Zenoth
Diamond Member
- Jan 29, 2005
- 5,201
- 214
- 106
There's been some reviews out and the negative points are pretty much unanimous so far:
º Dumb A.I (all enemy types including bosses, even the final boss)
º World geometry / A.I path-finding issues (vehicle can get stuck on world geometry, A.I can spawn on top of structures or rocks and such without being able to move)
º World is "dead" / void of life outside of designated "enemy zones" (no random wandering enemies, they only spawn within specific zones à-la STALKER)
º Lackluster map (lack of details)
º No mini map overlay (always needs to open up the map menu and interrupt game-play)
º No trade system (exploitable "trading" between strangers, has to drop items on the ground, can be picked up by anyone including other players with whom you might have not intended to "trade" with)
º Cannot drop money to "buy" items from other players
º Zones are generally small and linear
º Each zones and sub-maps (caves, ruins, etc) have to be loaded separately à-la Oblivion and Fallout 3's cell system
º Only 1 class-specific skill per class, after which each skills feel pretty much the same (increase damage, resistance, etc, only with different percentages and names)
º Paper-thin "story", if it can even be called so (while the narrative of it is rare)
And some others I might have forgotten about. And the positive points, because apparently there are some (phew! I almost felt disappointed for a moment), are also generally the same, being that the procedurally generated loot system is truly working as intended, completely unpredictable and quite addictive (probably the main point of the game to start with), the graphics and general art style is well done and must be experienced first hand to truly appreciate it (videos supposedly don't to it justice), characters and enemies alike have superb animations including death ones (especially those for elemental damage types with a great particle effects system), and co-operation mode with friends is very fun.
The reviews I have read were all for the console version (probably the XBOX 360, for most of them, if not all of them), but I doubt that the PC version will magically have anything "fixed" or "better" at release, unless the so called "optimizations" for it (which is behind the decision to delay it by a week) will truly make it better than the console versions, to whatever extent "better" may end up be. That review for instance is the latest one I've read, but it resembles all others I've seen so far.
EDIT: Newer review here, I've just started to read it.
º Dumb A.I (all enemy types including bosses, even the final boss)
º World geometry / A.I path-finding issues (vehicle can get stuck on world geometry, A.I can spawn on top of structures or rocks and such without being able to move)
º World is "dead" / void of life outside of designated "enemy zones" (no random wandering enemies, they only spawn within specific zones à-la STALKER)
º Lackluster map (lack of details)
º No mini map overlay (always needs to open up the map menu and interrupt game-play)
º No trade system (exploitable "trading" between strangers, has to drop items on the ground, can be picked up by anyone including other players with whom you might have not intended to "trade" with)
º Cannot drop money to "buy" items from other players
º Zones are generally small and linear
º Each zones and sub-maps (caves, ruins, etc) have to be loaded separately à-la Oblivion and Fallout 3's cell system
º Only 1 class-specific skill per class, after which each skills feel pretty much the same (increase damage, resistance, etc, only with different percentages and names)
º Paper-thin "story", if it can even be called so (while the narrative of it is rare)
And some others I might have forgotten about. And the positive points, because apparently there are some (phew! I almost felt disappointed for a moment), are also generally the same, being that the procedurally generated loot system is truly working as intended, completely unpredictable and quite addictive (probably the main point of the game to start with), the graphics and general art style is well done and must be experienced first hand to truly appreciate it (videos supposedly don't to it justice), characters and enemies alike have superb animations including death ones (especially those for elemental damage types with a great particle effects system), and co-operation mode with friends is very fun.
The reviews I have read were all for the console version (probably the XBOX 360, for most of them, if not all of them), but I doubt that the PC version will magically have anything "fixed" or "better" at release, unless the so called "optimizations" for it (which is behind the decision to delay it by a week) will truly make it better than the console versions, to whatever extent "better" may end up be. That review for instance is the latest one I've read, but it resembles all others I've seen so far.
EDIT: Newer review here, I've just started to read it.