"Actually LotR 1, 2 and 3 aren't true sequels since they were all filmed simultaneously, or more accurately they were all filmed 'continuously'."

how about mentioning the fact that the films are actually based on a series of books that were written as a single, epic novel... and each, ahem, "sequel" was published within a couple years of each other? or the fact that they were written almost 50 years ago, well before sequelmania ever existed.

jesus f.h. christ, what else do kids learn in school these days besides how to contract "you are" as "ur" or confuse the possessive form of "they" for "there"?

This comment was edited on Oct 27, 15:14.

the demo is multiplayer only, and frankly, the multiplayer sucks. the netcode is horrid. response times vacillate all over the place. on a 5 Mbps/1 Mbps link to a local server (pacific nw) my ping for one round would be around 90... a minute later it would be 330 something... and the inconsistent damage modelling doesn't help the poor netcode, either. you can take a couple headshots from an HPB, and then turn around and pop him once and he's out -- or vice versa. there doesn't seem to be directional sound, or at least it's really hard to discern from which direction your attacker is firing upon you from...

previews of the game have praised the single player, and it might be worth checking it for that alone, but i won't consider buying it without a demo first. i've read conflicting reports about coop, and that would really be this game's only saving grace.

the maps are beautfiful, but the player models look like cartoons. you can't jump, and yet you also can't mantle knee-high objects/debris. melee attacks are joke.

don't bother picking this one up unless you're one of those who don't value online replayability.

that's the H&D2 expansion....

engine is unreal tournament.

not for nuthin', but this patch gimps the server browser even more than it was gimped before.

think i might rollback to a previous version (e.g. a fresh install) until they get it right. looks like most of the good servers are all running 1.00 anyway :-(

and the ewoks are sooooo cute!!

never thought i'd admit to enjoying such a hardcore, online dorkfest, but this game has some of the coolest looking explosions, ever. the character animations aren't too bad either. overall, if you reserve comparisons with BF blahblah, it's a great looking, fast-paced, action-packed game.

the controls lean more towards "precision mousing" than i'm used to for a console-based shooter, too. that's a huge plus for me.

@zag: ground strafing troops from aircraft is totally doable -- you just need to zig a little :-)

This comment was edited on Sep 28, 12:46.

thanks ken.

i've been looking forward to this one for a long time. it's especially good to hear that you're focusing on tactics and procedure.

can't wait 'til the embargo's lifted! maybe then we can find out about first person weapon view. exists? and if so, is there iron-sight aiming? FPWV is a tough one to get right in a tactical shooter.

also, SWAT3 had a really solid single player game. great replayability based on simple things: how enemies would spawn in different places (and they were unpredictable) and how you're AI teammates carried out your orders. it made for some great gaming. i hope the multiplayer is good, too... of course, the icing on the cake would be COOP. god, please, let there be COOP in SWAT4!!

This comment was edited on Sep 5, 01:41.

SWAT 4 has NOT been "in development hell for years" or ever been "under the title 'Urban Justice'". The official SWAT 4 announcement was made at the end of April this year. The general public has known of the existence of SWAT 4 for a little over four months.

This is more semantics than anything else. sierra has always intended on releasing the *next* SWAT game. the official announcement (and name) is irrelevant in that context. it's a sequel, and it's the 4th game in the franchise.

the real point is that the SWAT franchise has gone through alot of changes (particularly after rod fung left the picture) and now it seems as though the sequel to SWAT3 is going to be realized -- and it's going to be decent. i just wish we getting more news and less water cooler bullshit.

This comment was edited on Sep 4, 23:53.

um. yeah.

swat3 was a great game. just because swat4's been through several developer's hands, seen two (or three?) different engine changes with false starts, and at least that many producers driving its design -- not to mention a few years of news blackout on the game -- i think the quality and fun of swat3 definitely warrants interest in this game.

i don't understand how anyone could be so jaded as to say "who cares?" when new titles/sequels are announced... at a gaming news site, even....
:-\

it has first person, and that's been stated in several developer interviews and previews of the game. gamestar germany also just reported (and it's been reported elswhere as well) that there's a server side switch to lock multiplayer games in either 1st or 3rd person. don't take my word for it though, do a little reading.

even so -- with that out of the way -- there's plenty of other stuff completely wrong with this "sequel." no EDIT: [direct] control over other soldiers, only one squad (actually, half a squad, it's only one fireteam), it's developed "from the ground up for the xbox" (developer's words -- and a death toll for the pc market as the game will, by design, be ignoring any technological advances made in the past 4 years as the xbox tech is at least that long in the tooth), and finally, they're gearing the game to be more mainstream, arcade-like and generally kiddie-fied:
http://www.ghostrecon-2.com/teaser/wallpaper/640.jpg

so, yeah. it's looking pretty lame, unless they can turn it around by splitting development teams and making the PC version completely different than the console versions.

This comment was edited on Aug 25, 14:54.

in marine heavy gunner. coulda sworn he was gonna say "Freeze, NYPD!" or ... "I had tried to run from it, edit it out. Winterson was dead, I was a murderer. A false start...."

it must suck going from voice talent on a triple A title to instant bargain bin.

yeah, but FUCK ubi.

l'ubi est roi que le roi est mort.

fucking suits.

I didn't have any big problems with Vietcong (apart from copy protection slwodown) dont think it was "buggy" game at all.
um. you could fly and walk through mountains. it shipped without a way to kick players from your server. if you were an admin, you had to get a *consensus* (via a VOTE) to get someone off your server. what kinda COMMIE crap is that?

oh and you gotta love the fact that you couldn't restart the server map once it loaded. i could go on and on, but let it suffice to say that vietcong was a singleplayer game that had an added multiplayer as an afterthought -- make that an eleventh hour afterthought. directplay in your ass, MS.

is that also the low-key approach when they went straight from unpatched beta to *gold master status* without even announcing that fact to their 3rd party QA team?

you know something's screwy when your QA is apologizing to testers for not getting the first beta patch out and meanwhile the game is actually on its way to distribution.

gathering has mismanaged many more properties than this one -- and believe me, any success that H&D2 enjoys has little to nothing to do with gathering's "hands off" approach. look at how they botched vietcong. that game shipped with more bugs than a mexican street dog.

They're still gouging us for coop.

Don't know about you, but while I do appreciate the tactical elements of the game, I found the controls clunky and the first person movement extremely awkward. And why is there a strafe/forward/back *movement delay*? Press an arrow key and start moving a second later??

While I'm at it: No ironsight mode for the pistol?

*BURP*

Full Spectrum Warrior isn't a first person shooter. Doesn't mean it ain't as cool as a 4 foot bong packed with ice cubes, though

Ubi is the producer, Red Storm Entertainment is the developer. RSE has always used homegrown tech, since the original R6 and every property thereafter. It wasn't unitl Ubi hijacked the franchise and handed it over to Ubi Montreal -- after aquiring RSE -- that they decided to license 3rd party tech (UT engine) which, while not a mistake perse, R6:3 lacked the RSE influence and polish that made previous titles in the franchise so popular...

For the record, RSE essentially created the tactical sim gaming scene, and when GR was released 4 years ago, that was a niche market. The GR engine -- which was impressive back then -- still looks good today, despite its limitations. I'm pretty confident that the next iteration of the GR engine will incorporate all the bells and whistles of a DX9 capable engine, and have rock-solid network code as well.

Rumor has it that there's vehicles in GR2. Expect to hear more details as E3 becomes increasingly imminent.