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Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
| DXIW - Player reviews + first impressions thread |
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Length - This game is clearly shorter when compare to it predecessor. It's another game that you can finish during your weekend. I read some people can finish the game in 7 hours, i finished it in 14 hours. That makes DXIW almost "as long as" Max Payne 2 and opposite to KoTOR, which took me about 50 hours.
Graphics - Above average, with certain unnecessary eye candy. The Bloom effect e.g makes many light sources overly bright (shimmering) and thus, unrealistic. Your character's face model and texture seem poorer and outdated compare to most NPCs face. Probably the developer created them early but didn't improve them at the end of development process. Many NPCs you meet also sharing a same face model on other NPCs you previously met or killed.
Sound, background music and voice acting - Sound effects: guns firing, explosions, glass breaking are in good quality. Background music rather subdued but still good (probably due to my evil sound card). Same quality in term of voice acting. Also nice songs (pre-recorded) for the in-game celebrity, NG Resonance, if you stopping by certain night club, bar, or coffee house.
Character animation - Average. Pretty limited set of animations: your characters and NPCs always using same and repeated animations when talking in-game or during cutscenes. At least in KoTOR you can see your character and followers using combat animations for different combat feats, beside the usual talking/communication animations.
Gameplay
A)Good questing system. The content of the quests are quite interesting - divided between primary goals and secondary goals. Finishing certain goals will cancelling out other quests from another faction. But i think this rarely happens, instead, most quest are still available and other factions will still contacting you even you betrayed them last time around.
B) Combat is rather less realistic - you need to shoot 5-6 times to take down a single enemy, and 2-3 times on the head with pistol (Now the Patch 1.1 increased the damage done on the head). Single type ammo pissed off a lot of people, only few people can accept that ammo for flamethrower, rocket launcher and pistol are the same.
C) The stealth gameplay is available (silencer, noise detection, invisibility, thermal cloacking) but don't expect something comparable to Thief series. You won't see stealth indicator on screen, or quest and level design that specifically demand stealth skills.
D) Level design; Almost all levels are small (except the last level is little bigger), and you would probably always felt jam-packed together with surrounding environment. Cutting out the level causing frequent game loading when moving from one area to another or going to into coffee house or out into a streets. Heck, i don't even felt those streets are actually exist since they're more like a corridors that connecting and loading into another place.
Story and plot - Nothing extraordinary. Instead, we got shorter and less detail background story - you won't find newspapers or e-mails in game. Some recorded datapads and books strewn around only contain mostly one page information or uninspiring short story. The plot is linear and simple - no advanced plot devices like starting game in the middle of main story, unexpected plot twist, etc.
User interface - Sure, the new HUD design looks stylish, but in term of praticality many people complaining about it. Inventory management seem simple enough, but there's still some room for improvement. The developer already revert few decisions for user interface in patch 1.1.
Stability and PC performance - Good in my case although quite many people experiencing various troubles. At the end of the game i only have one crash to desktop. Performance relatively smooth (small slowdown at certain places) at 1024x768, 32 bit colors with AA 2x, both shadow and lighting at medium level while characters texture at highest quality. That's on my old AMD 1GHZ machine, 512 MB SDRAM, ATI Radeon 9600NP with DirectX 9b installed.
Conclusion - Deus Ex: Invisible War, a step backward from DX1. personally it's still fun to play though (score - 80-85%). The more you like DX1 the more you hate DX2 in current condition.
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Mon Dec 15, 2003 8:51 am |
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pauk
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 04 Dec 2002
Posts: 38
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| Re: DXIW - Player reviews + first impressions thread |
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quote:
Originally posted by Remus
C) The stealth gameplay is available (silencer, noise detection, invisibility, thermal cloacking) but don't expect something comparable to Thief series. You won't see stealth indicator on screen, or quest and level design that specifically demand stealth skills.
I'm currently playing the game with a stealth/hacker/bot dominator character with no fighting biomods. In every situation there is lots of alternate paths to solve situations using stealth biomods, hacking biomods, etc. (But it is not fun unless you play at hard/realistic difficulty.)
You can tell if you are stealth and safe by listening to what guards are talking with each other. (It is necessary to have soundcard, and speakers with good stereo separation.) If you use silenced weapons to kill guards, remember to hide their bodies.
Or sneak to turret and take control of it (bot domination) and clear the room.
Or use thermal cloacking, open some doors, and then dominate a big battle bot and clear some rooms with it.
Or simply sneak and hide and move in air conditioning channels, sewers etc (if you find them) and do your job stealthy and non-violently. |
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Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:08 pm |
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pauk
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 04 Dec 2002
Posts: 38
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| Re: DXIW - Player reviews + first impressions thread |
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quote:
Originally posted by Remus
Length - This game is clearly shorter when compare to it predecessor. It's another game that you can finish during your weekend. I read some people can finish the game in 7 hours, i finished it in 14 hours. That makes DXIW almost "as long as" Max Payne 2 and opposite to KoTOR, which took me about 50 hours.
Usually crpg's (morrowind, m&m games, older crpg's) are big games and take several weeks to finish. Kotor is a small game since I finished it in 3 evenings/nights. DX2 took only 2 evenings/nights to finish (even when reading most of the books and examining every garbage can and side quests and playing without hurry).
DX2 is the shortest and smallest crpg ever made! |
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Tue Dec 16, 2003 7:47 am |
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Victrix
Village Dweller
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 5
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I finished DX2 in ONE session :/
Hugely disappointing game, and what they did with the copyprotection on the patch is revolting. |
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Tue Dec 16, 2003 5:41 pm |
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piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
quote:
Originally posted by Victrix
...what they did with the copyprotection on the patch is revolting.
What did they do?   |
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Tue Dec 23, 2003 11:23 pm |
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bora
Counselor of the King
Joined: 14 Jun 2003
Posts: 372
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Just playing KOTOR. It probably may be finished in 15 hours (even less?) but to really play it much more is needed. Deus Ex2 - already wrote what I think about it in few posts so just to sum up - haven`t played yet but from what some good and reliable friend told me and tons of materials I`ve read it`s HUGE CRAP considered Deus Ex sequel. About games becoming shorter - what for create great long games that deliver fun for weeks/months? Let`s do some one/two evenings shorters people will buy more of them. |
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Wed Dec 24, 2003 5:00 pm |
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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix |
I recently played through DX:IW twice on Xbox. I had no problems. It is a slower framerate...but it's not a shooter so I do not really care. Framerate was like Arx Fatalis on Xbox. It does suck compared to Halo or Morrowind though.
The game was really fun, and it took my close to 20 hours to beat...with exporing every single side quest first. I expore every inch of RPGs. I hate powerhousing through games. Anway...I agree that the game is waay to short. it should be at least 10 hours longer. The inventory system works great on Xbox...I think it would be lame on PC. I am glade I played 2 before 1 though. To make 2 alot better it could have used more biomods since there are no skills. If you had 4 levels instead of 3 and 4 choices instead of 3 for each slot it would have been cool. Of course the game needs more length for this. Physics are dumb but way more fun in IW. Graphics are a hell of a lot better. Biomods are better than the Augs in part 1.
Now, I am playing part one and I cannot believe how awesome this game is. It is cool to see locations 20 years earlier that are in part 2. I love the skills system because I am an exporer and I NEVER skip side quests or hidden areas. I love the fact that you can swim, you have multi-tools and lockpicks. This game has 80% of what I love from it's sequel. Like the dynamic storyline. (ie I go into the ladies room, and my boss chews me out about in a meeting)AI is way better, they actually run like hell or crouch to avoid headshots. I personally think this inventory systems sucks compared to Invisible War. JC Denton is definitely cooler than Alex D. I think this game is better than part 2. I certainly wish I would have played this 3 years ago when it first came out. I wrote it off as a friggan shooter.
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Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet. - Robert E. Howard |
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 7:23 am |
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Jaz
Late Night Spook
Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 9708
Location: RPGDot |
| Re: My Impressions of DX 1&2 |
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quote:
Originally posted by kengo2019
I go into the ladies room, and my boss chews me out about in a meeting
You did that, too? It was my most memorable DX1 moment  . |
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 10:15 am |
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piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
Well, I've started playing and although I wasn't hugely impressed to begin with, I'm really enjoying it now. These people that say they loved the first game and hate the second... I really can't see where they're coming from, as both games seem pretty similar to me. The simplified interface, inventory & ammo systems have done exactly what they were supposed to do: remove barriers between the player and the gameworld. Inventory management and fiddling with UI screens were not fun parts of the original game IMO, and now that they are almost absent I can concentrate more on my gameworld actions. I feel that the changes, in almost all cases, have benefited the game.
I've got a couple of minor gripes. I don't like the visible view cones on cameras, I find them rather patronising, and they make the gameworld seem slightly less real. The body locations for the biomods are ridiculous - why is regeneration an eye biomod? Or bot domination in the arm? It would have been more convincing to group them by function rather than body location. And there are too few inventory slots. I would have liked to see more hacking akin to the first game, rifling through people's computers and snooping in email accounts, etc. But these are minor concerns, certainly not enough to ruin the game.
There are some real improvements over Deus Ex. The new lighting and physics really add to the gameplay (moving shadows can alert you to your enemies' approach, and while the physics is a little exaggerated, it allows for traps to be set, doors jammed, etc.). Above all, the game immediately presents the story's multiple angles to you, and supports your decision of which side to take (if any); conflicting viewpoints even occur in the minor sidequests, and like the first game, the action is all about choosing your approach and giving you the tools and abilities to play how you like. This, to me, was the whole point of the first game, the whole reason why it was so great, and it seems to be intact for the sequel (in fact, it's improved, because now you really are able to choose your alleigance, which was not really possible for most of Deus Ex). I can't help feeling that those hung up on graphics, interface and unified ammo have totally missed the point of both games.
I'm finding the story interesting and engaging so far (although I've yet to feel utterly gripped, as I did with the first game), the writing is mostly intelligent and mature, not condescending to the player, and most of the voice acting is actually quite good. All of these things are incredibly rare in games, especially recently, IMO.
So, I think it's a very good game so far. It may not be as good as the first game and I'm concerned that it may be too short for me to really get my teeth into after the epic prequel (I'll reserve judgement til I've played it all), but you've got to judge each game on its own merits. Even if it doesn't meet the high standards set by Warren Spector's earlier work, it's still shaping up to be the best new PC game I've played in a long while. |
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Fri Jan 16, 2004 8:01 pm |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
quote:
Originally posted by piln
Well, I've started playing and although I wasn't hugely impressed to begin with, I'm really enjoying it now. These people that say they loved the first game and hate the second... I really can't see where they're coming from, as both games seem pretty similar to me. The simplified interface, inventory & ammo systems have done exactly what they were supposed to do: remove barriers between the player and the gameworld. Inventory management and fiddling with UI screens were not fun parts of the original game IMO, and now that they are almost absent I can concentrate more on my gameworld actions. I feel that the changes, in almost all cases, have benefited the game.
Bearing in mind it's all a matter of taste, I couldn't disagree more. I'll leave the inventory and ammo systems, though, because they're hard to argue "objectively"
quote:
There are some real improvements over Deus Ex. The new lighting and physics really add to the gameplay (moving shadows can alert you to your enemies' approach, and while the physics is a little exaggerated, it allows for traps to be set, doors jammed, etc.).
The lighting is excellent but the physics are dreadful. Check out Max Payne 2 for an implementation that's twice as good. Nothing has any mass. The very first room has a basketball in it - as if to show off the physics system. Embarrassingly, while it rolls across the floor nicely it doesn't even bounce once; it just drops like a lead weight. Still, it's a minor concern.
quote:
Above all, the game immediately presents the story's multiple angles to you, and supports your decision of which side to take (if any); conflicting viewpoints even occur in the minor sidequests...
How does the game support your choice? Other than the game doesn't break or anything silly like that, not a single choice matters through almost the whole game (have to be careful of spoilers). Support one side, the other, both, wipe out one faction, kill everyone...who cares? The only thing that changes is that you may do one quest and not another. It all leads to the same point, anyway.
quote:
...and like the first game, the action is all about choosing your approach and giving you the tools and abilities to play how you like. This, to me, was the whole point of the first game, the whole reason why it was so great, and it seems to be intact for the sequel (in fact, it's improved, because now you really are able to choose your alleigance, which was not really possible for most of Deus Ex). I can't help feeling that those hung up on graphics, interface and unified ammo have totally missed the point of both games.
I maintain that your allegiance is utterly irrelevant. Doesn't matter a wit. Yes, there are multiple solutions...like crawling through the convenient vent right next to the heavily guarded checkpoint. DX:IW simplifies everything (your example of the video cameras is a good example) so there's no challenge which makes everything hollow.
Without the skills system you don't have to worry what type of character you build. In DX, if you wanted to be skilled with weapons, you had to spend points to improve your aim, which meant not as many points for other things. This is one of the cornerstones of a good RPG - the character is defined and limited. In a good RPG, you might build a good fighter, or a good thief (etc) but not everything. These choices influence the gameplay experience. In DX:IW with no skills, an excess of Biomods and no need to worry about weapon abilities (other than your own coordination), you can be a great fighter and still be a good sneaker. Some might like that but not me.
quote:
I'm finding the story interesting and engaging so far (although I've yet to feel utterly gripped, as I did with the first game), the writing is mostly intelligent and mature, not condescending to the player, and most of the voice acting is actually quite good. All of these things are incredibly rare in games, especially recently, IMO.
So, I think it's a very good game so far. It may not be as good as the first game and I'm concerned that it may be too short for me to really get my teeth into after the epic prequel (I'll reserve judgement til I've played it all), but you've got to judge each game on its own merits. Even if it doesn't meet the high standards set by Warren Spector's earlier work, it's still shaping up to be the best new PC game I've played in a long while.
The story is pretty good. All 8-12 hours of it.
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Sat Jan 17, 2004 1:14 am |
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piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
You're totally right, it's all subjective, but I'm going to argue the point anyway(in a civilised manner, of course  ) because there seems to be few forum voices speaking out positively about this game.
quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
The lighting is excellent but the physics are dreadful. Check out Max Payne 2 for an implementation that's twice as good. Nothing has any mass. The very first room has a basketball in it - as if to show off the physics system. Embarrassingly, while it rolls across the floor nicely it doesn't even bounce once; it just drops like a lead weight. Still, it's a minor concern.
Yeah, it's exaggerated and everything seems too light. But that doesn't stop it from adding gameplay possibilities. I've been able to jam open doors that would ordinarily lock me out, barricade doors to protect myself and set traps for enemies. I can also do anything that was possible in DX1. The OTT forces are a shame, but easy to get used to. So overall, and despite the flaws, I call this an improvement.
quote:
How does the game support your choice?
First the story:
In DX1 you were informed of the various factions' beliefs and aims, and were given three or four (mostly temporary) choices of whether to side with one or another. But for the vast majority of the game, you followed a predetermined path. Your allegience was dictated by the story. From what I've seen so far in DX2, you can choose your allegience freely. I'm not saying the game changes dramatically, I'm just saying you are allowed to make these choices as you see fit, and NPCs mostly react in realistic ways to your choices. That alone is an improvement over the relative rigidity of the first game, don't you agree?
It may or may not reward your choice of allegiance, but it does support it. Even slight variations in storytelling are a nice touch and a sign that the writers/designers understand players' desires to express their personalities (real or invented) through gameplay, and to contribute to the way the story unfolds. Like the first game, ethical/moral issues are central to the story, and this time you are given more opportunities to make ethical "statements." I understand that some players are not interested in such things, but I am. I like to see this kind of maturity and subtlety in games; I find it more stimulating than a series of material or statistical rewards to inspire my character's progress. Besides, I get that kind of structure in almost every RPG I play, so a change is refreshing.
And in the gameplay:
Well... surely you agree that there's a lot of freedom of action here? Lots of supported playing styles, moreso than most other games? Even if you don't like the game, to claim otherwise would be bloody-minded IMO.
quote:
Yes, there are multiple solutions...like crawling through the convenient vent right next to the heavily guarded checkpoint. DX:IW simplifies everything (your example of the video cameras is a good example) so there's no challenge which makes everything hollow.
Hmmm... you must be much better at it than me. I've found the difficulty level to be pretty appropriate for my progress so far. I'm playing with stealth, hacking and non-lethals, maybe other approaches are easier. Maybe my ageing PC is making things more difficult for me. Yeah... that sounds right. 
I think that the smaller levels may be preventing the game from reaching the heights of tension that the first game regularly achieved. You need prolonged encounters to reach those heights, and I don't think the smaller scale can accommodate them as well. But I've still enjoyed some tricky combat and evasion problems, and have found many opportunities to employ cunning and guile in satisfying ways. So, not as difficult or gripping as the first game, but IMO a long way from hollow and challengeless.
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Without the skills system you don't have to worry what type of character you build... In a good RPG...
Well, I agree with what you said about RPGs, but I never said that this is a good RPG, and I don't believe it is. But I do believe it is a good game, and to me this is of far more importance than what type of game it is. I like all kinds of games, not just RPGs, and ideally I like to have freedom to choose how I want to play. I get this in both Deus Ex titles, so I'm happy and can live without the RPG trappings just this once.
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The story is pretty good. All 8-12 hours of it.
[very minor spoiler ahead]
I'm currently 10.5 hours in and have just arrived in Cairo. I'm playing at the same pace I played Deus Ex (or any RPG), being thorough and getting the most out of every area before I leave. I will be annoyed if the game ends in the next 90mins, but there are enough unexplored places in my current area to convince me that will not happen (even if this is the final area). But I'm not kidding myself that I'm going to spend as much time on it as the prequel, which took me about 60hrs. Bit of a shame, but as long as the story and gameplay are fully explored, I don't mind short-ish games. |
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Sat Jan 17, 2004 4:11 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
quote:
Originally posted by piln
From what I've seen so far in DX2, you can choose your allegience freely. I'm not saying the game changes dramatically, I'm just saying you are allowed to make these choices as you see fit, and NPCs mostly react in realistic ways to your choices. That alone is an improvement over the relative rigidity of the first game, don't you agree?
Nope. When you say "choose" and "allegiance" that indicates a decision that has consequencs. There are none in DX:IW. You can folllow one faction's request, then the next, then the first. Where is the allegiance? Try killing every single Templar you meet - they'll still give you quests and the only reaction is to say how disappointed they are. How is that a realistic reaction?
It's a feature that DX didn't have, I agree. But it's broken and pointless - DX has a stronger narrative because it doesn't try to offer a fallacious faction system which IMO is better than a useless feature that weakens the experience.
quote:
It may or may not reward your choice of allegiance, but it does support it. Even slight variations in storytelling are a nice touch and a sign that the writers/designers understand players' desires to express their personalities (real or invented) through gameplay, and to contribute to the way the story unfolds.
What can I say? Those "slight" variations aren't worthwhile for me. As for being a sign they understood player' desires to express themselves - to me it's a sign they don't! As an example, take a wander through the Gothic forums and you'll see numerous threads asking about which camp you joined, or "just replayed as a Fire Magician, gonna start again as a Paladin". Players obviously enjoy factions. I'll bet you won't *ever* get a thread here that says "I just finished as a Templar and I'm going to be replay as the WTO!" Why? Because it doesn't matter. If there's no active decision and no consequences - who cares?
I believe Ion Storm did this deliberately. They were scared that making a choice that had consequences would be too hardcore for some of the audience they were aiming at - so they made sure nothing you could do would affect the outcome (please allow me a little latitude to avoid spoilers).
quote:
Like the first game, ethical/moral issues are central to the story, and this time you are given more opportunities to make ethical "statements." I understand that some players are not interested in such things, but I am. I like to see this kind of maturity and subtlety in games; I find it more stimulating than a series of material or statistical rewards to inspire my character's progress. Besides, I get that kind of structure in almost every RPG I play, so a change is refreshing.
Oh boy, would I love some meaningful ethical statements. If they had any meaning, I would agree with you.
quote:
Well... surely you agree that there's a lot of freedom of action here? Lots of supported playing styles, moreso than most other games? Even if you don't like the game, to claim otherwise would be bloody-minded IMO.
Yes, there's multiple solutions and more than most shooters - but not really that many more than other shooters like Hitman or NOLF. DX:IW dumbs it down to make sure I can't fail and failure isn't always a bad thing. It's good to have to make choices that require you to think about how you are going to use that character's strengths and abilities. I would have loved to be in a situation where I really had to think how to get my stealth-oriented character out of a tight situation -- but I never did. There was always a grate, if I had chosen the wrong Biomod I had ten spares and could swap it over and failing that I could shoot my way out as good as any other character, because there's no skill system to restrict my combat abilities.
A good game makes some demands on the player which is what makes it satisfying and rewarding. DX:IW is too scared to make any demands lest it not appeal to the Need for Speed: Underground buyers. System Shock was better in 1994 and I should expect more in 2004.
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Sat Jan 17, 2004 8:06 am |
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piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
[Deus Ex 1 (and Ultima Underworls 2 ) spoiler warning]
My most memorable part of Deus Ex was when I had to choose whether to protect my brother, or turn and run. There was a similar bit in Ultima Underworld 2 that sticks in my mind, when I had to choose whether to support rulers or servants in a dispute over working conditions. Now, I fully understand that these things may be utterly trivial to some gamers, but they enhanced the games for me, even though the decisions I made had no bearing on story, character development, or anything else in the game. I like to be faced with in-game decisions that I can identify with; I like being asked to think about something more relevant to real life than which sword to use, whether to be a monk or a knight, how to spend my skill points, etc. I find it extremely rewarding in terms of depth and immersion if a game prompts me to think about my own sense of morality, my political beliefs, or whatever. It doesn't matter whether that decision is tied to a branch in the story or not, a thought-provoking game (or book or film, for that matter) is its own reward.
I've only played maybe half of IW, but I've already had to make a handful of decisions like that, and the game is richer for it IMO. I totally accept the fact that you don't agree, and I wouldn't dream of telling you you're wrong to have that opinion. By the same token, you cannot make the bold statement that meaningful decisions are totally absent from the game, because different things are meaningful to different people.
Your criticisms of the overly lenient character development are understandable, but are still entirely focused on whether or not the game is a good RPG. It's not, I know this already, you don't have to convince me. As long as it's a good game, I simply don't care. The extremely lax restrictions do indeed make the RPG elements very shallow, but IMO that has little or no bearing on the important parts of gameplay or overall quality.
Obviously, I'm not trying to persuade you to re-think your judgement of the game (even if I was, I doubt I'd succeed ). I just think it might be helpful for other readers (if there are any ) to see more than the mostly negative response the game's got so far. I think we've done a decent job of outlining what's intact and what's missing from the first game, which might help fans to decide whether they ought to try IW or not. |
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Sun Jan 18, 2004 3:44 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
I agree that one of the most memorable moments in DX was deciding to protect your brother or not. There's a reason why that worked so well in DX: the script was well-written with some interesting NPCs that you came to care about. I simply didn't give a stuff about anyone in DX:IW and the game didn't really try to give me any reasons to care.
If DX:IW was just any old random game, I would have no reason to criticise the lack of skills. But the fact is, it's a sequel to an excellent genre-blending game and I expect those elements to either remain in place - or better yet, be improved.
DX:IW isn't a bad game by any means, it's just a poorer game than the original in a number of ways (I'd say almost every way but I don't want to overstate it ). And the two areas (factions, less linear) where DX:IW could really improve on DX are nerfed IMO.
While everyone has their own opinions, the simple reality is that DX was a mega-selling hit. DX:IW has not entered the top 20 charts for either the PC or the Xbox - so Ion seem to have done something wrong (like didn't appeal to their real market). I can understand that the PC version might be tainted by the bad demo (Ion's own fault) but the changes that were introduced to appeal to Xboxers don't seem to have worked for that platform, either.
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Sun Jan 18, 2004 7:55 am |
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piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
Interesting point about sales... I don't believe sales are a good indicator of quality, but I agree that Ion Storm have made some odd decisions that don't seem to aid IW commercially. There's the obvious problem of alienating the original game's fanbase (even with total confidence in their design decisions, they must have known that change would cause this to some extent), while trying to appeal to an audience who maybe never played the first game. It also seems to have been rushed out to take advantage of the Christmas period, but I can't help feeling this was a late decision, not only because of the oversights in the demo & original US release, but also because the pre-release hype was almost non-existent. How could they hope to make sales at such a competetive time without a high-profile marketing effort? I am in the UK though, so the US ad campaign might have been longer & louder than I realise. But over here it's been uncharacteristically quiet for such an anticipated game. |
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Fri Jan 23, 2004 6:07 pm |
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