Comments on: Strafe Left: The Formative Years #41

By: ascagnel

ascagnel — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:26:09 +0000

@Ted: FEAR sucked… boring, repetetive, and like every other shooter with a nameless, faceless space marine/earth marine/soldier type. NOLF2 had some creative levels, with the Japan and Ohio levels being the most interesting.

That stealth bit of the Russian level was a killer, but once you figured it out it goes quick. I replayed it recently and that bit took ~5min in 1 try, so its not bad.

The way the Russian level(s) come together is awesome. Starting with the setup at the beginning, and then slipping in under cover of night, to fighting through the fortress, and then the culminating moment of blowing the bridge just made it awesome. It was level design that Valve usually works with in Half-Life, where there are elements that tie everything together and make the scripted fight even better (see also: the Helicopter chasing you through the hospital in HL2:EP1).

By: Ted

Ted — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 01:45:49 +0000

If the failure of NOLF2 led to far, far superior FEAR then yay for the failure of NOLF2. All I remember about that game is getting a few hours in and reaching a section where I had to sneak by some Russian guards or something. I take the guards out and hide their bodies. Suddenly, exact replicas of the guys I took out come walking through the same area on the same route. I repeat the process. Then I realize that the game has infinitely respawning guards walking identical paths, and if I want to advance I’m going to have to try to use the half assed stealth system. Exit game, uninstall, toss it in the trash.

By: LionsPhil

LionsPhil — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:02:12 +0000

God, The Operative was awful. Not only did it dig the grave of a truly excellent series, but it was one of the most obvious examples of inappropriate game dynamics to date. The game was still set up for sneakery, yet threw bare-faced scripted spawns at you that would embarrass even DOOM.

And now all Monolith do is churn out generic near-future run-and-guns. Thanks, general public!

By: ascagnel

ascagnel — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:16:46 +0000

RichPowers: There was one of those games (kinda), NOLF: The Operative. It sucked. You were on the side of HARM, fighting against UNITY. Shame that the title probably killed off NOLF for good after the iffy sales of NOLF2.

Side note: PCG US gave NOLF2 only one “-” in its review: “The game has an end.”

By: RichPowers

RichPowers — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:33:40 +0000

We need a FPS where you play as a generic henchmen. A few studios could successfully parody the FPS genre, explaining, for example, why henchmen always stand near explosive barrels or, in the case of Rainbow 6 Vegas, bicker amongst themselves about the noise caused by a nearby grenade and if it should be cause for alarm.

By: The Shed

The Shed — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:28:49 +0000

Dunno, still too lacking in subtlety to be real good like some of the others. Also not the most original, ala the whole Henchman sympathy thing. Still a decent strip though.

By: cyrenic

cyrenic — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:38:28 +0000

@vanderdecken

I immediately thought of that particular Concerned as well.

By: Yhancik

Yhancik — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:52:02 +0000

Good one :D

By: Ted

Ted — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:27:49 +0000

I actually got one of these finally!

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:46:59 +0000

Wow, nice to see it in colour. And very funny too. Thanks Tim S. :thumbsup:

By: Vanderdecken

Vanderdecken — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:20:17 +0000

@KruddMan: yeah, low res and graphics on low settings. @Thomas Lawrence: BioShock was incredible for all the different ways you could lure, trap, ambush and kill splicers. No remorse for them though. You might want to take a look at Concerned: the Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman, especially the next few strips after and including this one.

By: Colinmarc

Colinmarc — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:14:08 +0000

Hehe, got this one.