Recent reviews by LoXodonte

In 25 years of PC gaming, Return to Castle Wolfenstein remains my favorite multiplayer online game. Modern shooters feel antiquated and shallow in comparison to the depth of gameplay reached through objective and class based mechanics. The game has a lot of character and charm; it's a pity mainstream gaming drifted from this amazing formula to the unescapable rut we know as Call of Duty. When I bought this game some 20+ years ago, I fired up multiplayer ignored the campaign, and when I looked up, 6 years had passed. Perhaps I should be thankful they don't make em like this anymore...

Initial Impressions:

Polished presentation, gameplay, and good attention given to core control preferences. The game does well to convey intrigue in it's mysterious dark setting. It's similar to what I recollect from my experience playing Super Metroid in my youth. Channeling on solid gameplay and a tad of nostalgia, it's effectively captured my attention, resulting in mine shelving games I had been play previous: Red Dead, Uncharted, and Division 2.

Suggestions:

Given the games emphasis on skill, having some sort of arcade mode or practice mode would be helpful to develop muscle memory and familiarity with enemies and mechanics. Such options would make the game more accessible to those with time constraints. I can see the argument that such modes could detract from the campaign experience; so perhaps such an option could come available after a certain commitment threshold of game hours. They do have a daily challenge option which came available to me after beating the first boss so who knows, perhaps such options do exist.

A topic you'll find heavily discussed on reddit are the sprint options. There are 3 options available for controlling sprint - Press, Toggle, and Hold. Traditionally I prefer a Hold to sprint option, but in this game, so much of the time is spent sprinting, a hold to NOT sprint would actually make more sense, especially given there is an option to Always Sprint. Aiming down your sites can be a work around but is not really practical. In most of the battles I find myself sprinting, but when exploring or platforming I tend to prefer the slower pace.

As good as the control options are, I noticed that certain UI keybindings are not changeable. It would be nice if these could be changed as well.


Summary of Suggestions:

-Add arcade modes to allow players to develop skill / muscle memory
-Add hold to NOT sprint option to be paired with Always sprint configurations
-Allow remapping of primary UI buttons (w/disclaimer warning if necessary

I keep coming back to this for the horde mode which is gun blazing fun. unfortunately I don't feel the rest of the game has much to offer. I have some gripes about the control options...such as lack of mousewheel rebinding, and it's a bit strange that there isn't an option to manually switch which shoulder you're aiming down. The PVP feels really dated....I think this type of game would benefit from some class-based objective gameplay (think RTCW, Wolf:ET). The campaign was a total bore. I sunk a couple hours into it but gave up and went back to horde. Overall the game lacks the polish of the first 2 Gears games...Gears should always be a graphic marvel. I think the series is in need of a reboot.

This doesn't qualify as a review...rather an ADHD first, and perhaps last impressions... I wanted a game I could jump into and blast some baddies...this did not deliver. Wonky controls continuously detracts from the experience. The gameplay does little to compensate feeling directionless and bland. The perceived quality of games like this rest entirely on who you play it. On it's own, it feels broken. I found myself wishing it controlled like Gears so...why not go play Gears for 10 more years until my friends finally own computers nice enough to run this stuttering bore of a game.

A game which licences a popular franchise like Aliens is immediately benefiting from a coattail effect. You are going into the game with a boatload of context that you would not ordinarily have, and in many cases, the context is of a higher caliber then what a mediocre game developer could ever hope to produce. From the perspective of a game developer, this can be beneficial given customers might be willing to overlook certain aspects of a game, just to be doing something, ANYTHING, in the universe the love. I believe this is exactly the case for Aliens Fireteam elite, and my research prior to purchase is consistent with the narrative of a "redundant, but fun" game.

I watched a couple youtube reviews before purchasing and thought I had my expectations in check; I was hoping for a mindless shooter with good graphics and Gears of War like controls;. A "jump into the action", arcade style experience is actually a perfect fit for my busy life and short attention span. I'm not however a huge fan of the Alien series, so any "lore" which might be present isn't going to have much sway on my opinion.Unfortunately, I observed a flawed game with multiple issues which challenge player immersion.

Right out the gate you're going to notice the audio...which caught me off guard as the Steam store page noted this title as being a nominee for several sound related awards...but don't mistake Musical Score with audio mixing...the sound effect for w/e assault rifle I had was straight offensive. I had fair warning from another Steam reviewer concerning the sfx but somehow I completely ignored it. It's almost like the devs forgot to yank placeholder audio samples from the production version of the game. This was something I didn't catch from my brief Youtube research either, so do yourself a favor and search for straight gameplay and be sure to turn up your audio.

The 2nd challenge to my immersion, which also wasn't apparent to me during my youtube scouting, was a sense of disconnect between the character animations, and my keyboard & mouse input. I'm not speaking of input lag, but rather a sort of linear feel to the gameplay and control mechanics which just felt generic. If you are familiar with games like GTA, Red Dead, or even Gears there's a lot of nuance in player movement, and subtle connecting mechanics which meld a characters movement into something believable, and exciting to watch. That's not happening here. Character movement is rigid, bobbing and moving about as if on rails.

The 3rd challenge to immersion occurred with the introduction of the Aliens themselves, which pop-out anticlimactically...It's seriously not far off from that Geico commercial: "Hey guys, I'm an alien". You encounter them immediately ...like there may have been two preceding Steam puff hisses from the ships innards and then out come the droves of aliens, which the developers have been so kind as to highlight in distracting vibrant outlines. Why are we outlining obvious things? It doesn't look good, it doesn't play into immersion, and at best, it's mildly helpful.

Unfortunately, all the noted challenges to my immersion occurred in the first 3 minutes of game play. After that I completely shutdown. The only thing that kept me playing that 4th minute was my hope to reconcile why this game felt so damn familiar. Once I realized that it reminded me of "War Inc Battlezone", the free to play disaster from 2011, I promptly uninstalled, and shamed myself for not buying something polished. With options like Uncharted and God of War out there, I really have to ask myself wtf I was thinking. I suspect this titles current positive reception has more to do with the Aliens Franchise, and thedesire to playing something co-op with friends.

Buy this for one thing, the classic zombies mode. Load up on tons of free downloadable maps and have fun with friends...a much more enjoyable experience then the later COD iterations imo.

http://youtu.be/KWKbkIs1ar4

Loved this game on Gamecube but this PC versions is yet another lazy port. The "Ultimate HD" is hardly noticeable. Perhaps in another 10 years we can get an anniversary edition Super Turbo HD that's actually worthwhile D:

Meh, not a fan. Gamepad support feels kinda wonky. I can see the appeal of a classic game but just not my cup of tea!

Steam sale people! $9 for the Complete GTAIV Collection!!!