The First 10 Minutes: BiA: HH

Commented on 2008-10-05 01:30:51

Despite the really, really obvious technical difficulties, I really have to admire the ambition. Sure, the script is a little stilted, the camera direction's going for Scorcese but is hamstrung by bad pacing and the delivery is hampered by robotic faces, but it's admirable in the sense that it's very close to achieving its goal. And yet it's also frustrating that it's not quite attained it.

It actually made me think of Ace Combat 6, which stunningly had better cutscenes with very crisp graphics and nice character models - and that's a game which didn't really need character models for the gameplay. Again, that had some real nasty scripted moments, but it really tried to deepen the core gameplay experience by making you feel you were making a difference, whilst trying to (mawkishly, maybe) actually say something about how war affects people on all sides.

It's a shame UE3's texture loading difficulties and some nasty tearing and slowdown affect it so much, but you know - sometimes I really feel developers are almost trying too hard. Too many effects when they're actually losing out by layering too much. It'd be better to tone them down and up the performance rather than make the story suffer by obvious technical faults.

That said it's a reasonable looker and the fact that the locations are real and mapped out so closely... despite the problems, I may end up eventually picking this up.

(oh and it's "leave a lot to be desired") ;)

In reply to

Despite the really, really obvious technical difficulties, I really have to admire the ambition. Sure, the script is a little stilted, the camera direction's going for Scorcese but is hamstrung by bad pacing and the delivery is hampered by robotic faces, but it's admirable in the sense that it's very close to achieving its goal. And yet it's also frustrating that it's not quite attained it.

It actually made me think of Ace Combat 6, which stunningly had better cutscenes with very crisp graphics and nice character models - and that's a game which didn't really need character models for the gameplay. Again, that had some real nasty scripted moments, but it really tried to deepen the core gameplay experience by making you feel you were making a difference, whilst trying to (mawkishly, maybe) actually say something about how war affects people on all sides.

It's a shame UE3's texture loading difficulties and some nasty tearing and slowdown affect it so much, but you know - sometimes I really feel developers are almost trying too hard. Too many effects when they're actually losing out by layering too much. It'd be better to tone them down and up the performance rather than make the story suffer by obvious technical faults.

That said it's a reasonable looker and the fact that the locations are real and mapped out so closely... despite the problems, I may end up eventually picking this up.

(oh and it's "leave a lot to be desired") ;)

jklmr3

Commented on 2008-10-05 01:35:00

Poor AI...Poor density.....

In reply to

licenturion

Commented on 2008-10-05 02:09:02

Almost completed it. It's a great game in terms of gameplay and graphics.
Each level is fairly long and really varied. Also you feel like you are in a wide open environment, a feeling that was not really apparent in a game like COD4

The story is bad though. I almost completed the game and can barely follow the story, nor am I attached to any character. It's just drama for the sake of drama...

In reply to

Baleur

Commented on 2008-10-05 02:36:20

Manager-dude.. How is the multiplayer? Is it as laggy as it was for me with the 360 version? (practically unplayable with enemies running into walls and teleporting away, it felt alot like the good old pc internet days with a 28.8k modem)
Or does the ps3 version somehow have a better netcode? Thanks.

In reply to

romeolives

Commented on 2008-10-05 08:05:45

Although it has some issues (AI + limited terrain), it really is a great game. Looking forward to the sequel !

In reply to

Stoffinator

Commented on 2008-10-05 08:22:54

Its not that bad of a game. Some issues as stated above, but over all a good experience.

In reply to

j0k3r

Commented on 2008-10-05 13:36:42

I really enjoyed it even though it had a few problems was just a shame it was over so quick! Can't wait for the next one were hopefully they sort put the texture loading (only Epic have no texture loading problems with unreal engine! LOL) and sort out the animations and facial expressions! Because they were pretty bad! Worth the wait though but I have all the BiA games so I'm a bit of a fan. :)

In reply to

PlumbDrumb

Commented on 2008-10-05 13:42:44

This game would be good, if not for the horrible texture loading.

(joking guys; I've not played this game)

In reply to

Inflatable

Commented on 2008-10-05 14:27:26

As you will see in the video when I enter the house, the enemy sometimes simply stands still in the open just waiting to be shot. Close combat, specially in buildings, doesn't work well with the AI.

Shows that all the multi-core and Cell processors in the world are useless if you don't have programmers that can write good AI for a game..

and the Unreal Engine 3 slow texture loading is as usual fully visible in the cut-scenes.

Yup, that is pretty dumb aswell, especially on a PC which has plenty of RAM to load everything in it's memory before you go into the game or cutscene.. But I guess you can only blame Epic for that, I think they put it in to deal with the limited memory of the consoles and keep loadingtimes down.. I wonder if UE 3.5 will still have that "feature" (It probably will)..

BIA:HH still looks cool and has my interest though, especially because it plays in my own country.. I'll check it out on PC when it's released..

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PlumbDrumb

Commented on 2008-10-05 15:23:14

I don't believe a fucking word of that.
sorry :)

In reply to

bleachedsmiles

Commented on 2008-10-05 15:23:26

Bakers actually 23yrs old, thats what war does to you.. gives you Dawson creek syndrome

In reply to

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PlumbDrumb

Commented on 2008-10-05 16:49:03

no no, sorry.
Just realised I'm wrong about everything.

I'ts hard to accept this game may not be the stuff, I've been waiting for it to come.

In reply to

Se777eN

Commented on 2008-10-05 17:04:18

Finished the game is less than 9 hours AI was poor and it it got boring online is poor as hell but the story mode was good..

In reply to

extraextra

Commented on 2008-10-05 17:36:04

Is it just me or does this look worse than the ps3 demo? I don't know, I think its the colors

In reply to

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newbielives

Commented on 2008-10-05 21:15:34

Posted by droezelke

Graphically, there is no difference between PS3 an 360.

Is the 360's framerate only better in cut scenes or during gameplay aswell?

In reply to

Trebby

Commented on 2008-10-05 22:00:31 In reply to licenturion

Posted by licenturion

Almost completed it. It's a great game in terms of gameplay and graphics.
Each level is fairly long and really varied. Also you feel like you are in a wide open environment, a feeling that was not really apparent in a game like COD4

The story is bad though. I almost completed the game and can barely follow the story, nor am I attached to any character. It's just drama for the sake of drama...

varied? each level is just the same old stuff. a pool of 3-4 enemies, surpress them, flank them, kill them. and on to the next 4 groups of enemies. and once in a while you can ride a tank or go solo. that's it. graphics are pretty good but not outstanding good.

it's a pretty average game and everything which the game has as it's "features", we have already seen in the past. So in my point of view, this game has failed to impress and deliver something new.

In reply to

Ve3tro

Commented on 2008-10-05 22:01:03

I thought the demo was pretty boring, to me it didn't feel like there was enough action. Hopefully the full game delivers more.

In reply to

moroboshi

Commented on 2008-10-06 00:19:12

I played through the demo and was unimpressed. It's not a bad game to play, just average, but visually it's really sub-par. It has an overly colourful cartoony look, which is pretty gaudy at times, the lip syncing and animation in general is absolutely terrible, the environments are simplistic and flat, and the frame rate is all over the place.

With all the amazing games due out soon this is going to get lost, and it will be no great loss.

In reply to

licenturion

Commented on 2008-10-06 02:56:47 In reply to Trebby

Posted by TrebuTa

varied? each level is just the same old stuff. a pool of 3-4 enemies, surpress them, flank them, kill them. and on to the next 4 groups of enemies. and once in a while you can ride a tank or go solo. that's it. graphics are pretty good but not outstanding good

It's as varied as other games like COD4 or GOW. Find cover, point and shoot. Move to next cover: find enemy point and shoot. Everyone dead; move to next area and repeat proces...

If you want extremely varied gameplay play Zelda :)

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dofry

Commented on 2008-10-06 09:18:01

Posted by droezelke

During gameplay, the framerate is solid on both systems.

In cutscenes, both versions have stuttering. No difference between the 360 and the PS3.

In reply to

The First 10 Minutes: BiA: HH

The First 10 Minutes: Intro

The First 10 Minutes: Part 2

All comments (37)

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