe Ubi-soft
EA == more suckage than me
Sierra == worse than EA
There is a disturbing lack of publishers these days.
Ubisoft?
The only thing they are good at is to buy licenses and publish cheap editions of past games.
The age of the great PC games is ending my friends, the once great developers are dying/sliding into crappy quality and the indie ones doesn't have enough cash to make something breathtaking.
Do we want to see what happened to the most successful gaming series?
Doom: Doom3 is still a decent sequel, thanks to the competition brought by HL2.
HL2: many says it's not worth the name... I'll wait until it gets at a lower price and maybe in the meantime steam will go out.
C&C: Clones, clones, clones...
Wing Commander: Dead with Secret Ops.
Baldur's Gate & AD&D Sagas: more or less dead, damn.
Mechwarrior: Even my fanbois towards MS can't cover the fact that the game is now a freakin' console title.
Xcom: Dead.
Jagged Alliance: Kudos to any other JA&JA2 player, now JA3 has been passed to a russian dev team by it's new publisher... Basically it's already like dead.
Ultima: MMORPGed, no way i'm going to spend cash for it.
Rainbow Six: Ubisoft managed to make a sham of a great game.
Total War: RTW sucks gameplay wise, MTW modding is flourishing again.
AOE/AOM/RON: We'll see if MS can make something capable of living up with the previous AOE games.
Most other popular series around have been passed to console (Duke Nukem!) or are dead...
What i'm waiting for now? Galactic Civilizations 2...
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Originally posted by Zarax
Total War: RTW sucks gameplay wise, MTW modding is flourishing again.
Patch v1.2 fixed a crap load of problems finally. It is playing an entirely different game now. MTW gamplay in battles is still more fun I think, but RTW now is alot harder and they fixed alot of stupid stuff in it. Put in the patch and expected to crush this one army of Gauls with their crappy war bands, but instead they did alot of damage before dying, and now they can ambush! And the diplomacy is fixed so like I said. The game actually works if you have patch v1.2.
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I would say Rise of Nations is approximately 152 times better than either of the Age of Empires games; I found it a far, far better tactical experience. (and Rome better still).
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Never really liked RoN, it allows too easily for light inf rushes that always wins the game...
Warcraft3 and MTW are more akin to my gameplay style...
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Originally posted by Swamp_Thing
Well, even though The Punisher is a mediocre game, i´m still playing it. And now i´m blocked in it.
I´ve reached the point where you have to stop a russian general from launching a nuke, and i´m at the point where you have to fight this big arse russian, for the second time. But i have no idea how to kill him! Bullits are useless on him. I tried blowing up the fuel drums before he throws them at me, but they don´t blow up. Anyone managed to get past this point? I need to know what i have to do to kill this brute. Anyone? I think i saw someone say they had finished the game already, so could you please inform me how to kill the russian?
:confused:
you've got to shoot the fuel drum when he throws it...like Right when it lights...shoot and boom he'll catch fire...do it 8 times while dodging the Gaurds.
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I like Rome, its a great game, just lacks appeal. It takes a hardcore strategist to get into it all the time.
Doom3 was an eyecandy show.
HL2 was the same but with a worse storyline.
EA is chugging out games production line style, while they are graphically appealing, that's just to fool you into paying for a **** game. Their sports and racing games are the only thing they got going for them.
Ubi-Soft has got some semi decent games out there, but are anywhere from a good publisher.
I doubt Volition will get the chance to make another flight sim game. There just isn't a big enough market for it. They'd make more money from selling crap FPS's than a kickass Space sim.
Activision is publishing some decent games like Rome etc, but the Total War series is probably their only decent line of games.
More and more developers are going console too, because its generally easier to develop for, and provides a more secure market.
There arn't really any breakthrough games of late either the next generation of technology will be pushing photo realistic graphics, but gameplay wise things are just being rinsed out and repeated.
The best possible game at the moment would be purified games. Take a genre and purify all the key qualities. Halo almost had it, they could of done it in the sequel, but the push to the deadline shows in bungie's work.
MMORPG's like World of Warcraft look to be the future, but repaying for a game I bought already every three months just doesnt feel right...