Jump to content

Dishonored = Amazing!!!

EyeSeeU

By EyeSeeU
in OOC Lounge

Recommended Posts

EyeSeeU Newbie

EyeSeeU

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah my list is ever growing as well. I have Witcher 2 still to finish, Borderlands 2, RE6 although I've finished Leon and Jake's stories. Dishonored, and soon the new installment of Assassin's Creed, not to mention thereafter Black Ops 2, and then another laundry list of games comes around X-Mas time. Jeez what am I going to do?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Celerity Newbie

Celerity

Posted
Posted

Having played the X-COM through and tried out the multiplayer..I have to say..there isn't much to it.

The strategy component is really a joke. It is just a streamline for teching, even so far as to have a preferred tech order. There are no decision to be made in loadouts as there are clear bests (unlike in the original where there was some diversification based on situation). You can beat the game in a couple of hours (less than 10 missions??) if you know what to do. There is no late game development...once you get teched up, there is no incentive to not finish the game immediately. In fact, with the fairly random nature of the panic meters (the player doesn't have -much- choice in its control, outside of abductions and satellites)..you are basically encouraged to be finished as soon as possible. Not to mention the long texts that freeze the game and can't be skipped...Also not much to be done in base development (single base, just income management) or in customizing interceptors (build a firestorm, equip it with an EMP/plasma). The game moved along so quickly that I felt no 'fear' or apprehension. Especially in the last mission, which was very lazily designed....had none of the 'coolness' factor of raiding a base at Cydonia on Mars...I met a whooping three ethereals in my entire game.

You can't tailor your soldiers (training certain stats in missions), with their only customizability in their 'action traits', again, which tend to have clear advantages (why would you NOT choose gunslinger on a sniper?).

Tactical mode-wise, I found little use for heavies or snipers. This is a positioning game, so movement is extremely important. Supports have the best stats and the best kill rate. Assaults do big damage in the later game when you need it and have the very important ability (in multiplayer) to avoid reaction fire. When you have psi, (about one mission before you win the game), that quickly becomes the greatest power (just like in the original).

It was very easy (but I played it on ironman classic, not impossible) in the tactics mode, but quite frustrating in the strategic mode. For example, you can score perfects on every mission in the first couple months, gear your economy towards satellites, manage your abduction missions for panic control, and still lose a nation (in what I feel to be completely unavoidable, a purely LUCK factor) at the end of month two.

The missions rely too much on scripting, not random generation. You have the same 10ish maps with different spawn points, but with the same advancing strategy. The AI falls for baiting very easily and creates the unrealistic situation of inching a box forward just to hit the 'alien notice you animation' and get them to charge out at you, just to ensure you don't 'activate' several squads of aliens at the same time. You also tend to avoid hitting objectives because you know it will cause a triggered response of dropping enemies in the same locations every time! So instead of racing through to rescue somebody..you inch forward and clear the map (because he will be safe before you 'rescue' him), position your soldiers to kill the spawning enemies, and THEN rescue.

It feels like a console game...everything made exceedingly clear (do this objective to win the game, do this next, all the way until the very end...). Feels like it was made for a controller as well with its menu system. The tactics are simple but look good...and very repetitive.

So, I beat it, but I don't feel like there is anything I would do different in a new game, and so I feel like I've exhausted the game after a single weekend. It just doesn't have replay value--you can't play for personal scenarios because of the straightforwardness of the balance.

Maybe somebody will mod it and improve on its flaws, but for those that want something a bit -deeper-, I recommend the open source project UFOAI.

P.S. As for the multiplayer, I'd rather play Dawn of War 2 or something...far more interesting tactics involved. I don't think they have the balance down in X-COM yet (rookie in skeleton armor with a light plasma + scope = win in both single and multiplayer...and it has a very low 'cost'), and even they did, the tactics don't have much variation...you will play the same way with just about any combination.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pali Newbie

Pali

Posted
Posted

You know, Celerity, while I can't argue with most of your critiques (though I found snipers and heavies very useful as they earned most of my kills, and preferred NOT to choose gunslinger on my snipers as high ground + squadsight would let them kill across the map reliably)... I still had a damn good time and look forward to playing through again. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...