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Failed to connect to MySQL: (1203) User howardkn already has more than 'max_user_connections' active connectionsPath: ...!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-3.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2024 16:07:20 +0000 From: Spalls Hurgenson Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action Subject: Re: It's Hard To Blame Them... Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2024 12:07:20 -0400 Message-ID: References: X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 2.0/32.652 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 58 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-Trace: sv3-8EIJazeXLdN2GERXY0L9pj0i1u1mnaKwbCZLGwgoFVPIFqbrCBVuzSQY701kFX4JoaDHHH+9U2q/2GI!ljiAmIcooW7hcNOAkehNqZXlZvsPhuGYaNJuq+YwXP8pH0zuVbHz8HFiH/j2ZKpQb7RS1fPb X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 Bytes: 4289 On Tue, 29 Oct 2024 11:03:15 +0000, JAB wrote: >On 28/10/2024 20:20, Spalls Hurgenson wrote: >> I stuck with the franchise through the "Modern Warfare" trilogy, again >> largely because memories of the first game gave me hope that the >> franchise would reach such heights again. The gameplay of those games >> wasn't too bad, but the ra-ra-America-So-Great! attitude of that >> trilogy games (existant even in the original COD but somewhat subdued >> by its international mission structure) was a real turn-off. So too >> was the heavy-handed reliance on scripting (to the point you sometimes >> couldn't even open a door without the AI doing it for you), and the >> player character changing from a simple grunt into a super-human >> killing machine. > >That's one of the things that started putting me off. I felt the balance >been a cinematic experience and a game one was lost. The original "Call of Duty" was very cinematic too; it was in fact one of the major complaints about the game. You don't really have much option of where to go and what to do; it's a corridor-shooter through and through (even if the 'corridors' are cleverly disguised as outdoor locations). But the sequels were increasingly limited in what the player was allowed. I recall one scene - I think it was the second Modern Warfare game?- where you had to escort a tank through a battlefield or something, and the soldiers would just spawn endlessly until you performed the necessary mission goals. It completely destroyed any sense of immersion. But all that was different from the super-soldier problem. In the first Call of Duty titles, the game gave the illusion that you were just one grunt amongst many, all working together towards a common goal. It did this by having AI team-mates who could actually kill enemies, and by showing friendly NPCs accomplishing goals all on their own (even if they were just pre-canned animations that only played once you got close). Momentum in the game was still tied entirely to the player's progression, but it was much better disguised. The Modern Warfare games were different. Because much of the action was focussed solely on your small squad --and because your teammates were worthless in combat-- you really only moved forward after you personally killed enough bad guys. Neither were there other squads doing stuff around you to make it look as if it were all a team effort. The progress of the battle was entirely tied to your own superhuman killing ability. That, coupled with the gung-ho America-can-do-no-wrong attitude that permeated the rest of the game (something too common in post 9/11 America) completely changed the tone of the game. I didn't play much of the original COD's multiplayer (I was more into Unreal Tournament at the time), but from what little I did, I seem to remember the game felt a lot more cooperative than did the later Modern Warfare games. I wonder if that was a reflection of the gameplay mechanics, or just a change in the audience.