FREEDOM FORCE Demo Quick Review
Clint
news:EAym8.191971$uv5.16...@bin6.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com...
> I'm a pre-sold fan, so take that to heart. My system is a 1.3 Ghz Pentium
with
> a Geforce 2 MX 32Mb card. After some tweaks to the set up, worked without
a
> hitch. Installed fast. Starts up relatively quickly. Nice smooth frame
rate.
> Had to turn off shadows to ensure no studders at all and I didn't miss
'em. I
> played the "small" demo with no music included.
>
> Save/Load, configure controls, graphic choices --- all seem right. You
can
> play the game almost entirely with the mouse. I used the keyboard for
pause
> only. By the way, you can set the pause key to *not* pause (seems
strange?) or
> several levels of "slow-mo". For me, straight up pause worked best.
>
> So, how's it play? Let start with what I didn't like. The camera angle!
> Frankly at times, things got in the way. There was no way to rotate the
camera
> around your character's position. You can zoom in and out with ease, but
> still, I felt like I was looking in and around things, straining my neck.
> Sometimes building got in the way of the action. Zooming in too close
resulted
> in losing your characters even though you can double-click on a portrait
to
> center on a particular character. But I kept wanting to zoom in to see my
> heroes. It was a bit harder than it should be to target a bad guy too.
Again,
> if I could rotate the camera, I'd be happy. Anybody figure that out?
------------------------------------------------
For the benefit of the sissy pigs:
"Ken Levine" <kenneth...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:7dzm8.2298$v42....@nwrddc01.gnilink.net...
> Roatating the camera: go to the options screen, choose camera rotate, go
> back to the game, hold down alt and move the mouse...voila!
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> What else not so good? Like with all voice-reply on a command games
(Warcraft,
> BG, et al), there's only so many times I want to hear "For FREEDOM!" from
> Minuteman. If there was a way to turn off just the voice replies, I
didn't see
> it. I think this might get really annoying after a few additional hours
of
> play.
Agreed.
> On the up side: lots of grin factor. Yes, it's great picking up a light
pole
> and whacking thugs out of the park --- literally! Knock-back is here and
it's
> a hoot! Over all, combat is loads of fun. Pause control is a must when
you're
> handling several team members. Slow down/speed up time (i.e. slow down so
> everything moves in slow-mo) seems worthless to me, however. Right click
menu
> where you pick your action while hover over a target is simple to use and
I
> got the feel for it fast. Lots of depth too. Should I over power my
blast? Fly
> over there? Blow up those oil barrels? Take out the super villian or the
> thugs? And what does this power do? I can see playing a battle over and
over
> again just to experience the variety. Way cool. The only thing missing is
some
> kinda "highlight the foes" option. That'd help alot while paused and
looking
> for your next strike. No auto-attack/AI for heroes. Maybe I missed an
option
> for that too. But without it, they just stand around too much for my
taste.
I am very disappointed in the stupidity of my team. How hard would it be
to give them a default script that at least allows them to hit anyone who's
hitting them (or something)?
> Also good: making heroes. There are literally zillions of options, dozens
of
> powers and even choosing the animation effect! Combine that with the
already
> vast supply of skins on the 'net and you have endless fun just in making
your
> biggest baddest super dude. Loved this part. I want to get back in and
fiddle
> some more. Tip: Always get some kind of close combat power. You'll
eventually
> need it.
Even just "melee" is fine. Giving it a modest power cost (I think), allows
you to "overclock" it for those tight situations.
> Graphics are very fine. I especialy like flying about. Things run smooth,
a
> bit frantic at times which is not bad at all for a comic book feel.
Powers
> have nice flash effects and heros move about like butter. No complaints.
I'm
> no graphics whore anyhow, so it's well beyond what I require.
The pause feature, aside from being essential to playing the game, makes
excellent comic book "frames", especially in "cinematic mode". Pause the
game at en especially frantic moment, hit "z" and then move the mouse
around to see what I mean.
> Speaking of comic book feel though, the plot and dialog is just right.
Over
> the top, campy at times, it recalls all that's fun about old time comics.
> Kinda that Batman TV show feel. Melodrama. Like I said: lots of grin
factor.
Yeah, a pretty good effort here, although the narrator sucks.
> No doubt I'm going to get this one. The only flaw might be later
scenarios are
> too tough to complete. I can see this happening. I lost the second
mission
> (the first in the demo is a tutorial) the first time because I wasn't up
on
> the controls or the various powers of my team. Once I got both down, I
> finished --- but just barely (lost half my team in the process). If I
were to
> go back again, I'm sure I'd do better still.
>
> Dang. Now we have (what is it?) three or four games that just went gold,
all
> could be loads of fun and time consuming. They'll all be out in the next
2
> weeks. What do I do now?? Hopefully Morrowind doesn't go gold for at
least 2-3
> more weeks. But I still have Freedom Force, MM IX, Jedi and now Dungeon
Siege!
> Ack!
It's going to be a busy summer!
Clint
news:u9lkbst...@corp.supernews.com...
> Oh btw, one caveat. The biggest downside by FAR is the fact that the AI
is
> horrifically stupid.
>
> I agree 1000% that "superheroes" should be a bit smarter than a bag of
> rocks. My other teamates would stand around taking hits w/o reacting.
Some
> basic "Guard, Evade, Defend" type AI options would make this go a long
way
> towards being a real time tactical game.
>
> As it stands now you basically would have to play it turn based if you
want
> to play with more than 1 character.
I can't believe the developers thought anyone could play this at even the
slowest speed in real time. Unless...is it possible the full game would
have some character AI where the demo does not?