AVP thoughts and impressions

I've spent some more time with the multiplayer. Honestly it isn't the greatest but I spent more time with it and when you can find a match, it can be enjoyable. The alien is definitely the most balanced of the three in this area. The marine can be used effectively, but you have to keep your distance from everything. The Predator's cloak is about useless as he can be seen easily by anyone who happens to be paying even remote attention to their surroundings. The visual distortion gives him away.

The Predator still sucks. The controls for him are terrible and he just has a huge disadvantage going into any match as he doesn't start with anything but his claws. I know this was done for balance reasons, but I think this could have been addressed without nerfing him to the point of being nearly useless without pickups.

I have to say that the atmosphere for the game is good and hopefully with DirectX 11 support the lighting won't be so bad. Maybe it is just the multiplayer mode but I found the visuals to be somewhat lacking. Visuals aren't everything but I think they should be better than what we've seen in the demo. All in all I've got to say I'm looking forward to trying out the single player game. The previous two games had semi-lack luster multiplayer (In my opinion) but they had strong single player games. So far I'm betting on this one being about the same. I've already got it pre-ordered and did so mostly because I desperately needed something new to play and something that would take advantage of my 5970. Hopefully I'll be trying AvP in Eyefinity mode before too long. I'm not expecting a perfect 10 but a solid 7 for the game would make it worth the price of admission for me.
 
Dan_D said:
I've spent some more time with the multiplayer. Honestly it isn't the greatest but I spent more time with it and when you can find a match, it can be enjoyable. The alien is definitely the most balanced of the three in this area. The marine can be used effectively, but you have to keep your distance from everything. The Predator's cloak is about useless as he can be seen easily by anyone who happens to be paying even remote attention to their surroundings. The visual distortion gives him away.

The Predator still sucks. The controls for him are terrible and he just has a huge disadvantage going into any match as he doesn't start with anything but his claws. I know this was done for balance reasons, but I think this could have been addressed without nerfing him to the point of being nearly useless without pickups.

I have to say that the atmosphere for the game is good and hopefully with DirectX 11 support the lighting won't be so bad. Maybe it is just the multiplayer mode but I found the visuals to be somewhat lacking. Visuals aren't everything but I think they should be better than what we've seen in the demo. All in all I've got to say I'm looking forward to trying out the single player game. The previous two games had semi-lack luster multiplayer (In my opinion) but they had strong single player games. So far I'm betting on this one being about the same. I've already got it pre-ordered and did so mostly because I desperately needed something new to play and something that would take advantage of my 5970. Hopefully I'll be trying AvP in Eyefinity mode before too long. I'm not expecting a perfect 10 but a solid 7 for the game would make it worth the price of admission for me.
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I think the controls are solid for all species. The Predator doesn't start out with all his weapons for balance issues which makes perfect sense but he isn't weak by a long shot. His cloaking ability is VERY useful. When you are moving, you are visible. Stand still and no Marine can see you. Lots of times I would be tracking a Predator as the marine and see his cloak signature. I would start firing and then he would leap away and I would lose sight of him. Playing as a Predator, you have to think like a Predator. I'm expecting lots of things to change though from the recent video I saw on the game. They showed a lot more techniques used to dodge (like I mentioned seeing the marine dodge an aliens grab) attacks making the game very balanced. Here is an interview from GameTank that is really good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh7RLznIK_A
 
Dan_D said:
The Predator still sucks. The controls for him are terrible and he just has a huge disadvantage going into any match as he doesn't start with anything but his claws. I know this was done for balance reasons, but I think this could have been addressed without nerfing him to the point of being nearly useless without pickups
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I disagree with you about the Predator...if anything he is the most powerful...once you start picking up his weapons (which are available all over the map) it almost becomes unfair as it is a 1 shot kill...those flying discs are almost like a cheat
 
Ugh, Gamespot 5.5? I don't really follow reviewers especially from Gamespot, but 5.5? That's horrible.

I might have to pass.
 
KillRoy X said:
Ugh, Gamespot 5.5? I don't really follow reviewers especially from Gamespot, but 5.5? That's horrible.

I might have to pass.
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I put very little stock in game reviews. I'm not about to start. I'll know for sure tomorrow whenever it is they unlock the game.
 
Played the PC demo and was impressed. I could imagine why the consoles would get such low scores, this is a twitch shooter and playing it with anything other than a mouse and keyboard would be completely missing the point. If I were forced to play with a gamepad I would definitely give this game a bad score.
 
KillRoy X said:
Ugh, Gamespot 5.5? I don't really follow reviewers especially from Gamespot, but 5.5? That's horrible.

I might have to pass.
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From what I played of the PC demo and taking all factors into account such as gameplay, graphics, lighting, engine feel and movement etc etc, I would have to say that 5.5 is spot on. It's pure console rubbish which was evident to me the second I loaded into a server. I really coudln't believe how fucking bad it was on all accounts. Not to mention the cheesy fucking graphics, just horrid. A big dissapointment to me since I had this pre ordered, bleh. :mad:
 
Savoy said:
From what I played of the PC demo and taking all factors into account such as gameplay, graphics, lighting, engine feel and movement etc etc, I would have to say that 5.5 is spot on. It's pure console rubbish which was evident to me the second I loaded into a server. I really coudln't believe how fucking bad it was on all accounts. Not to mention the cheesy fucking graphics, just horrid. A big dissapointment to me since I had this pre ordered, bleh. :mad:
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This was my assessment as well. Cancelled a preorder for 3 copies as soon as I had finished playing the demo.
 
Releasing 9 months old beta as demo was very dumb idea - I am sure lots of people canceled preorders based on that demo.
 
KillRoy X said:
Ugh, Gamespot 5.5? I don't really follow reviewers especially from Gamespot, but 5.5? That's horrible.

I might have to pass.
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So what, IGN gave it 8.5.

I dont care much for these big gaming sites and their prerelease xbox-reviews
 
Of all the complaints I keep hearing about, the one I can't wrap my head around is the "crappy graphics".

I think the game looks damn good, and can only imagine dx10 & 11 features will likely make it look even better.
 
Casus said:
Of all the complaints I keep hearing about, the one I can't wrap my head around is the "crappy graphics".

I think the game looks damn good, and can only imagine dx10 & 11 features will likely make it look even better.
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One of my initial impressions of the multiplayer demo was that the graphics were sub-par. Certainly not what I expected from earlier screen shots I had seen of the game. Normally a game tends to look better than it is depicted in the screen shots but that wasn't the case here. I do hope that the singe player game looks better and makes some good use of the DirectX 10 and 11 feature sets.
 
Casus said:
Of all the complaints I keep hearing about, the one I can't wrap my head around is the "crappy graphics".

I think the game looks damn good, and can only imagine dx10 & 11 features will likely make it look even better.
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I think it's based on how bland that demo was. That's my guess.
 
Justinimcool2001 said:
I think it's based on how bland that demo was. That's my guess.
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Additional maps may look better too. I thought the Predator and Alien models/skins were pretty good. The Marine wasn't all that great but additional marine skins may be better.
 
Dan_D said:
One of my initial impressions of the multiplayer demo was that the graphics were sub-par. Certainly not what I expected from earlier screen shots I had seen of the game. Normally a game tends to look better than it is depicted in the screen shots but that wasn't the case here. I do hope that the singe player game looks better and makes some good use of the DirectX 10 and 11 feature sets.
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Well yea, the demo is locked at DX9. Which it seems a lotta folks seem to be forgetting.

On the steam forums I've heard folks saying that AvP2 looked better than new one...which, having loaded it up for nostalgic purposes I can solidly claim does not.

But that aside, I think FOR dx9, it looks pretty good.

Certainly not the trash I keep hearing people referring it to.
 
Casus said:
Well yea, the demo is locked at DX9. Which it seems a lotta folks seem to be forgetting.

On the steam forums I've heard folks saying that AvP2 looked better than new one...which, having loaded it up for nostalgic purposes I can solidly claim does not.

But that aside, I think FOR dx9, it looks pretty good.

Certainly not the trash I keep hearing people referring it to.
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I noticed that the demo was locked into DX9 mode right away. It tells you as much immediately when you fire it up. Honestly I think it might largely be the map they chose as well. In regard to AvP2 looking better than the new game, I'd have never imagined that it would. The game was great looking in its day but that was many years ago.

The game could look better than it does, but it doesn't look terrible. I think that people were expecting more based on the screenshots we've seen previously. I certainly had that impression as well. So hopefully, it is just the MP game or the fact that the demo was locked into DX9 mode that is responsible for the relatively bland visuals we've seen in the demo.
 
Dan_D said:
I noticed that the demo was locked into DX9 mode right away. It tells you as much immediately when you fire it up. Honestly I think it might largely be the map they chose as well. In regard to AvP2 looking better than the new game, I'd have never imagined that it would. The game was great looking in its day but that was many years ago.

The game could look better than it does, but it doesn't look terrible. I think that people were expecting more based on the screenshots we've seen previously. I certainly had that impression as well. So hopefully, it is just the MP game or the fact that the demo was locked into DX9 mode that is responsible for the relatively bland visuals we've seen in the demo.
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Pretty much sums up my feelings on it as well.

Downloading now! Hopefully can see if hopes pan out in a few hours :D
 
Casus said:
Pretty much sums up my feelings on it as well.

Downloading now! Hopefully can see if hopes pan out in a few hours :D
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Downloading/Installing now. I should know relatively soon depending on how large the game is.
 
I know it was locked in DX9 but I (we) have all seen DX9 games that look way way better than that game. I'm not quite sure what it was but it looked like shit to me. I'm sorry it just did. Maybe it was the lighting that wasn't done yet in that build or whatever. In the end if that wasn't the latest build then why would they make that the demo thats supposed to sell the game to us? I mean seriously what schmuck over at the dev/publisher let that out? I'm not gonna buy it in the hopes that the retail looks/plays better. NO, heh, too many other games worthy of buying I don't need this one. They need me as far as I'm concerned, so sell me. They didn't, end of story. When it goes on sale for a 50% off weekend on steam in a month or two and after reading various forums about it maybe I will bite. Till then, nope.

Oh and trust me, if dirt2 can be 50% a month after release, this will easily hit the same way soon enough. I'll save my 25 bucks on principle and wait. Just my 2 cents.
 
KillRoy X said:
Ugh, Gamespot 5.5? I don't really follow reviewers especially from Gamespot, but 5.5? That's horrible.

I might have to pass.
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Pffft. Was that not the guy who thought the Predator was too "stealth focused" and that "Aliens shouldn't crawl on walls, too hard"? Yeah. Grain of salt. :p

Looking forward to some retail reviews from people with the hardware and the skills to know better.
 
Savoy said:
I know it was locked in DX9 but I (we) have all seen DX9 games that look way way better than that game. I'm not quite sure what it was but it looked like shit to me. I'm sorry it just did. Maybe it was the lighting that wasn't done yet in that build or whatever. In the end if that wasn't the latest build then why would they make that the demo thats supposed to sell the game to us? I mean seriously what schmuck over at the dev/publisher let that out? I'm not gonna buy it in the hopes that the retail looks/plays better. NO, heh, too many other games worthy of buying I don't need this one. They need me as far as I'm concerned, so sell me. They didn't, end of story. When it goes on sale for a 50% off weekend on steam in a month or two and after reading various forums about it maybe I will bite. Till then, nope.

Oh and trust me, if dirt2 can be 50% a month after release, this will easily hit the same way soon enough. I'll save my 25 bucks on principle and wait. Just my 2 cents.
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Well I think they screwed up in releasing the demo. To me the lighting didn't look complete or really even worth a damn. Again it may be that they scaled back the graphics somewhat in the multiplayer game. That's been done before with plenty of other titles. Crysis is a good example of that. The MP game doesn't look nearly as good as SP. Not even close. I seriously hope that is the case with AvP. They really should have released a more polished version of the single player game as a demo. That would have really answered most of our questions and it would have given us a better idea of what to expect. Two demos, one SP and one MP would have been nice, but if they chose to release only one, I'd have preferred a single player game as opposed to what we ended up with. Which for anyone not paying attention, was a really rough and unfinished multiplayer game with some pretty aweful netcode and a terrible match making system. It was hard to like the game given that it was so badly broken. I for one can't stand hearing people's voice chats. I mute them all whenever I can. I consider this an essential feature for me to enjoy the multiplayer experience. There was no control for that in the demo. Voice chat volumes also seem to vary from machine to machine and game to game so I had to listen to extremely loud voice chat one moment and barely audible chat the next. The worst part was listening to this same douche bag game after game, with the stereo typical pot head voice talking about the game and giving his little review of it to everyone over and over again because they were forced to listen to it.
 
Dan_D said:
Well I think they screwed up in releasing the demo.
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Massive understatement.

They shit the bed releasing that POS demo. I've heard a dozen explanations for it, I've even heard that it's the same demo they showcased at E3 2009, but none of that matters. There is no excuse for it. The dated graphics, the terrible keybinding, the awful VoIP, the crap multiplayer mode ... I mean, who plays FFA DM these days? Regardless, AvP is one game that shouldn't even INCLUDE a free-for-all DM mode. It simply doesn't fit. I mean jeez, at the very least make it Team DM if you insist on holding back modes like Infestation and Predator Hunt.

If recent in-game vids and screenies are any indication, the visuals in the demo are no where near what one should expect from retail assuming you possess half decent hardware. Following a playtest, PC Gamer even claimed AvP had "the second best lighting" they'd seen in any game (second only to the soon-to-be-released Metro 2033). Looking at the demo, I'd be forced to assume the guys at PC Gamer were either drunk, stoned or paid.

Terrible demo. Terrible, terrible demo.
 
I agree, I like the gameplay of the demo and I am picking this game up for it's MP but it still was lackluster on the visuals.

Though I'm a typical IT guy and not a video game developer, from what I understand the time and effort it takes to put together a demo and polish it is no small task. Most polished demos are still a month or two older then the final build of the game.

Does this excuse them from the possibility of them using the E3 09 demo or a poor build of the game? No it does not, I just hope the time they could have put into polishing the demo ended up going into polishing the release build of the game.

Since I am short on cash until Thursday (pay day), I guess I have some time to see what everyone's experiences are before picking up my pre-order.
 
Pretty much they waited till they grabbed everyone's money before saying "Hey look, thanks for your money! But we don't have dedicated servers as promised! We had to wait for fan reaction for this!"
 
I've got the full game 60% downloaded via Steam. I'll post my experiences later on when I get a chance to play it. Fortunately I'll be able to enable the DirectX 11 features having switched to a 5970 from my Geforce GTX 280 OC 3-Way SLI setup.
 
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refraxion said:
Pretty much they waited till they grabbed everyone's money before saying "Hey look, thanks for your money! But we don't have dedicated servers as promised! We had to wait for fan reaction for this!"
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Out, sounds like they were pushed to make this release date regardless of being ready or not...

This is a big issue and can hurt their sales on the PC end immensely, I don't think it's as simple as a "grab your money and run" scenario. They could have tried to cover it up by not ever including dedicated servers stating that they have come up with a matchmaking service that is setup better then anyone you have seen before and will be perfect, like some developer we know (who is swimming in the green thanks to the sheep). :(
 
Well the game finished downloading, then immediately started a massive update that is taking a while to download, even at 1.4MB a second. So the jury will be out a while longer.
 
Having played through ~ 30% of the predator portion I am very much enjoying the game. The graphics are way better then the multiplayer demo, waiting for a friend to hop on so we can do co-op with marines.
 
Dan_D said:
Well the game finished downloading, then immediately started a massive update that is taking a while to download, even at 1.4MB a second. So the jury will be out a while longer.
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Dan do you know if the [H] is going to take a hard look AvP in an article?
 
SoulflyFan said:
Having played through ~ 30% of the predator portion I am very much enjoying the game. The graphics are way better then the multiplayer demo, waiting for a friend to hop on so we can do co-op with marines.
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That sounds encouraging.
 
SoulflyFan said:
Having played through ~ 30% of the predator portion I am very much enjoying the game. The graphics are way better then the multiplayer demo, waiting for a friend to hop on so we can do co-op with marines.
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Good to hear, though multiplayer is my chief concern. If they were forced to strip down the visuals to facilitate acceptable performance in multiplayer, I might ultimately lose interest.
 
thanks for taking one for the team Dan, I look forward to you updating us with your thoughts on the game, I'll try to keep an open mind untill then.

FWIW, i've always liked the movies, both Alien and Predator, and I did like the Predator movies a lot more though.
 
Out, sounds like they were pushed to make this release date regardless of being ready or not...
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This is usually the case with their games. I know it's not an excuse, but there are 2 sides to every story. Rogue Warrior wasn't entirely Rebellion's fault. Bethesda's handling of the project was borderline incompetent.

Sega has been known to release products before they're complete or even bugtested, so it's not entirely a stretch to believe this was the case with AvP as well.
 
AceCR42 said:
This is usually the case with their games. I know it's not an excuse, but there are 2 sides to every story. Rogue Warrior wasn't entirely Rebellion's fault. Bethesda's handling of the project was borderline incompetent.

Sega has been known to release products before they're complete or even bugtested, so it's not entirely a stretch to believe this was the case with AvP as well.
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When it comes to my money, I don't believe in excuses
 
Fail said:
When it comes to my money, I don't believe in excuses
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Oh I agree, just saying that sometimes the developers get a lot of hate for something that was entirely out of their control. Another good example is Obsidian with KotOR 2.
 
i wasnt aware there was co-op for single player... if so... im totaly going to force my buddy to get this with me
 
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