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Haze Comments by Rob Fahey

23 April, 2008

Multiplayer. The perfect drug?

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Tejstar
23/04/08 @ 08:06
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Well given their pedigree I'm sure they'll come good.
squarejawhero
23/04/08 @ 08:11
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Not so sure about this -

One rather unusual - and potentially annoying, although obviously essential - piece of balancing is that Mantel troopers can't hurt anyone they can't see - so you can't just shoot at the spot where you saw someone fall down just in case they weren't really dead. Without this, of course, the Rebel feign death ability would be near-useless - but it's still frustrating, as a Mantel soldier, to know that someone just feigned death (it's fairly obvious, since if they were really dead their weapon would have dropped) but be unable to do anything other than wait for them to get back up.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/04/08 @ 08:12
the_dudefather
23/04/08 @ 08:17
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@squarejawhero

yeah sounds a bit weird, hopefully it will be balanced well, like you can only do it one every few minutes or something, and there is a way of countering it
JohnnyWashnGo
23/04/08 @ 08:17
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All sounds a bit meh to me.

Mantel guys can shoot up some nectar to increase their abilities, the Rebels have the wonderful special power of pretending to be dead. Ok, that kinda sums up it USP right?

Pass.
Metalfish
23/04/08 @ 08:18
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Edit: RE: death feigning
^Was thinking the same thing. Maybe the Mantel will have some kind of counter to this? 'Cos if there was a mode, say like deathmatch in COD4, based on a teams kills, if the rebels got the upper hand they could all feign death and win the match by timer-count-down. Yeah, I know that sounds stupid, but as a veteren of many online games I know how far many will go to win.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/04/08 @ 08:18
George Roper
23/04/08 @ 08:19
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Yaaaaawn

6/10
Machetazo
23/04/08 @ 08:26
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Mantel soldiers only see the world that their headgear allows them to. You'd think they're efficient, as well, so they wouldn't waste ammo shooting at something they couldn't see. :) Plus, if you're just standing around staring at the ground, as the Mantel soldier, you're leaving yourself ridiculously well open to a quick 'n' easy kill from the "downed" rebel's team mate.
merkava
23/04/08 @ 08:28
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This game has 6.5 / 7 out of 10 written all over it.

Big Swiss
23/04/08 @ 08:32
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first time it got me interested, only for the online!
squarejawhero
23/04/08 @ 08:33
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@Machezato - no, the impression gives you can't fire into empty space. This isn't an RPG.
souljah
23/04/08 @ 08:35
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What a strange idea. Surely if the Mantel guys can't see dead bodies or blood through their headgear then they would be constantly tripping over corpses and slipping on blood pools?

This whole "death feigning" idea just sounds a bit daft.
Machetazo
23/04/08 @ 08:41
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No squarejaw, we're both wrong. The article only states that the soldier can't HURT the feigning Rebel. Nothing stopping them unloading clips from the looks of things, for all the good it would do.
Tonka
23/04/08 @ 08:45
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How many First Impressions will this game get?
the_dudefather
23/04/08 @ 08:54
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Haze: the game eurogamers are aggressively indifferent to
menage
23/04/08 @ 08:55
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The feigning death when you obviously know they aren't sounds like a stupid game breaker to me. Not the mechanic itself (haven't played it) but it pretty much shatters believability.
Machetazo
23/04/08 @ 08:59
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Why didn't they just make the feign look authentic, by adding a weapon drop animation, at the point where the fake occurs?
JayScott
23/04/08 @ 09:01
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'Haze: the game eurogamers are aggressively indifferent to'

Despite none of them having played it.
Bloodkult
23/04/08 @ 09:02
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Everyone's bored off their tits with this already.
Stop going on and on about it and just bring the fucking thing out!
the_dudefather
23/04/08 @ 09:03
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@Machetazo
as a trade off, you can lose your current weapon if the enemy picks it up
KILLA
23/04/08 @ 09:13
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Just remove the feign death feature FFS.
Knowing he isn't dead, then waiting for him to reappear?
KNOWING, but you can't shoot him.
ccfb
23/04/08 @ 09:18
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This game's visuals still look like ass.
mattigan
23/04/08 @ 09:27
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'wearing down' and enemy with half a clip, before you actually get the kill - FTL

The main reason I can't love Halo 3 as much as COD4
Britesparc
23/04/08 @ 09:36
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I also think the implementation of feigning death seems strange; you'd obviously know they weren't dead, so presumably you just be watching the spot where they fell. Maybe, instead of the disorientation, the "cost" of feigning death was you dropped your currently equipped weapon; it would look more realistic to the Mantel troops and give a sense of risk to the "reincarnated" rebel, having to use a back-up weapon or run to grab the one they dropped before anyone else.
Prodigy_BE
23/04/08 @ 09:37
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As much as I trust Free Radical, this whole feinting death idea seems kinda broken.

The guy who pointed out that during clan wars, rebels who are in the lead score wise will just all use this trick and until the timer reaches zero is totally spot on.

It seems like it would be cooler that Feinting death would make you drop your weapon (but you keep your secondary weapon), and Mantel guys could still shoot you. That would be logical. This isn't.
Killerbee
23/04/08 @ 09:48
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I have to agree with the comments above about the feigning death thing - if it really is that obvious whether or not someone was feigning, it kind of breaks the whole game mechanic.

If you think about it realistically, if you were in a battlefield and pretended to be dead, there'd be little you could do to stop your opponent coming along and picking up your weapon - unless of course you want to reveal yourself as faking it. I don't see why FRD don't just build in a weapon drop to the feign death move, so that that particular little hiccup is removed.

The pretend-dead soldier would then have to resort to their reserve weapon (assuming everyone can carry two or more at a time?) when they get up again until they can steal one back from another kill. Shouldn't be too much of a handicap for them yet would stop the feign death move being quite so obvious from the other side.
Apostle
23/04/08 @ 09:48
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"Why didn't they just make the feign look authentic, by adding a weapon drop animation, at the point where the fake occurs? "

Yeah, and instead of being disorientated when the get up, they could spend that time recovering their weapon, i.e giving the Matel player time and balancing the game. What would happen if the Mantel player picked up the dropped weapon though? Maybe that's a risk you take feigning death. So you're only left with you pistol until you find a better weapon. Or, is it that the Mantel players weapon replaces the rebels one on the ground, can they carry two primary weapons?
drumbaby
23/04/08 @ 09:52
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If only the Germans had feigned death a bit more in WW2, we'd all be sporting Hitler moustaches by now.
nickthegun
23/04/08 @ 09:56
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/Adds to pile of 'not massively positive' Haze previews
nickthegun
23/04/08 @ 09:58
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Can you imagine a team deathmatch with your entire squad trained on a single point waiting for some twat to get up, while running down the clock?
drumbaby
23/04/08 @ 10:01
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Haze multiplayer could end up a little like the tail end of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrNonqsWphU
CrudMonk
23/04/08 @ 10:07
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I wish I had the psychic ability to discern if a game is going to be good with out playing the thing. Free Radical are like the mom and pop of console first person shooters they were there from the get go and have a proven track record to show for it.

Wait and see.
BiscuitBase
23/04/08 @ 10:19
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I've played it. All I can say is HAZELOL
Goodfella
23/04/08 @ 10:21
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I've played it. All I can say is HAZELOL

Don't tell me, you briefly played that old build they demoed at that Wembley thing earlier this year?

Well done. *slow claps*
BiscuitBase
23/04/08 @ 10:22
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Don't tell me, you briefly played that old build they demoed at that Wembley thing earlier this year?

Oh no I've played it much more than that.
miiiguel
23/04/08 @ 10:23
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What's thing thing with PS3 and shooters anyway? Are RPG's definetly dead on Sony's console?
Widge
23/04/08 @ 10:25
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What about Valkyria Chronicles? Isn't that some sort of bizarre RPG?

In fact it looked like a shooty RPG! Still if Fallout 3 and Mass Effect can do it...
hahayou
23/04/08 @ 10:36
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No one complaining about the bezerk thing? Losing control over your actions in a multiplayer game sounds annoying. Would rather just get killed so I can respawn.
Les
23/04/08 @ 10:40
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"if Haze lives up to its potential, it might even help to drive people to actually pick up Bluetooth headsets for the console."

Better use the PS Eye with mic. More comfortable, useful for other purposes and makes you look less stupid... ;)
aldo_14
23/04/08 @ 10:42
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I also think the implementation of feigning death seems strange; you'd obviously know they weren't dead, so presumably you just be watching the spot where they fell. Maybe, instead of the disorientation, the "cost" of feigning death was you dropped your currently equipped weapon; it would look more realistic to the Mantel troops and give a sense of risk to the "reincarnated" rebel, having to use a back-up weapon or run to grab the one they dropped before anyone else.

I think that'd make sense - you could also replace the artificial handicap of being disorientated with a handicap of grabbing your gun and re-cocking it or something.
bioreit
23/04/08 @ 10:56
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Agree with 'feigning-death=rebels-camp-for-wins' comments. Played loads of CoD4 headquarters last night - three of our team just sat in various camping positions well out of the way of combat, leaching points off the other three for 5 matches in a row. No kills, but no deaths and a healthy 100-300 XP for moving to a place of safety once every 10 minutes or so.

Rebels get the upperhand points-wise, then all just feign death until the clock counts down. Meaning everyone will try to play as rebels after the 'tactic' becomes widespread. Making the game broken.

/yes, spitballing. No, of course I'm not psychic - but annoying kiddie players do this kind of thing all the time and it really gets on my mammaries.
afghan_jones
23/04/08 @ 11:06
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Sounds awful.

feign death sounds wank, especially when you know they arent really dead. Make them pick up their weapon again after it drops at least.

To be honest, when placed against Halo & COD4 this game looks terrible. Which makes you wonder why they bothered really.
Widge
23/04/08 @ 11:11
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RE:

"Rebels get the upperhand points-wise, then all just feign death until the clock counts down. Meaning everyone will try to play as rebels after the 'tactic' becomes widespread. Making the game broken. "

we're all assuming here that this is entirely possible in the game. We can't slate something as being broken without actually going hands on ourselves!
the_dudefather
23/04/08 @ 11:25
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@Widge
+1
T4RG4
23/04/08 @ 11:28
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A handful of people that I know of that have worked on it haven't said anything positive. Not a good sign.

The screenshots look ropey (it looks like a game world, rather than hiding the fact everything is boxed in which I personally think COD4 does quite well). I dont hold out much hope of FreeRad here.

I think all this 'nectar' rubbish is sounded pretty stupid from day one, I mean I cant even get discounts at Sainsbury's or shoot people pretending to be dead. Maybe its a game designed for 12 year olds.

6/10

I know I'm being harsh and dont know the whole story/haven't played it. But this is a forum. First impressions count ;)
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/04/08 @ 11:29
Slipstream
23/04/08 @ 11:51
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@ Drumbaby

Hahaha! I can sooo see this game ending up like that xD
IronGiant
23/04/08 @ 12:00
#46
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Sometime ago i was really interested in this game but the more i read the less i want it, i'm still tempted because of the single player game but the multiplayer sounds arse! I respect them trying hard to be different from Halo and COD4 etc but there's a reason those games are so popular, they're just great fun to play. Feigning death, troopers going bezerk, bodies disappearing then reappearing all sounds a mess. Personally i just would like some interesting game modes, some cool weapons, vehicles that multiple players can jump on, some tanks! and intense firefights which give you that adrenalin rush when escaping alive from.
BadBoyBonner
23/04/08 @ 12:10
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@ Drumbaby

Well done, good clip, brought a smile.
lambtron
23/04/08 @ 12:37
#48
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"Can you imagine a team deathmatch with your entire squad trained on a single point waiting for some twat to get up, while running down the clock?"

Haha
HarryB
23/04/08 @ 13:00
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I thought it sounded rather good!
bitesize
23/04/08 @ 13:02
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did nobody think that during the last few months of careful game balancing that FRD have been doing, someone there might have thought of the 'game breaking' thing you're talkin about? and that maybe it's not actually possible in-game? maybe there's a time limit on how long you can feign death for or something. if a bunch of random people on a game forum have thought of a way to break the game within minutes, i'm sure it's occurred to the professional game designers at FRD sometime over the last few months...

Comments: 1-50 of 83 in total | next 50 »

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