Splinter Cell Conviction Thread!

Since 6999 Days

Posted by KORNdog

i've never been impressed by gears of war's visuals tho

lol...I don't think anybody is even remotely surprised by this comment.

In reply to

Zapp Brannigan: If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate.

Since 7037 Days

I still think the bit where you ride the tank on that forest path in Gears 2 is absolutely, utterly jaw dropping. And they say UE3 isn't even good at outdoors stuff. I'm rarely "blown away" like that by stuff, but that and the Panzer Dragoon-esque final fight against Skorge I think are pretty spectacular.

The first game though I never really got what the fuss was about.

But thing is, I actually do find this game pretty attractive. It just looks really solid and soft and nice. It's too bad that the faces barely animate, I thought AC2 would be an indication that Ubi have really started working on that stuff, as Ezio is very expressive.

Alan Wake though I have no hopes for whatsoever visually. It looks to have that half photo realistic texture thing going for it that Max Payne did, and then looks similarly jarringly videogamey as soon as characters start talking and moving around. I still think it could be a cool game, but I have no idea how this graphics hype train started rolling for it.

In reply to

I still think the bit where you ride the tank on that forest path in Gears 2 is absolutely, utterly jaw dropping. And they say UE3 isn't even good at outdoors stuff. I'm rarely "blown away" like that by stuff, but that and the Panzer Dragoon-esque final fight against Skorge I think are pretty spectacular.

The first game though I never really got what the fuss was about.

But thing is, I actually do find this game pretty attractive. It just looks really solid and soft and nice. It's too bad that the faces barely animate, I thought AC2 would be an indication that Ubi have really started working on that stuff, as Ezio is very expressive.

Alan Wake though I have no hopes for whatsoever visually. It looks to have that half photo realistic texture thing going for it that Max Payne did, and then looks similarly jarringly videogamey as soon as characters start talking and moving around. I still think it could be a cool game, but I have no idea how this graphics hype train started rolling for it.

http://modeseven.blogspot.com | Dominic and Simon - dyanamic games blog duo!
Twitter: @simonlundmark
Mode-7 on Twitter: @Mode_7updates

Since 6999 Days

Underground in the first Gears was absolutely stunning to me. First time I looked at a level and thought it looked exactly like concept art in the amount of detail and the overall mood it conveyed.

In reply to

Zapp Brannigan: If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate.

Since 7037 Days

Well, I didn't really look around for graphics much, I rarely do. I tend to play a game, and unless graphics happen where I'm like.. doing my gameplay-y stuff, I just totally miss it.

Gears 2 is really, really great about putting its visuals where its gameplay is, something few games do in a convincing way without locking you into a path they want you do be on because CRAZY SHIT will happen momentarily. Of course, Gears 2 does plenty of locking, but it locks the entire gameplay scenario to something and doesn't rob you of dynamism in any way. BUT GOD BESIDE POINTNESS!

What I was trying to say was that Gears 2 was a ton more visually impactful for me because it successfully married its visuals to its astonishing gameplay.

In reply to

http://modeseven.blogspot.com | Dominic and Simon - dyanamic games blog duo!
Twitter: @simonlundmark
Mode-7 on Twitter: @Mode_7updates

Since 6906 Days

Posted by SimonM7

This game is really built around and BASED on its mark and execute stuff, that's not just thrown in there - that in itself is the misconception I think. People mistake it for flashyness, but it is in fact a surprisingly rule based gameplay mechanic that if anything follows so traditional design philosophies it almost feels out of place. There's no justification for why Sam can't do it all the time, as little as there is for Mario holding three powerups in the overworld in SMB3.

Embrace that part of it and play around with that as intended and it may open up and be fun in ways you didn't expect, especially in how you distribute them, when/where you trigger them, and what you leave up to yourself to do up until you unleash them. The worst thing you can do is try to have the game be something it isn't, and that is always the case with any game really. Ohhh... Gunvalkyrie, how often you are the perfect example.

Turns out the right click aim is tweaked somewhat by taking your gun out by pressing down on the d-pad and then clicking the stick when hanging from the ceiling. That gives you a more apropriate aimy cam which helped a lot. In a lot of cases he's got his gun tucked away after traversal and stuff as you'd expect, but it's easy to forget (or was for me) to whip it out before you take more calculated aim than the total flailing you often resort to when shit hits the fan.

EDIT: Actually, when you click the stick, getting a bit of shooter on is way easier. It's basically the equivalent to taking out your gun in the old games though which means it's still largely "suicide" like you say, but it's definitely not the spaz out until you die-fest that NOT clicking the stick treats you to. :)

I've become pretty efficient with the clicking of LB too now actually. It's certainly not a combo of button presses I'm used to, but it's getting to feel a bit more natural with time.

I've about mastered the thing now :D

Whenever things get too dicey, I just hit LB to stand up and run to a different area, then hit the left trigger to stick into cover, then get busy from there. It's like clockwork.

I agree completely that the game is surely based around the mark and execute gameplay mechanic, but it's so well implemented, at least in my opinion, that you'll actually want to use it. It also isn't like you can't just as easily click the Right Analog stick to start aiming properly with whatever weapon you may have, even if it isn't as cool as mark and execute. The best part about mark and execute is that you don't even have to mark 3 targets if you don't want to. You can go about your business playing the game however you like and only set up one specific target to be executed using the execute feature.

So you can have combinations like 2 kills on your own, then the stylish slo mo execute on the third, if you wish :)

The game also isn't too hard on the eyes. It's no Uncharted 2, but it doesn't even need to be. The game visually is perfect for what it's trying to do. Shadows and lighting is solid as well.

Heck, I wouldn't even have known that the game was 1040x585 2xAA, unless I checked on Beyond3D.

The game looks good enough imo.

In reply to

[quote=SimonM7]This game is really built around and BASED on its mark and execute stuff, that's not just thrown in there - that in itself is the misconception I think. People mistake it for flashyness, but it is in fact a surprisingly rule based gameplay mechanic that if anything follows so traditional design philosophies it almost feels out of place. There's no justification for why Sam can't do it all the time, as little as there is for Mario holding three powerups in the overworld in SMB3.

Embrace that part of it and play around with that as intended and it may open up and be fun in ways you didn't expect, especially in how you distribute them, when/where you trigger them, and what you leave up to yourself to do up until you unleash them. The worst thing you can do is try to have the game be something it isn't, and that is always the case with any game really. Ohhh... Gunvalkyrie, how often you are the perfect example.

Turns out the right click aim is tweaked somewhat by taking your gun out by pressing down on the d-pad and then clicking the stick when hanging from the ceiling. That gives you a more apropriate aimy cam which helped a lot. In a lot of cases he's got his gun tucked away after traversal and stuff as you'd expect, but it's easy to forget (or was for me) to whip it out before you take more calculated aim than the total flailing you often resort to when shit hits the fan.

EDIT: Actually, when you click the stick, getting a bit of shooter on is way easier. It's basically the equivalent to taking out your gun in the old games though which means it's still largely "suicide" like you say, but it's definitely not the spaz out until you die-fest that NOT clicking the stick treats you to. :)

[b]I've become pretty efficient with the clicking of LB too now actually. It's certainly not a combo of button presses I'm used to, but it's getting to feel a bit more natural with time.[/b][/quote]

I've about mastered the thing now :D

Whenever things get too dicey, I just hit LB to stand up and run to a different area, then hit the left trigger to stick into cover, then get busy from there. It's like clockwork.

I agree completely that the game is surely based around the mark and execute gameplay mechanic, but it's so well implemented, at least in my opinion, that you'll actually want to use it. It also isn't like you can't just as easily click the Right Analog stick to start aiming properly with whatever weapon you may have, even if it isn't as cool as mark and execute. The best part about mark and execute is that you don't even have to mark 3 targets if you don't want to. You can go about your business playing the game however you like and only set up one specific target to be executed using the execute feature.

So you can have combinations like 2 kills on your own, then the stylish slo mo execute on the third, if you wish :)

The game also isn't too hard on the eyes. It's no Uncharted 2, but it doesn't even need to be. The game visually is perfect for what it's trying to do. Shadows and lighting is solid as well.

Heck, I wouldn't even have known that the game was 1040x585 2xAA, unless I checked on Beyond3D.

The game looks good enough imo.

Halo Reach using 360 tesselation unit extensively.

Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of th

Since 7037 Days

Yeah after a few playthroughs I found myself tagging people for potential "later use" and then moving around a lot before deciding whether to keep my marks or set new ones.

You can delay the execution in such a brill way, totally shifting the intensity of battle around. You can mark some guys far back, take care of ones that yell for those other guards, and as they rush into the room and you've manually taken out the ones at hand, you just hit the execute and gun down the hapless suckers who just charged in. I love it. I fucking live for gameplay systems you can play around with and get creative with like that.

In reply to

http://modeseven.blogspot.com | Dominic and Simon - dyanamic games blog duo!
Twitter: @simonlundmark
Mode-7 on Twitter: @Mode_7updates

Since 6906 Days

You pretty much nailed my feelings about the gameplay with that one, nothing else to say other than I agree.

I've even been doing some really sick combos where I shoot down that device even though nobody is underneath it to get their attention, then I take out one guy with manual aim, another runs near a sticky cam that I quickly made explode, then I charge forward jump over a piece of cover then execute 2 in style after I land my jump :D

There's much potential for this mechanic, and I hope it doesn't go missing in a future Splinter Cell title.

For the hell of it, before I ended the demo, I figured I'd pull out that smg like weapon and start going nuts on all the computer equipment inside the room, all of it got messed up real nice. Screens cracked, bullet holes left behind, etc.

In reply to

Halo Reach using 360 tesselation unit extensively.

Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of th

Nietzsche

Since 6367 Days

Posted by Ronsauce

lol...I don't think anybody is even remotely surprised by this comment.

I wouldn't mind it nearly as much if it wasn't far the fact that he puts on an act of not having a HUGE amount of bias towards Sony. It is easy to figure out those who nitpick some games and praise the living shit out of others. It gets really comical after a while

As for splinter cell itself, I don't expect the game to be anything too amazing. It will be fun, especially the co-op, but I'm not expecting another masterpiece like CT was back in the day.

Just a rental for me.

In reply to

Since 7037 Days

I feel I need to step in here and say you're being a bit unfair to Korn. He's prone to getting a bit carried away when criticising things and comes across as a bit of a brute sometimes, but I've been here long enough to see him swing back and forth on the "bias"-o-meter. He simply gravitates towards the games he currently likes and lately a lot of PS3 games have really made the biggest impression on him. Especially Uncharted 2 which he's repeatedly pointed out is his fave game bar none.

You needn't look further than to his gamerscore to know he's not exactly shunning the 360, and I can vouch for there being a slight pro-Sony tone to him lately, but not through some misguided brand loyalty but rather through genuine title by title preference.

In reply to

http://modeseven.blogspot.com | Dominic and Simon - dyanamic games blog duo!
Twitter: @simonlundmark
Mode-7 on Twitter: @Mode_7updates

Since 6999 Days

And I suppose when there was that rumour(I think it was just a rumour) that Sony would be charging for videos on PSN, his defending it was due to a legitimate stance that it wasn't a big deal? It's really hard not to get a brand loyalty vibe from him.

In reply to

Zapp Brannigan: If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate.

Since 7037 Days

Well.. that's.. uh.. um. The defense demands a recess!

In reply to

http://modeseven.blogspot.com | Dominic and Simon - dyanamic games blog duo!
Twitter: @simonlundmark
Mode-7 on Twitter: @Mode_7updates

Since 6906 Days

You know what I'm hoping? Due to the nature of what Sam is dealing with early on, he doesn't need to worry about things like moving dead bodies, but perhaps in later levels where the stakes are higher and Sam is maybe dealing with more professional opponents, maybe then we'll have to do things like move bodies? If not, though, then I suppose I can certainly live with it. I'll just probably do things like taking out certain enemies while concealed in out of the way shadows in hopes that they don't get found and blow my cover.

I'll also probably take advantage of things like setting down a sticky cam to, at my whim, draw their attention away from something I don't want them to see.

In reply to

Halo Reach using 360 tesselation unit extensively.

Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of th

Since 6999 Days

I only gave the demo a quick partial play through, so I didn't notice...can you still pick up and move bodies?

Also, the display of the sticky cam in the top corner of the screen only makes me wish even more that Spies vs Mercs were in here. That picture-in-picture stuff would be great for spies with their webcams or mercs being able to see video from each others helm-cams. *sigh*

In reply to

Zapp Brannigan: If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate.

Since 6906 Days

Nope, you can't, but perhaps that's more down Sam's situation right now. It's not like his old third echelon missions or whatever so maybe he doesn't think he needs to bother doing such a thing, or maybe the man is just much too old to bother doing crap like that anymore :)

Also, as I was watching my cousin play, it took him forever to learn how to shoot properly lmao. He didn't know that if you clicked down the right analog stick, that your ability to aim and take out enemies increased drastically. As a matter of fact, doing anything else is to pretty much ask for trouble, even if you may be able to get away with it sometimes.

In reply to

Halo Reach using 360 tesselation unit extensively.

Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of th

Since 7037 Days

I don't think you'll ever be able to, but you can grab dudes as shield and then you can chuck them in any direction by moving the stick and pressing B. That way you can throw them over a railing or eff them up in a remote place.

Overall though, given the momentum you have in the game I think before long bodies will pile up regardless. I just hope they don't loose Sam in there, I don't want him to become a mindless murderer.

In reply to

http://modeseven.blogspot.com | Dominic and Simon - dyanamic games blog duo!
Twitter: @simonlundmark
Mode-7 on Twitter: @Mode_7updates

Since 6906 Days

He does some pretty damn brutal things. I've done hand to hand takedowns, only to look at the number of bullets left in my gun and realize, "Holy crap, sam just put two in that guy's face at close range"

In reply to

Halo Reach using 360 tesselation unit extensively.

Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of th

Since 6999 Days

Yeah, but I definitely knifed my fair share of guys in Chaos Theory, so I don't feel too bad about cappin' a couple fools at close range.

I just gave it a proper play through on the realistic setting, and while I still find left bumper to crouch a bit odd, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I hope that this first level is set up to offer plenty of really useful situations to use the mark and execute function and that the full game isn't riddled with obvious situations where you essentially must use it like Korn mentioned.

One thing I'm not a huge fan of is the notification that I pulled off a hand-to-hand kill. I got close to the enemy...I pressed the hand-to-hand button...I know I'm performing a melee attack. I don't need a slash across the screen telling me I accomplished what is obviously plain as day. It lasts less than a second, yet I still find it a bit obtrussive. But I'm aware that it's incredibly nitpicky.

In reply to

Zapp Brannigan: If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate.

Since 7037 Days

Posted by Ronsauce

I don't need a slash across the screen telling me I accomplished what is obviously plain as day. It lasts less than a second, yet I still find it a bit obtrussive. But I'm aware that it's incredibly nitpicky.

It bothers me too, and far from being nitpicky it truly jumps out at me every time. It's such a dramatic sound effect too, and it's just a weird effect alltogether to have in a game where you listen for audio cues and pay attention to hud elements to tell if PEOPLE ARE ABOUT TO MURDER YOU. Having such a jarring effect for something this trivial is just dumb considering - as you say - you totally already realise that you'll be getting M&E's for it.

In reply to

http://modeseven.blogspot.com | Dominic and Simon - dyanamic games blog duo!
Twitter: @simonlundmark
Mode-7 on Twitter: @Mode_7updates

Nietzsche

Since 6367 Days

Posted by SimonM7

I feel I need to step in here and say you're being a bit unfair to Korn. He's prone to getting a bit carried away when criticising things and comes across as a bit of a brute sometimes, but I've been here long enough to see him swing back and forth on the "bias"-o-meter. He simply gravitates towards the games he currently likes and lately a lot of PS3 games have really made the biggest impression on him. Especially Uncharted 2 which he's repeatedly pointed out is his fave game bar none.

You needn't look further than to his gamerscore to know he's not exactly shunning the 360, and I can vouch for there being a slight pro-Sony tone to him lately, but not through some misguided brand loyalty but rather through genuine title by title preference.

I used to think all that as well, but it's the overwhelming defense of alomst everything Sony and hyping it to a childish level BEFORE the games come out that gets tiresome. But it's not a big deal, to each their own, I just don't like it when people try to deny certain things that are painfully obvious.

As for the SC demo, I just can't really get into it all that much. I've just been playing God of War 3, Mass Effect 2, and Bad Company 2 so I might just be spoiled, but the game isn't really getting me excited. But, i didn't like the Bad company 2 demo either and LOVE the game now so it might just be the demo? I really hope the game turns out great but there are so many AAA games coming this year it's really no big deal.

In reply to

[quote=SimonM7]I feel I need to step in here and say you're being a bit unfair to Korn. He's prone to getting a bit carried away when criticising things and comes across as a bit of a brute sometimes, but I've been here long enough to see him swing back and forth on the "bias"-o-meter. He simply gravitates towards the games he currently likes and lately a lot of PS3 games have really made the biggest impression on him. Especially Uncharted 2 which he's repeatedly pointed out is his fave game bar none.

You needn't look further than to his gamerscore to know he's not exactly shunning the 360, and I can vouch for there being a slight pro-Sony tone to him lately, but not through some misguided brand loyalty but rather through genuine title by title preference.[/quote]

I used to think all that as well, but it's the overwhelming defense of alomst everything Sony and hyping it to a childish level BEFORE the games come out that gets tiresome. But it's not a big deal, to each their own, I just don't like it when people try to deny certain things that are painfully obvious.

As for the SC demo, I just can't really get into it all that much. I've just been playing God of War 3, Mass Effect 2, and Bad Company 2 so I might just be spoiled, but the game isn't really getting me excited. But, i didn't like the Bad company 2 demo either and LOVE the game now so it might just be the demo? I really hope the game turns out great but there are so many AAA games coming this year it's really no big deal.

Since 6906 Days

lol, yes, that sound effect and slash across the screen is incredibly cheesy, no denying that :)

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,706783/Splinter...

An interview with some of the tech used in the game.

In reply to

Halo Reach using 360 tesselation unit extensively.

Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of th

LEBATO

Since 7136 Days

I think I read that someone wasn't impressed by Gears graphics. I loled, sorry.

In reply to

Mods, stop changing my SIG! I'm going to end up banning you!

Since 6999 Days

Played the demo a few more times. Realistic is definitely the way to go; it makes getting spotted actually consequential. Also, unlike my earlier play throughs, I have been shooting more lights out. The biggest benefit of this has been that it divides up those pairings of Mark and Execute fodder allowing for some more creativity in dispatching enemies.

As far as the graphics go, aside from the brutal screen tearing at the start of the interrogation scene, I don't really have any complaints. The game looks good, and Sam animates well. When Sam is crawling through the ducts/pipes/whatever on the way to the area with the scientist, and the camera is tight to Sam, that looks downright great. The aforementioned interrogation scene looks stunning as well, but I find myself wishing it was a cinema that I could just skip, so I could get on with actual gameplay.

In reply to

Zapp Brannigan: If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate.