I had apprehensions about getting this game for awhile, mostly because EA required anyone who wanted to play the game online to have an Xbox Gold Account to do so. After letting the hype from the game cool a little I found a demo on Xbox Live and played that to wet my whistle.
I enjoyed the demo so much I figured, “Hey, I’ll go buy the thing and get it over with….”
Mistake # 1982676732341… etc etc.
To put it plainly, this game is renting material, nothing more.
The game boasts “massive online content” and the fact that you’ll enjoy playing the campaign missions as well as the Versus mode a lot. What it fails to tell you is that the EA servers kick you off every 20 seconds or you wait around forever in the lobby to get a game going.
On top of requiring you to have a gold membership to play, to host a ranked versus game you MUST have at least three friends who have accounts, be online at the same time, and want to join your game. And that doesn’t even fill out the needed slots to start the game, it just gets you out of the game creation menu to wait for people who don’t have friends (IE me) to join your game before it can start.
Its only saving graces are the intelligent AI and game dynamics. But even those were beaten in a few days, as there are only really 5 single player levels, one of which is the tutorial level. The game has impressive graphics as well, but even that cant save it from its flaws.
Frankly what I see is EA getting greedy. Requiring so many things of the player and having an unreliable server makes this game a “J.R.I.” (Just Rent It) in my book.
A couple of quick points:
I’m somewhat confused about your Gold membership complaint. To my knowledge, I don’t own any games that allow you to play online without a Gold account. In fact, that’s why I bought one in the first place – I couldn’t play my games online.
You’re mistaken about hosting ranked games. I’ve hosted several ranked matches online without any of my friends online. You don’t have to fill out those other slots before starting up the lobby where non-friends can join, you know.
Recently, I was playing with a buddy of mine, and he kept hosting games with just the two of us. We’d wait on another team to join (usually around 30 seconds or so) and then play against them.
No, it doesn’t *always* make you the host. That’s because it tries to hook people up with each other so they can play. If someone started hosting right before you, you’ll join their game.
Finally, I got this game the day it released, and I havne’t noticed that problem that you seem to be having with the EA servers kicking me off, with the exception of one afternoon where it was bad. Maybe you tried it on a bad day?
If this game’s a rental, I’d say it’s more a result of the length. The game is really short – shorter than I was hoping for. They are promising DLC, but I’m not sure that’ll make up for it.
As far as reviews go, this doesn’t really tell me much about the single player mode or the gameplay. Unlike most people, I belong to that crowd that mostly plays games single player – only rarely playing a game multi-player. Can you say anything more about those aspects? What about co-op single player? Is the game good if you get it because you want to play co-op single player?
Answers to those questions would make this review more helpful.
Wooglin: From what I’ve heard the gold membership issue is that if you want to play with a friend in any sort of co-op fashion, you have to be on seperate x-boxes and both have Gold Accounts. Essentially making the game have no co-op mode, and instead just single player and online multiplayer modes.
OrigSultan: What I got from the review is that the single player and/or co-op are so short that it is a rental, and not a purchase.
OriginalSultan, this game is basically 100% designed for co-op play with a friend. The single player mode is still “co-op”, just with an AI. I would say if you are only going to play the game that way, THAT would make it a rental for sure.
Bart, that’s not true, though. In fact, Ao2, even lets you do the Halo 3 thing, which is where if you have Gold, one of your friends can sign on as your friend and play online with no account needed at all! You can play co-op both on and offline in splitscreen on the same box. (I know, because I’ve beaten the game that way.)
Hmmm, I must have been grossly mis-informed in that case. That or they have since patched the game so that it makes sense.
Steve (the Foodist) probably didn’t enjoy the game much just because he doesn’t have any friends. 😛
Wooglin:
I ran into a big issue trying to create a versus game online more then once. EA popups kept informing me that without inviting friends I wasnt able to create a game, just join. Then it would kick me back to the main game menu.. couldnt tell you any more then that honestly. It just keeps happening.
As far as the connection issue Ive tried on more then one day and perhaps its just my area, though Ive had zero problems with say Halo and Gears..
Sultan;
Sorry about the lack of info on first player mode, but I think Wooglin pretty much sumed it up. The games partner AI works decently with you, but the game is most def built for co-op with another human. And yes, the game was far too short for my tastes.
Bart;
Die… die in a fire
Wooglin, You’re right on.
Bart, Play the game if you’re gonna review it. It has split screen co-op and it’s built in the game, not a patch.
And Steve, You’re right on about the length of the game, but the levels are extremely long and there are so many unlocks to keep players interested in playing it over and over. Graphically it’s top notch and really adds to the suspense of the game. But as far as anything the game is lacking, keep in mind that it is a very unique game in terms of co-op. It could just be a precursor for the company to show what the engine is capable of and how they can make teamwork a real need…were as most co-op games one player could just stand back while the other runs through the level solo. The aggro is a new aspect to most shooters…I’m just saying that the game is very unique. I liked it a whole lot.
Doug: You’re mistaken, I didn’t write this or any other review for this game, Steve is the one who wrote the review.
Holy cow welcome to a few months ago! lulz