Much Better Than Expected

[Phoenix Rising]

I see a lot of hate for this game on the forums from PC players, and that's understandable given the keyboard controls. However, I'd like to offer another perspective of this game: a positive one.

First off, I played the game with an XBox 360 controller plugged into my PC. So I never really had a problem with the controls. Lots of people have called this game a Gears of War clone, and in terms of gameplay, they're fairly close - it is indeed very similar. But hey - I loved GoW's gameplay, so why not?

If you can get past the keyboard control issue by using an actual controller, this game is really good. The story is a bit odd, and the start of it isn't really all that explanatory, but it shapes up pretty well as it goes on. The end may even jerk a tear.

There are moments in the game where you will definitely get a good belly laugh in. I'll never forget this scene where the main character and his sidekick are talking about this girl...

Bo: "I've seen her somewhere before...like an actress or somethin'."
Dan: "Bo everybody knows the only movies you watch are porn."
Bo: "That's it! Yeah!"
Dan: "Oh, wait, the girl with the...oh yeah! Yeah!"

The animation and voice acting are so good that you actually feel like that scene played out in a movie, and it definitely gave me a good laugh

So while the controls are definitely a problem if you don't have a 360 controller, don't just dismiss the game itself outright. Either get it on the xbox if you prefer, or you can do what I did and just grab your controller and plug in - problem solved.

A few of the finer points...

Headset control: I used a headset to play the game and found the voice recognition about 75% accurate. There are a few words and phrases I had to over-enunciate to make it recognize what I said, but for the most part it got things right. I'm from Texas, but I don't have an accent, though I talk rather fast, so there are some cases where it takes a phrase like, "I got it" and thinks I said "Idiot" - that caused me to lose trust (a game mechanic) with team members a few times, but it wasn't a dealbreaker. I never did this, but supposedly you can turn off microphone voice recognition and when you hold down LB you can press another button to specify your responses.

Graphics - I'd say 8/10. The game has some really (and I mean really) beautifully rendered scenes. I played with the graphics jacked to the max on a 2560x1440 resolution and had really good framerate (putting my new video card to good use).

Bugs - I didn't really have any. There are a few places where animation in the game could use some polish, but I can't honestly say I encountered a single major bug throughout the game. I'm on Windows 7 64-bit with everything patched and up to date. I never had the game crash and was never booted to the desktop.

Difficulty - there are four (I think?) difficulty settings. I usually just leave the game on the defaults anyway because I don't like beating my head against the wall in a game, nor do I like it so easy there's no challenge at all. I found the default difficulty level just about right. I died maybe 4 or 5 times throughout the campaign, total. Not too bad, but they made me work for it.

Story - pretty weird, but interesting. Involves robots and artificial intelligence with a really sick twist at the end. I'll say no more My only complaint about the story / campaign mode was that I felt it was too short. On standard difficulty I beat the game in 9 hours of play time. However, it's not like some games where you can tell they didn't even try to build a campaign mode (Section 8 anyone?) - they really did a pretty good job.

Voice acting - in a video game, voice acting is key to really convey emotions. Remember, this is an entertainment medium that's slowly but surely emerging to take the place of movies and TV. I found the voice acting in this game, especially by the main character, to be top notch. Really well done. (Note that I played the US/English version, I have no idea what other language versions will sound like).

Overall I give this game 4/5 stars. The only things that would improve it would be: longer campaign, better keyboard support for those who don't want to use a controller, and maybe a bit more setup at the beginning of the game.

I can't speak to multiplayer since I haven't tried it yet - I'm more interested in the campaign anyway.

If you have a controller, I recommend buying this game. I bought it at the debut price of $40 bucks and I feel, even with a short playthrough, that it was worth it. Short ride, but fun and well executed.

[bdo7]

+1

All of the above, except I'm using a kb+mouse and works fine for me.*

Good game so far! The "banter" is great, especially since it responds to the way you treat your team.

This is the first squad-based shooter I've ever actually enjoyed, and that's the truth.

* OK, except for a bit of annoying mouse accel. That's kinda meh. But by now, I've gotten used to it. :/

Wanted to add: everything maxed on a single GTX 460 yields a solid 60 FPS (I have two cards, but only one is being utilized, so no SLI as of yet) and the temp never got over like 76 degrees at most, so not really pushing the card. GREAT optimization.

[endersgame]

+1
I have a xbox360 but I still get the PC version. With a xbox controller this game definitely the best shooter this year so far(singleplayerwise). It runs much more smoothly than the console ones(I tried xbox360 and ps3 demos) on my old rig which is more than 3 years old. It's a shame it doesn't sell because console players are into generic modern setting shooters and pc players more interested in ♥♥♥♥♥ing about mouse acceleration/"press start"/FOV....No one cares about a original and creative game anymore.

[Nekomancer]

I'd like the game and would buy it, but the horrible and awful controls are putting me off. I have a gamepad, but i prefer to play shooter games like these with mouse and keyboard and whoever did the port, did a very, very lousy job.

I played the demo, and fought more with the controls than with the enemy and if you experience that, you know something is wrong. I can't enjoy a game if the controls don't work correctly.

[frynet]

thx for the review Phoenix, I have tried the demo and as a pc gamer I had problems with some controls with the keyboard (used to press and hold shift for run, but this time I was only moving around my axis..). Have tried the xbox controller also, but I am unable to aim with it:P Esspecially trying to aim at a leg for example.

Just want to ask if the controls tips on full version do shown on screen if keyboard is used? Or do only controller tips show? In the demo it was only the conroller, which was confusing figuring out which key to press for B or X...

aah found it in other thread
http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...29&postcount=3