Homefront, WOLVERINES!!! Options

[Wounded Ronin]

"Hey, why doesn't my fancy sight light up any longer?" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

To be fair I thought that was a great moment when that happened.

If the game were more realistic, the question would be, "why don't my bullets go where the aimpoint is whenever I'm the one shooting?" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Wounded Ronin]

Played Homefront again tonight. I have to say I really do like it.

I like John Milius film. I obsessively watched Conan The Barbarian. I loved Dirty Harry. Red Dawn is a classic.

What Homefront is is an interactive John Milius film. I decided the real point of that game isn't the gameplay, but the cutscenes and the situations. After all, who but John Milius could have come up with the psycho killer militia men, for example? Who but John Milius would have the idea to make a scene about white phosphorous lighting up a parking lot full of Koreans, and then have a character react to the horror of that happening?

John Milius is all about masculine, almost careless storytelling, driven by passion and intensity. I can't say that I'm unhappy to have what is effectively an interactive John Milius movie.

Probably the biggest detraction from Homefront is the Call of Duty style gameplay. They probably picked it thinking it would be the easiest to script their detailed scenes. But the style of the gameplay lacks gravitas. How can I be impressed by a bad guy pointing a pistol in my face during a cutscene when I know that I regenerate from bullet wounds in seconds? That's like the opposite of Dirty Harry's magnum. The gameplay would have been better with beefy, deadly weapons. They should take longer to aim, be deadlier, have more recoil, and there should be no health regeneration. I think the game would have made a lot more of an impression on most people if the gunplay was like something out of Dirty Harry, or if enemy vehicles would own you like the Hinds in Red Dawn. What Call of Duty manages to do is make it not scary when an APC opens up on you with a .30 cal machine gun, when that should instead be absolutely terrifying and badass in order to convey the drama and gravity of the setting. The style of gameplay, with respawning endless enemies, also detracts from the gravitas. There should be fewer enemies, but they should be deadlier.

Milius once stated that he didn't like violence in movies that cheapened human life, or something like that. In keeping with this, HF could have fewer enemies, perhaps introduced some of them in cutscenes, and maybe had Soldier of Fortune II style suffering and dismemberment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNICWlm5tU0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPpi-0H2-Gw

[CanRay]

You can probably thank the watchdog groups for something like that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif) Can't humanize anything or make it realistic in that way.

[Voran]

At times I get a little frustrated at FPS 3PS games of late, that give you what...maybe at most 8 hours of a single player campaign nowadays? And I'm wary of the idea that speed running a game is actually a good thing. To me it just implies there's just alot of bare bones stuff hidden behind fluff. That blackops video that shows how you can go through the whole mission letting your npc squaddies clear everything is also not a good sign for me.

I kinda wish they let you do it in installments. Like, if you just want the SP, its 10 bucks, or 15 bucks, and the remainder is the multiplayer unlock. If you never want to play multiplayer you don't have to pay for it, etc. Halo Reach was kinda like that for me, ran the story, but found that I didn't want to run around MP.

These tend to be the games that if I rented games, would be a good week rental, but not really worth a purchase.


Theme wise, heh a 'world shooter' might be fun. You play an <X> national supersoldier and get to stomp on everyone from other realms, with multiple 'endings' since you can be an American one time, a Japanese soldier, a german one, a brit, a frenchie, whatever. Hm, like a mixture of Risk plus FPS.

[Doc Chase]

Milius once stated that he didn't like violence in movies that cheapened human life, or something like that. In keeping with this, HF could have fewer enemies, perhaps introduced some of them in cutscenes, and maybe had Soldier of Fortune II style suffering and dismemberment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNICWlm5tU0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPpi-0H2-Gw

I'd love to have a level in one of these FPS games that just has a single enemy that doesn't have boss-level health or anything like that, just a scoped rifle and a position, and you've got to ferret him out before he takes out your entire squad.

MW2 was interesting in that the Army Ranger you play during the Wolverines! mission essentially obliterates an entire company of Russian paratroopers (or Sgt. Foley does) using a drone and a variety of rifles. I didn't think there were terribly many Black Hawk Down events in reality.

[Wesley Street]

That's really hard to accomplish in a FPS. Your field-of-view is greatly diminished plus the other senses that you rely on in real life, such as balance, momentum, and awareness of body, are impossible to replicate. Audio cues could work but it would hard to do it subtly and people without stereo sound would be screwed.

I'd rather see something like the sniper battle with Sniper Wolf in MGS, without the "health meter". Some system where you can instantly switch from third- to first-person without awkward finger stretching.

[CanRay]

Makes me wish VR had gone somewhere, that did a decent job of stereo sound and peripheral vision. Even if the equipment was massively bulky and heavy at the time.

[Stahlseele]

with todays tech, it should be possible again . .
smaller, higher resolution screens that are lighter too.
and you can get "3D" in these to boot . .

[Sixgun_Sage]

Still a few companies out there working on VR I think, but not as core projects and more as test beds for new technology, the frustrating thing is, ya, totally doable with modern technology.

[CanadianWolverin...]

I hold out more hope for good AR than VR going much further other than being lighter.

[Wounded Ronin]

One time I played a VR game. I put on goggles, held a plastic gun, and walked around in a hamster ball.

It fucking blew. The plastic gun didn't aim at all, because instead your aim was controlled by looking. So all you did was hold down the trigger and look around. Instinctively, I tried to shoulder the gun and geisha walk, which caused me to lose my balance, as the ball rolled faster and faster in one direction and I ended up sprinting at the edge of my balance to not fall over. The image in the goggles was totally blurry too.

I felt completely disappointed. What the hell is the point of VR if you can't translate your actual physical skills into the game?

[Fabe]

One time I played a VR game. I put on goggles, held a plastic gun, and walked around in a hamster ball.

It fucking blew. The plastic gun didn't aim at all, because instead your aim was controlled by looking. So all you did was hold down the trigger and look around. Instinctively, I tried to shoulder the gun and geisha walk, which caused me to lose my balance, as the ball rolled faster and faster in one direction and I ended up sprinting at the edge of my balance to not fall over. The image in the goggles was totally blurry too.

I felt completely disappointed. What the hell is the point of VR if you can't translate your actual physical skills into the game?

Good point but VR technology is still pretty young,It's going to be a few more year before it get like it is in the movies. Just look at how far video games have come in a few decades.

[Wesley Street]

Good point but VR technology is still pretty young,It's going to be a few more year before it get like it is in the movies. Just look at how far video games have come in a few decades.

Graphics have come a long way since the Atari 2600 days. And the whole online multiplayer thing. But the technology wouldn't be unrecognizable to someone in 1985.

Virtual Reality has a long way to go. Reading and translating subtle movements from the human body is still beyond our technology level; or at least at a level where it would be commercially feasible. Have you ever seen a motion-capture guy work on a video game cut-scene? He gesticulates in an extremely exaggerated manner in order for his motions to be read by the scanners. I wouldn't want to have to swing my arms around like a lunatic just to get my gun in the right position when I could simply twitch my thumb.

I think Augmented Reality is the next realistic step for gaming, after 3D (well, once they get it to the point where it doesn't give me a raging headache...), and it might be how we see hardcore gamers return to an arcade or public gathering place. What I would picture would be a something like a warehouse or a paintball course covered in laser sensors that a player moves through. The sensors track the player's position within the course and change what he sees through his eyepieces. Rubber cylinders on the physical course become trash barrels, logs and streetlights in AR. Sort of like Laser Tag meets the Holodeck from Star Trek.

Then again, most video gamers don't want to be moving more than their eyes or fingers anyway so the whole AR/VR game discussion might be moot. People who would dig AR would be Wii Sports fanatics, casual gamers, and weekend warriors.

[CanRay]

They're getting some major movement, however. Check out what Rock* is doing with L.A. Noir and it's facial system.

[Wounded Ronin]

At a certain point, I say screw trying to implement this stuff in software, and let's just go and have simunitions battles. If someone set up a pay-to-play MILES arena similar to a lazer tag arena, I know I'd want to try it out.

[Stahlseele]

Heck, if Virtual World Arcades with Mechwarrior were opened here, there'd go both my money and my social life . .

[Doc Chase]

At a certain point, I say screw trying to implement this stuff in software, and let's just go and have simunitions battles. If someone set up a pay-to-play MILES arena similar to a lazer tag arena, I know I'd want to try it out.

Buying a plot of land to turn into a giant paintball/MILES facility is on my list of "Things To Do When I Have The Bankroll." It's actually fairly high up, and I could see police training or ROTC using the facility as well.

[Voran]

I'd really love a modern version of battletech centers, complete with cockpit sized interfaces, vibration, whatever.

[Stahlseele]

*nods* yah, that'd be rad!

[Wounded Ronin]

You know what else could work? Those old school simunitions where you'd re-load cartridges with a soft parafin wax bullet. As long as the weather isn't too cold the parafin will splatter when it hits you.

[Wounded Ronin]

Well, I just finished Mirror's Edge. Took about 5 hours.

I really don't know what people were complaining about re the learning curve. It was challenging but not that hard. You know what was harder and less fun? Pretty much every other game focusing on jumping puzzles.

Firearms combat was a little rough around the edges, and too easy. I agree that the game should have focused on avoiding bad guys and not defeating them in order to play to its strengths and be very unique.

Not a bad game.

[Tiralee]

Heh, Co-incidence, got a shovelware issue (ie: bargin bin) yesterday and am having some fun with it.

Now, I'm useless when it comes to jumping puzzles and fighting games so I can't claim a 5 hour run like Ronin's, but by god, the gunfight stuff was over in ~ 4 seconds, tops. AI always knows where you are, so you can lead it about and then blow the crap out of it. The guns actually felt..hmmm, real? Lotsa damage, no ammo indicator visible (That sorta sucked when you clicked dry behind the guy with the squad weapon...) and you made people HURT when shot.

I will say, the "escape the training area" bit was the hardest part so far - I had managed to beat the living snot out of my assailants (Run, run, run die. Run, kick off wall, flip and flying kick, WINNING!) and then was flying-kicked off of the edge by the scripted "bursts though the door guy". After that, I just went "stuff it" and ran like hell.

If I get any better, I am so tossing one of those taser bastard off of a roof, just to hear them scream on the way down. My initial pacifistic tendencies were quickly subhumed by bloodlust after the first tasering, oh yes...

-Tir

[hermit]

I really have no idea why, but this game speaks to me on some level. Perhaps it's the Cold War-era thinking I still have (Mine being the last generation...), perhaps it's a few other things...

Anyhow, just wondering if I'm alone in thinking about this game here...

I was thinking the same thing. But then: North Korea? What the hell? Why not SAY China when you MEAN China?

[Doc Chase]

I was thinking the same thing. But then: North Korea? What the hell? Why not SAY China when you MEAN China?

Because they want the Chinese to buy it.

[hermit]

I don't think they don't get that it really means them ...