I was just playing Crysis, and I must say that Im very disappointed.

Compared to Farcry, I dont have much better graphics.
There are (apart from the Suit) no real gameplayimprovements to
Farcry, it has basically all been done in Farcry before.

BUT: The player has much less freedom:
-When I leave the "Combat Zone", The suit gives my a short contdown and then kills me. (in Farcry I could run anywhere I want)
-After playing the first level I still dont understand who I am, or what the objective is.
-The game ripped me out of the game to lead the next level - within the action! (shooting at guys who where close)
That is about the worst leveldesign possible.
-There is no real Tutorial (to learn the new functions)

Crysis is a good example, that relying on the pure shooter mechanics dont seem to marked well enough,
so the designers and developers stuff in
scripted sequences, limit the players freedom
to make him HAVE to see the scripted sequences,
and adding expensive graphical effects, wich dont add much to the game in my opinion, and just slow it down.

--

Fallout 3 (although not really a shooter) was
one of the few modern games wich I enjoyed in the recent time,
as the player really has enough freedom.
Without getting "lost" or having too less action.

I have to disagree with everything OP said. But then again, I never enjoyed overhyped games like HL series (except Episodes 1 & 2 where they actually improved it) with lamest possible storyline and action so slow, you can probably run through the whole game if it didn't force you into one triggered fight into another (hell, you can see a trigger coming up the moment you enter the area).

For me, a game which tries to give too much freedom and no proper explanation of why you are there, who you are and why are you doing what you are about to do is just a headache.

I enjoyed Suffering: Ties that bind. It has a LOT of bugs (major bugs like sometimes, even getting stuck at the opening sequence due to clipping). But the dark twisted atmosphere/story/characters, excellent enemy design and just incredible amount of gore filled action which just feels natural to our hero (compared to other games) was just incredible experience.

I guess I just like games with levels and characters who feel realistic for the world we are living in (in-game that is). That's the reason why DeusEx (1) and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, are still on top of my list with Gothic 3 sharing the third space with Stalker and Mass Effect.



As far as Unreal is concerned. I never finished that game. It was boring, pointless, but had pretty graphics with Skaarj that were indeed scary at that time. Unreal 2, I finished it. The level design in that game was really good. The actions scenes where you got to burn spiders and god knows what with your sexy flame thrower were really fun, but what about the story and gameplay overall? Felt like Unreal Tournament trying to have a story. Actually, if you have played Gears of War, you know Epic can't create a proper story and interesting characters if their life depended on it. It was all one triggered fight after another back then, still is. BTW, Unreal 2 wasn't developed by Epic (though I am pretty sure they were in on the whole universe/characters).

System Shock 2. Game got so-so rating when it was released. I played the demo and only remember getting chased by monkeys (?). I played the whole game years later after DeusEx. Yup, it sucked. But I was spoiled by DX, which did the whole upgrades/inventory bit way better in the end. I never finished SS2 in the end so I can't say anything about the story (which I found boring when the game started anyway).


HL2. What is worse than a game trying to give the player the illusion of freedom? A game which tries to give an illusion of some dark interesting storyline behind it. I never found that compelling story in HL, never found anything interesting in HL2 and Episodes. Is the compelling storyline in that briefcase that weirdo keeps carrying around? No? HOWEVER, since Episode-1, I have seen a good amount of upgrades in the gameplay and the engine itself (hell, Doom 3 was way better looking than Ep-1.. except for the character models and outdoor scenes). I really loved the use of colours in the outdoor levels of Episode-2 and the reason why I pretty much rate it the best HL game so far. It actually has suspense, still awfully obvious triggers, but the action usually seams realistic enough when triggered like (SPOILER) the part when you defend the Vortigaunts healing Alyx (though I still want to know where all enemies sleep when waiting for Freeman to do such things).


BioShock. I still have to complete it. I can't because I don't feel like completing it. The story just keeps getting ridiculous deeper I venture into the rapture. 90% of the game is same old enemies who can't see you crouching few feet in front of them. I know it's dark but jeez, I am crouching out in the open. The only interesting and cool creature so far is the BigDaddy, and I am freaking using him as an ally so that totally rocks. But damn, another game which is way too linear but tries not to. I really hate these games. They try to balance Choice-1/2 in same areas thinking that the player will actually replay just to see what happens with Choice 2 (I can just quickload to do that) only to discover that both choices most of the time lead to pretty useless and lame results with no satisfaction/rewards at the end. Again, DeusEx did it better, hell, even Bloodlines did it better.

/rant

You hate games? Such strong feelings for master pieces of software engineering, story telling and artwork? Strange. Why do you buy them if you hate them? You even do not finish a lot of your games.
Watch a good movie instead!

If I spend money for a game then I have read an article about it, some reviews, watched a few movies or played a demo. If I dont like the demo (like the Crysis demo) then I just dont buy it. So there is no chance to not finish it.

While I prefer some games over some others I would not hate them except they crash, are full of bugs and the publisher will not give me my money back.

Hate them? I never said that or that I never finish them (though the last post probably sounds.. err.. read like that). It's master piece for you, it's not for me.

BTW, I have played all HL games except Opposing Force (I played Blue Shift though). I enjoy few fights here and there, when the game starts getting boring, I uninstall and come back later to continue that game in a week or months even. I am not insane enough to buy games and not play them.

Also, please explain how Half Life 2 story is compelling or 'master piece' in any possible way. I enjoyed Doom 3 more than sitting through that game and D3 didn't even have any interesting characters except for Betruger, the main boss which you only see for few seconds in opening, hear for the rest of the game and then see once more in the end. Now THAT game was fun. Had a proper theme and the universe was created realistic enough to be believable.

What made D3 exciting was putting together the story in D3, imagining yourself what probbaly happened just by reading PDA's, listening to voice recordings or watching UAC promo campaign videos. In HL2, all I did was run around a dead world with replica enemies and NPC's and teams.. I am sorry but I never took Gordon seriously since day-1. I wouldn't exactly start fighting next to a guy wearing an orange suit in the middle of a freakin warzone. Why don't they just give him a large "Shoot Here for max damage." sign pointing at his head.


The expansion for D3 only made it better with more action and kickass boss fights. Now lemme compare that to two 'episodes' out of which only the second one provided some good action triggers (cause every fight is just a trigger away in HL2, just terrible).

Lemme know when they release a demo for these games and where I can find a site which doesn't decide to give all overhyped games 9.9/10 even before they get the review copy so I can decide not to buy them.

These are just my views of course. I am sure the games I hate are groundbreaking, revolutionary, genre bending (words like that) etc.. for others. Great.

When I get bored of these games, I do watch entertaining movies as well. Infact, was watching Taken few hours ago (Neeson is almost the Bourne) after making my way through White Forest in Ep2.

Here are your words:







That certainly sounds like you said that you never finish some games ...

Unreal 1 (I was at Na Pali or something). So yeah, it was same thing over and over, the reason why I never finished. Is there something new in that game? Cause I have the disc and can go through it again if I want.


SS2, yeah, never finished that one.


BioShock
"I don't feel like" != I'll never finish it
It's still installed and like I said, I will go back to it in a week or a month or so when I am not bored enough.

Infact, out of about 400+ titles I have, I haven't finished (as in, 'never will') SS2, Manhunt, Spore and Unreal. Umm, anyway, it isn't exactly an acievement or a plus for a game in my books if I don't feel compelled enough to finish it in 3-4 sittings in a week so I really don't see the point in telling me I never finish them. I finished HL2 in about 3 months. Finished 3 different titles in-between. HL2 was really revolutionary.. :P

And this is off topic discussion, anyway. The point was, you simply contradicted yourself.

Now, can we get back on topic? We were talking about comparing old school/new school FPS games and what works/does not work and why each of us thinks so.

wait... what? a modern remake of a modern game? you gotta be kiddin me, bioshock got released 2007 :P

but hey, i LOVE that game. its simply awesome.

and about the KISS principle: i couldn't agree more. in fact, scorpion and me were (or still are) working on a fps that's all about that: simple, cool, and somewhat... weird. :P (which reminds me that i have to kick his ass as soon as i see him again... we need moar progress >_> )

Somehow I knew it that you'd tell me to get back on topic (even though I was clarifying your own offtopic reply). Either way, I was posting on the topic with my first and second post. I pretty did explain why I myself never considered HL2 to be anything more than an average game with a lot of fanboys. The game has a main guy wearing orange suit in the battlefield who never speaks and is supposed to be a scientist himself. That's not a good start for a complex story to me..

Anyways, I won't go 'offtopic' anymore by posting my views in this thread (or any replies to other offtopic replies). Sorry.

Dan probably had Bioforge in mind as he wrote Bioshock.