Be Excellent To Each Other

Couldn't see a topic for this, strangely. Or I just missed it.

Anyway, the running around shooting and hacking stuff is FUN! It's like Mirror's Edge meets Kill Bill.

Not sure about the third level of the demo. Jumping from car to car and shooting people is ace, but the occasional times you have to use the sword button doesn't really give you much of a clue when to press it. Seems a little trial and error.

Doesn't matter though, as it is stylish and fun and runny, jumpy, hacky, shooty!

Yeah!

Anyone else played/like this?

Yeah, we talked about this in the demo thread.

Best Thread Ever.

I am awesome.

Moist

The demo was pretty fun.

Looks pretty linear, but lots of shooty fun

Seemed alright. Like Max Payne but not as good. Probably pick it up if it's cheap.

The shooty bits are like MP, granted, but I don't remember him having a big sword and going batshit mental if he gets blood on him.

When is this out? Do we have an expected cost?

It's out in the future. Expected price is typical of a new release game.

You clearly gave up during the dream sequence.

No, I complete games to the end, unlike some people.

The dream sequences weren't much like that. You just ran around following trails of stuff with a baby crying in the background.

I know, I know! But yeah, the sword bits were fun and I'll definitely be picking it up on the cheap.

September 18th is the release date.

Amusingly, the car chase sequence I just did in one go this time around.

I do like this game.

It seems a lot like Stranglehold, but not as good.
But Stranglehold if you don't already have it, but like this.

For all Stranglehold did well it was moderately infuriating to play in places, mind. But I pretty much agree. This has been mentally filed in the "Worth Looking At When It's Less Than Fifteen Quid" bucket.

Played it. Didn't like it.

For example, if you die during the surprisingly lengthy battle in the first room, you have to do the irritating insta-fail tutorial again.

The enemies have been given artificially large amounts of health which means unless you do a stupid slo-mo maneuver it'll seemingly take forever in realtime to kill them. And there I was thinking the whole point of the HK action flick 'mook battle' was that you'd have literally thousands of triad members all bursting through the door, taking one hit and dying.

When Rubi Whacks (I made up her surname) find the first bottle and does the quick cut swig/throw in air/draw gun/shoot in midair I shouted 'Oh puh-leeze!' in exasperation in spite of myself.

The 'this is just like a grindhouse movie!' flickering cheap film effect is INCREDIBLY FUCKING IRRITATING and there is NO OPTION IN THE MENUS to turn it off.

Pausable cutscenes good, unskippable bad. Especially if you have to watch it again after dying (pagoda level)

The big battle in the pagoda area made no sense - yes, those are spawn doors, but I'm meant to close them? And it says 'X3' next to them? And there are these hovering icons with 'X2' that give me some sort of multiplier? So I killed and killed and killed and managed to get my multiplier into X3, but the doors stayed open and more mooks (with bulletproof faces it must be noted, I was shooting them in the face and throat and getting a spray of blood and they still weren't dying) spilled out so I kept killing and wondering if I was meant to be shooting or slashing the switches above the doors while my multipler was at X3... but then they stopped. And I was left alone to wander around, listening to the HORRIFICALLY AWFUL MUSIC trying to work out how to climb up to each one and slash it with my sword, as easily reachable ledges couldn't be grabbed for some reason, and what in ANY OTHER GAME OF THIS SORT would be a simple wallrun and then turn and grab only produced a cool but pointless wallrun and backflip.

When Rubi got sprayed with the blood and the Bride-esque sirens started I didn't have time to groan because I was thrown into The Cool Bit, where everything became minimalistic polygons (apart from the stupid film effect which is completely contradictory to the flash graphics, I'd note - either the 'film makers' had a budget or they didn't), Rubi produced two SMGs from somewhere (up until recently she'd only had slow revolvers) and I found myself entranced by a hack and slash blastfest that was fast and exciting and loads of fun. I reached a door and Evil Rubi walked menacingly towards it... and that was it.

Because it was time for the car chase! And let me start by saying,

Yes. The world's easiest QTEs followed, with some thrillingly last-gen graphics, crappy models and nonsensical shooting again (though it didn't really seem to matter if I kill the baddies or not). Then an 18 wheeler lost control because ONE of its EIGHTEEN TIRES was shot out (really) and I had another QTE and then the demo abruptly and jarringly ends.

So, Stranglehold or Painty Max, only not as good. Indeed, though you played Max Painty on a console so old it required a firebox and boiler on a seperate tender, this only *just* looks better, and with choppy framerate to match - though it'd likely be argued that this is the 'it's like cheap film!' effect in action again by certain *coughGillencough* games *hackWhiteheadcough* journalists. The game doesn't even feel physical enough - in Mirrors Edge you felt tired, you felt every bump, slide, jump, hard landing and (bad) face crashing into a pipe or (worst) plunge to crunchy death. Everything's done for you here, the controls feel disconnected from the action, you press a button and it does the rest, you're barely in control. And here's one - why the hell is LT wall-run but I then have to press A to climb up a ledge?

So, erm, there we go. A desperately average shooter using gimmicks we've seen before, a graphics engine past it's best before date, and some truly truly terrible background music. All wrapped up in a non-starter of a setting that - yes- we've seen before as well.

A shame, because the 'seeing red' massacre bit was great.

So, basically, I should get round to playing that £5 copy of Stranglehold I picked up months ago sometime, then?

Fuck yes. It's ace

Indeed. Even the demo Hong Kong level was great.

I loved the demo, then waited for the game to be cheap, then never played it. I'm rubbish.

Meaty... are you just rubbish at games?

It's practically impossible to die on the tutorial level! First time I think I got hit once or twice... your health regenerates and it takes about a hundred shots to kill you.

I agree that the baddies take a lot of punishment when you're not going in a slo-mo mode, but when sliding or diving a couple of shots to the head normally does the trick.

Also, in the Pagoda level it shows you three spawn doors and the things you have to hack to close them. In what way is that difficult?

I died on the tutorial room because the baddies were taking an inordinate amount of damage to kill. Once I realized I should just keep shooting until they're reduced to paste, that ceased being a problem. That your sword is disabled at that point doesn't help, though.

The pagoda bit isn't explained properly - I wasn't sure if I had to just reach that kill multiplier, reach it and then destroy the generator boxes or just destroy the generator boxes BECAUSE THE GAME DIDN'T TELL ME. Not aided by how hard it is to actually climb up on anything and experiment. And believe me, having to work it out for myself while that INSANE! INSAAAAAAAAAAAAANE! YOU MAKE ME INSANE! I'M INSANE NOW! SEE? INSANE! song loops in the background is infuriating.

Slightly stylish shitty game.

I have to agree with Anne Perkies. This isn't much fun at all.

Ellie Gibson gives it an extremely generous 7/10.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/wet-review_6

She clearly has a higher tolerance for shit than most people.

I must too, as I found the demo awesome and would rate it (as a demo) as a definite 9/10. One of the best demos I've played on the 360.

I get the feeling the demo has Descent Syndrome... by the time you reach the end you've had just about enough and don't feel the need to buy the full version.

There will be a review of this up on my site when Will has finished playing it.

Beaten in about 10 hours on this lazy Sunday.

Enjoyed it thoroughly.

In fairness, I did get the feeling that it might wear thin... but it was ace fun.

£7 at Amazon. Worth it?