COD4 - well, that was quick

[Jeff7]

I finally installed and played COD4: Modern Warfare. I'm glad I paid only $25 for it. I started it yesterday evening and just finished it, just 23hrs later. It probably took only about 8hrs to finish on the Regular difficulty setting. (The training mission recommended "Recruit" based on my performance in the trial runs. )
Nice graphics, though even at the lowest settings, it was a bit choppy at 1680x1050, 2xFSAA, on a Geforce 7600GT card, and a 2.4GHz C2D 6600 CPU.

Disabling the music took a quick Google search, and consequently renaming the MILES folder in the program directory. Why they didn't add a music volume control I don't know.
I also hated the delay between dying and being able to resume. Being pretty lousy in general at FPS games (slow reaction time + low framerate = bad news), I died quite frequently.

Interesting storyline, and a decent variation of gameplay - shooting turreted guns, stealth, shooting from a moving vehicle, and of course, melee attacks, though I found the latter to be of minimal use when your opponents have guns.

I couldn't imagine paying the full $50 for this game though. Maybe I was just spoiled by the Half Life games and their long playtimes. Granted, the episodes were much shorter, but they're also "episodes," and are cheaper than a full game.

 

[Canai]

I bought it for the MP, which is where the game really shines.

 

[Lithan]

Long playtimes? I beat Ep 2 on hardest difficulty in less than 3 hrs. HL 2... maybe 6 hrs?

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: Lithan
Long playtimes? I beat Ep 2 on hardest difficulty in less than 3 hrs. HL 2... maybe 6 hrs?

Rush through your games much?

 

[Lithan]

Halflife 2 was pretty linear, how was I supposed to slow down?

Not saying Halflife was short... but expecting more than 8 hrs playtime from a FPS single player is pretty demanding. These aren't rpg's where you're content to spend 5 minutes doing nothing but running from place to place between towns and crap like that. Every encounter is scripted.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Lithan
Halflife 2 was pretty linear, how was I supposed to slow down?

Not saying Halflife was short... but expecting more than 8 hrs playtime from a FPS single player is pretty demanding. These aren't rpg's where you're content to spend 5 minutes doing nothing but running from place to place between towns and crap like that. Every encounter is scripted.

Expecting more than 8 hours playtime from an FPS is something you used to be able to do.
Now expecting up to 8 hours is stretching it.

 

[andylawcc]

but it's 8 hours of QUALITY gaming. I won't pay 50, but 40 I would.

 

[Dangerer]

halo 3 was over 10 hours long the first time i played through it alone and it dragged and dragged. COD4 was around the same length but god I never wanted that game to end. HL2 EP1/2 were so ridiculously short, but still great games.

 

[Lithan]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: Lithan
Halflife 2 was pretty linear, how was I supposed to slow down?

Not saying Halflife was short... but expecting more than 8 hrs playtime from a FPS single player is pretty demanding. These aren't rpg's where you're content to spend 5 minutes doing nothing but running from place to place between towns and crap like that. Every encounter is scripted.

Expecting more than 8 hours playtime from an FPS is something you used to be able to do.
Now expecting up to 8 hours is stretching it.

I can think of a game or two that's true with. But really? Doom, Duke Nukem, Wolfenstein? Not even 8 hrs. Quake? Hell, 2 hrs was too much to ask from that one. What games are you thinking of?

edit: Ahh halo, Im not a fan of console ports, but I do recall hearing that the campaigns were of decent size for those games.

 

[Lithan]

Originally posted by: andylawcc
but it's 8 hours of QUALITY gaming. I won't pay 50, but 40 I would.

Generally (not always) with FPS the multiplayer is at least as important as the SP. So you'll get much more than 8 hrs. A game would have to be GODLY for me to pay $50 for 8 hrs of play. Hell I could get a damn good meal and a massage for that much.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: Canai
I bought it for the MP, which is where the game really shines.

:thumbsup:

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Lithan
Halflife 2 was pretty linear, how was I supposed to slow down?

Not saying Halflife was short... but expecting more than 8 hrs playtime from a FPS single player is pretty demanding. These aren't rpg's where you're content to spend 5 minutes doing nothing but running from place to place between towns and crap like that. Every encounter is scripted.

I spent a LONG time at that prison thing, where Alyx keeps yelling "More soldiers!" I probably spent 2-3hrs across a few frustrated days trying to survive that part.

I've already learned from Counterstrike and Gears of War that I'm no good at the multiplayer online stuff. It just takes me too long to identify friend or enemy, aim, and fire. I'm generally still IDing a target by the time they've killed me - I wound up spending most of my time in CS just watching the game after dying in short order.


HL2 - yeah, kind of short, though not as short as you managed. Half Life 1 - that took a fair amount of time to complete, at least when I played it.



Maybe they could try a new tiered system for cost: low-res textures and models for $25, for those of us who can't afford to spend $500 on a videocard every 6 months to get 40fps at the very least, and $50 gets you the version with the super-fancy graphics.

On my system, the only things set to Normal were the texture quality settings. Model complexity, shadows, etc - they were all turned to Low or Off, and it still only gave me 20-30fps, which makes it really difficult to track moving targets.


Oh well, I'll probably post it in the FS/T forum soon, try to recoup some of what I spent on it. I didn't much care for the "realism" aspect of it. I prefer the more fantasy-type games, like Half Life or Giants:Citizen Kabuto. I guess I don't like my games to feel "tense."

 

[Lithan]

How did you end that? I dont remember a trigger... I thought they just eventually stopped coming. I was hitting em with a crowbar and moving the turrents if I remember when I finally got to that point.

 

[randomlinh]

you didn't read any of the reviews? they all basically said the SP mode was ~8hrs long. Nothing exciting, but decent. Everyone else who bought this game did it for the online play. It does look like a lot of fun, played a little on the xbox, but I just can't work analog stick aiming.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Lithan
How did you end that? I dont remember a trigger... I thought they just eventually stopped coming. I was hitting em with a crowbar and moving the turrents if I remember when I finally got to that point.

I don't know if it's triggered by the number of kills, or by a timer for Alyx reaching you. All I saw it as was a "survive until X Event occurs" kind of thing.

The key to that thing was just to keep setting up the turrets, just about nonstop, as they keep getting knocked over. The Combine should really consider making some kind of change to that design, as it seems slightly flawed.


"Oh no! A mild breeze!"

*crunch* *slam* *thud*

"Darn, all the turrets just fell over, and they killed 50 soldiers when they started firing randomly into the air. I hate it when that happens."

 

[Lithan]

Hey now, the combine has a lot on their plate... what with not bothering to learn how to aim and all.

 

[duragezic]

I'm surprised that you used AA... it's not worth it IMO except for very old games that absolutely can be maxed and still have frames to spare. I have a faster GPU (7800gt) but slower CPU (2.7ghz AMD X2) than you and the only way I could run 1680x1050 at good framerates was to turn everything else down/off, and I believe I ended up using SM2.0 after I finished SP since I wanted good framerates for MP. But the graphics still were very good.

I don't think a tiered system like you describe would work mostly because it wouldn't cost them any less to do it yet they would be making much less $ off the lower tier product.

You should give MP a shot before you decide to sell it. I don't agree with quite a bit of things in MP, and some things are downright annoying, but it can be a ton of fun and extend the playtime to way way over what the SP campaign took.

 

[shortylickens]

Well, COD4 actually plays better if you rush through it.
Clearing entire areas of enemies is impossible, they keep respawning. Just complete your objectives and move on.

Having said that, if you want a hundred hours of entertainment from one title you will need a good RPG or an MMO, and playing the MMO keeps costing you money each month.

Game companies want to make money, and if they give you a minimum of entertainment for a maximum of dollars, they stay in business.

Baldurs Gate 2 is one of the best games ever made for for players, but from a financial standpoint its a mediocre project. They had to put an ASSLOAD of effort into making it, and they promised never to do so much work on one game again.
Thats why we havent had anything comparable since then.

Oblivion was a big project, but they made it with the larger console market in mind so it was worth the time and money.

 

[Randum]

$50 is worth the multiplayer- all ive played is the MP

 

[Wuzup101]

Hell, I had like 48 hours worth of play online before I even played the single player campaign. I paid 40 for my copy (on the xbox 360) when CC had it on sale for a day in November. It was well worth the money for the online MP alone, and I would have gladly payed the full $60 for it (one of the few games I'd be willing to pay full price for). The campaign was solid... nothing super awesome or innovative enough to change fps games forever (but it sure as hell was fun). As far as campaign length goes, yeah it felt a bit short, possibly because it was so much fun. If you look at other FPS games it's not really all that short (it was around the same length as the games in the halo series). The point is, you have a great MP game with staying power built in. If that $60 just went to an 8 hour campaign I'd be pissed. I'd expect much more from a game (length wise) that just had a SP aspect to it. However, CoD4 has not left my 360 tray for quite some time. There is always a ton of people playing MP, and plenty of fun to be had (and I expect this will continue for quite a while). In that respect, it's well worth the money.

I'd actually like to see more games come out that are just based on MP. I'll pay full price for a well designed MP online FPS (that has no SP component) if there are plenty of good maps, good guns, and good mechanics. That is not to say that I don't want games like CoD4 which have a semi short campaign. However, a few truly good MP games would just add to variety. A few games with no MP but with massive (well written) campaigns would also be worth buying. CoD4 isn't the best game of all time, but it certainly is balanced nicely IMHO. I have a ton of fun playing it, and that's all that matters.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

The game shines in multiplayer. The campaign is one of the best (though also one of the shortest) that I have ever played. I've put enough time in it to justify the money, certianly. BOO DOOTDOOT DOTOTOTOTOTO I just loved the cinematic feel of it BOOT TOOT BOOT DOOT

 

[AstroManLuca]

I might be in the minority here but I hated the single player campaign in COD4. But that's not why I bought it. I got it because of the awesome MP. Even though I have a bunch more games that I want to get to, I never get around to them because of it. It's really fun.

But yeah, bad SP campaign. I get too frustrated with the infinite enemies. It means you basically have to just run through everything and hope you don't take enough damage that you die. Little to no skill involved.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Canai
I bought it for the MP, which is where the game really shines.

QFT. :thumbsup:

 

[Malladine]

Hmm, still playing CoD2 online, maybe i'll get this instead. Is it that much different? Seems...darker certainly.

Where'd you get it for $25?

On game completions, there's recorded instances of Doom3 completed in 90 mins, Halo3 Legendary in 3.5hrs no deaths...dunno about the others, heh. nuts.

oh and how would my rig run CoD4:

939 Venice (2.2ghz?)
8800GTS 320mb superclocked
2gb RAM.

1024x768 would be okay I guess, in FPS especially I just need to run the game smoothly at all times.

edit: after looking at Wuzup101's rig in his sig., i'm guessing i'll be alright

 

[badnewcastle]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: Canai
I bought it for the MP, which is where the game really shines.

QFT. :thumbsup:

:beer: