StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Woot, it ships tomorrow! If the story and controls are as good as the teaser channel has made them seem, it'll be a smash hit for sure.

Note: I decided to make a separate topic about this because the other topic dealt just with the teaser.

Having played the game for a considerable amount of time at the local gaming kiosk the day it came in, I have to say it was a pretty enjoyable experience. The aiming felt like a strange light gun conversion of Operation Flashpoint, with the lock-on feature allowing for the usual circle strafing stuff to be made easier. The little perks of certain switches being fun to open using the Wiimote (push in, pull out, rotate 90 degrees, etc.) is pretty cool. The Morph Ball sections felt more restrictive, but such is the way of things.

Overall, it's a pretty fun game, all things considered.

How responsive were the controls? That's the only thing I've been even slightly worried about.

Thanks.

Well I don't really have much to judge it by, but they seemed pretty responsive, I didn't seem to have much trouble nailing my targets. The biggest hurdle to the controls is that without targeting it's impossible to circle-strafe effectively.

Hotfoot wrote:Well I don't really have much to judge it by, but they seemed pretty responsive, I didn't seem to have much trouble nailing my targets. The biggest hurdle to the controls is that without targeting it's impossible to circle-strafe effectively.

That's true of most FPSs, isn't it? Admittedly, I only have the GCN version of Jedi Outcast to compare it to, and circle strafing was a challenge there too.

He's saying that with only one stick (turning done with a cursor) you can't circle without locking on to a target. On GC you should have had no problems circlestrafing, as there were two sticks and you can thus turn and slide at the same time - unlike the Metroid controls.

I'm looking forward to having a bash at it myself, since Red Steel was a neat control system (suck game). Shame I have to wait till fucking October or some shit.

Qwerty 42 wrote:That's true of most FPSs, isn't it? Admittedly, I only have the GCN version of Jedi Outcast to compare it to, and circle strafing was a challenge there too.

Never played on PC, have you?

It's impossible because the center of view and your aiming reticle are two different things, unlike most FPS games where the spot you aim at is at the center of your screen. Moving the reticle doesn't move the center of view until it's at the edge of the screen in the normal fire mode, similar to Operation Flashpoint. This, in effect, creates the illusion of a game that's more mobile light gun game than standard console FPS (not a bad thing, mind). Once you lock on, however, you get full strafing goodness while still having freedom over the reticle.

It does make it a little silly, of course, when you perfectly circle-strafe the boss at the end of the demo until you complete the combo needed to actually do damage, but hey.

Hotfoot wrote:

Qwerty 42 wrote:That's true of most FPSs, isn't it? Admittedly, I only have the GCN version of Jedi Outcast to compare it to, and circle strafing was a challenge there too.

Never played on PC, have you?

It's impossible because the center of view and your aiming reticle are two different things, unlike most FPS games where the spot you aim at is at the center of your screen. Moving the reticle doesn't move the center of view until it's at the edge of the screen in the normal fire mode, similar to Operation Flashpoint. This, in effect, creates the illusion of a game that's more mobile light gun game than standard console FPS (not a bad thing, mind). Once you lock on, however, you get full strafing goodness while still having freedom over the reticle.

It does make it a little silly, of course, when you perfectly circle-strafe the boss at the end of the demo until you complete the combo needed to actually do damage, but hey.

I think there's an "Advanced" control option that has a tiny little box that you can move the cursor around in without changing the view. The way you describe the normal look mode as needing to go all the way to the edge of the screen to change the view makes me think the store demo is on the Normal setting.

This is what IGNWii has been going on about, anyways. Apparently it's Retro's way of adjusting for people with jittery hands.

Hotfoot wrote:Well I don't really have much to judge it by, but they seemed pretty responsive, I didn't seem to have much trouble nailing my targets. The biggest hurdle to the controls is that without targeting it's impossible to circle-strafe effectively.

Circle-strafting is a piece of cake; just lock on a target.

The lock on feature actually brings a whole new measure of usefulness. Once you lock on you can free-aim on the screen and shoot anyone, or easily circle-strafte.

Hotfoot, have you played the first Metroid Prime? Do you know that you can sort of auto-circle-strafte by clicking on, pointing the analog stick sideways and jumping? (performs a strafting sideways jump).

Praxis wrote:Circle-strafting is a piece of cake; just lock on a target.

I know. That's why I said that.

The lock on feature actually brings a whole new measure of usefulness. Once you lock on you can free-aim on the screen and shoot anyone, or easily circle-strafte.

Mentioned that too.

Hotfoot, have you played the first Metroid Prime? Do you know that you can sort of auto-circle-strafte by clicking on, pointing the analog stick sideways and jumping? (performs a strafting sideways jump).

Um, no. I don't own a Gamecube or a Wii. My only Nintendo Consoles are the original NES and original Gameboy.

Because that's what I played when I was a kid.


gotcha

IGN's review is in- 9.5/10.

Yargh! It's fucking out today, but because I'm on my way to the UAE, I can't get it because the east coast doesn't get the shipments until...er, later today, I guess.

What does everyone think of the lack of multiplayer?
I just put a little article up on it arguing about it.
http://www.nintendoplayers.com/feature.php?featureID=43

Okay, not so little, but oh well.

Got it today.

Quick impressions: I actually had some trouble adjusting to the new controls. I'm experienced with Prime, so some of it has gotta be laziness on my part- it simply feels strange to be targeting in a Prime game when I've honed down the lock + strafe to a science. Figuring out the B/A jump/fire is a bit of a work in progress, too. Both complaints should come with the caveat that I've been playing for less then an hour, though, so it still feels like part of the natural learning curve.

G.F.S Olympus is great. There are some broad similarities to the opening level of Halo 2, but it's a welcome atmosphere and if you're a geek about the Metroid Universe it's a fascinating peek into what exactly the Federation ships are like.

Praxis wrote:What does everyone think of the lack of multiplayer?

After Hunters, the lack of multi is pretty lame. Then again, the lack of Metroid games that feature non-Samus people is pretty lame too, the Hunters guys were awesome.

Praxis wrote:What does everyone think of the lack of multiplayer?
I just put a little article up on it arguing about it.
http://www.nintendoplayers.com/feature.php?featureID=43

Okay, not so little, but oh well.

After Echoes' MP... Maybe its better that way.

Anarchist Bunny wrote:

Praxis wrote:What does everyone think of the lack of multiplayer?
I just put a little article up on it arguing about it.
http://www.nintendoplayers.com/feature.php?featureID=43

Okay, not so little, but oh well.

After Echoes' MP... Maybe its better that way.

I agree. Nintendo has to be willing to do it right for it to be worth it. Hunters was a step in the right direction, but even then, glaring imbalances kept that from really being a superb multiplayer game.

Stark wrote:

Praxis wrote:What does everyone think of the lack of multiplayer?

After Hunters, the lack of multi is pretty lame. Then again, the lack of Metroid games that feature non-Samus people is pretty lame too, the Hunters guys were awesome.

Hunters was developed by an entirely different studio, and the balancing to make the game play well in multiplayer actually had a negative effect on the single player (less of an exploration focus), and even then it wasn't very balanced.

Praxis wrote: Hunters was developed by an entirely different studio, and the balancing to make the game play well in multiplayer actually had a negative effect on the single player (less of an exploration focus), and even then it wasn't very balanced.

Who played the single anyway? It had great multi (much better than the awful Echoes multi anyway) and made the Metroid series about more than 'Samus rulez lol'. It doesn't surprise me it was made by a different studio, though, but hopefully since Prime is finished now we might see new ideas in Metroid.

Picked it up today, responsiveness has impressed thus far.

so far I've gotten to the second boss battle, and I've got to say, this is almost as good as a PC FPS. Infact, I can aim even easier in MP3 than in a PC FPS.

I'm impressed by the graphics, the atmosphere is very well done, and the controls are pretty intuitive. strafing is relatively easy to pull, the only complaint so far is the activation of the visors, but that's easy enough to get used to.

Whatever dumbfuck thought it would be a great idea to have rooms with infinite Space Pirates should rot in fucking hell. I'm in Bryyo right now and a trend is developing where you have to run around and pull levers and shit while under fire from eternally regenerating Pirates. Even the music in this region is starting to piss me off.

EDIT- *deep breath*. I'm an idiot. The normal difficulty has been pretty easy so far, but there are a couple instances where you're given very little margin for error. I'll shut up now until I finish the game.

I'm on Bryyo as well, but I'm not sure which room you're referring to. Haven't had such a problem, and I'm on Veteran difficulty.

I just got the ice you-know-what, and the game seems much more linear than any previous Metroid game bar Hunters. Is it just me? It feels like I'm being guided straight to my target. Heck, only one missle expansion made me search for it, all the energy tanks I found were just sitting in my path or right in the middle of a room that I walked in to out of curiousity.

****Note- Spoilers are discussed in this post***

Praxis wrote:I'm on Bryyo as well, but I'm not sure which room you're referring to. Haven't had such a problem, and I'm on Veteran difficulty.

I just got the ice you-know-what, and the game seems much more linear than any previous Metroid game bar Hunters. Is it just me? It feels like I'm being guided straight to my target. Heck, only one missle expansion made me search for it, all the energy tanks I found were just sitting in my path or right in the middle of a room that I walked in to out of curiousity.

It's a room you'll pass through as you're trying to blow up the shield generator for the Leviathan. You have to sequentially grapple three levers in a row, except there are infinite Aerotroopers who are trying to reset them. I was too close to the last lever so the grapple beam wasn't catching and everything kept resetting....quite frustrating.

Prime 3 definitely feels different from 1 and 2. Kind of reminds me of Twilight Princess in a way, in adding a (relatively) lot of dramatic flair to the series.

LMSx wrote:****Note- Spoilers are discussed in this post***

Praxis wrote:I'm on Bryyo as well, but I'm not sure which room you're referring to. Haven't had such a problem, and I'm on Veteran difficulty.

I just got the ice you-know-what, and the game seems much more linear than any previous Metroid game bar Hunters. Is it just me? It feels like I'm being guided straight to my target. Heck, only one missle expansion made me search for it, all the energy tanks I found were just sitting in my path or right in the middle of a room that I walked in to out of curiousity.

It's a room you'll pass through as you're trying to blow up the shield generator for the Leviathan. You have to sequentially grapple three levers in a row, except there are infinite Aerotroopers who are trying to reset them. I was too close to the last lever so the grapple beam wasn't catching and everything kept resetting....quite frustrating.

Prime 3 definitely feels different from 1 and 2. Kind of reminds me of Twilight Princess in a way, in adding a (relatively) lot of dramatic flair to the series.

ALSO SPOILERS HERE

Considering that I got wtfpwned by a phazon grenade when I was in morph ball going after the first cannon, I'll take the aerotroopers anyday, although I was yelling perhaps too loudly at my TV as I tried to get the grapple to latch on the last lever.