grrr's next MP FPS

[Phatso]

Yo dawgs. WHAT IS UP!?!?!
rAge is the beeeg excitement at the moment and I know most of us cannot wait. Its going to be awesome!

I am looking ahead though, to the future if you will. BF2 was the benchmark for online FPS for most of us. It just worked. The community, the game (for the greater part), the competitive side. It all just clicked.

From there we naturally moved to BC2. For better or for worse, it kind of worked, but really did not have sustainability... for me at least. I need a new FPS and I am sure a lot of you guys will also be looking forward to the proverbial "next big thing".

So with this comes a few questions and interesting things. I do not think we need to play a big game that the whole of SA plays (like CS) or a game that is on the cutting edge of technology (Crysis etc). But an FPS that we can at least put our mark on. yooknowattamean?

The contenders seem to be as follows: (feel free to add)

Call of Duty: Black Ops (set for release in November).
This seemed to be the be all end all of FPS games. Improved engine / gameplay; new modes; slicker weapons; dedicated servers. It was the saving grace for the FPS hungry. BUT, there was a massive debacle over the hosting of the games servers. Dedi's were in, but SA was not on the list of which countries would be getting dedicated servers. I am sure you have all read the eff-up that this has caused in the community on the various gaming forums in SA...

Medal of Honor (set release October)
I was never really a MOH fan, but I have played all of its iterations. It seemed like a sissies version of CoD for the longest part... HOWEVER, if you have looked at the videos for their latest bad-boy.... WOW. The game looks mal. Super realistic feel, kief gunz and it also sports a myriad (yeah, see that shit, thats f*cking grammer baby) of game-modes. Have a look here if you don't know what I mean : eGamer link to Vids

Unreal Tournament 2004 (ya rly)
Believe it or not, play this game a little and you'll see how unbelievably addictive it is. I played this yonks ago and after loading it up yesterday, it still has a metric truckload of sex appeal. It doesn't require anything more than a Pentium II, looks good and also has some schweet modes. After digging around, it seems like the game reached cult "Quake 3" like status amongst various communities. There are shitloads (couldn't use myriad again) of mods for this game. Varying game modes, realism mods and even a trick-jumping mod (showU@rAgeTBH). I have not tried playing online yet, but being an old-skool game, I am sure we could jam this over the interwebs.. Only downside is that on the SA game scene, no one plays anymore.

Battlefield 3
Not much is know around this, but rumours say a 2012 release is imminent. You get access to the BETA of this when purchasing Medal of Honor, but they say you'll get beta access within 12 months of MOH's release, which means end of next year, we MIGHT have a beta on our hands. Other than that, this game is too far off to give notice to and I really don't wanna put all my hopes n dreams in another BC2.

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Lets make this an ongoing discussion. Add your 2 cents, nickles, pennies or whatever else you can contribute and lets see how everyone feels. My thoughts at the moment seem to look @ MOH as my favourite, although there will be some demo's at rAge so I will have a better idea after that.

[SlipperyDuck]

It's a tough topic - not really much in the Appeal side of things for me at least.

BF3 better be the bee's knees and just be BF2 wiff graphics to make your curlys straighten.

The way developers are going these days, we're probably all better off getting an XBOX or Playstation.

I don't know - BC2, just doesnt have enough somehow, something wrong with that game

[pmurgs]

BC2 Vietnam or MOH seem to be the only options the za fps community has to choose from which they will consider. BF3 is too far away, Black Ops is not coming to za.

I have MOH preordered but plan to get BC Vietnam as well. Both seem to me to be just another "variation" of BC2, but oh well, what can you do when theres nothing else available.

I suppose perhaps a break from "fun fps shooters" might be an idea... go play another game for several months or a year... perhaps Arma2 or who knows.

[J_Th4ng]

Good discussion here, although I do think that options are somewhat limited.

A year ago, we tried to branch out on a couple of occassions into the COD area, first with WAW, and then with 4. Unfortunately both attempts failed due to lack of interest. Granted, back then there was BF2 as the main attraction, and therefore our COD team was always the poor cousin. Now that we don't have BF2 as the mainstay, I guess there's a possibility of finding something else to look at.

Having said that, I for one would not want to be responsible for a grrr team in any game, unless the majority of the clan had signed up for it. I saw all of the effort that Sheri put into managing the COD4 team, and the extent to which she was fucked around by her players.

I guess the question comes down to: Have we, as a clan, had enough of BC2? And if we have (and only if), what game would the majoriuty want to play?

For me, MoH, and Black Ops look to be the most interesting. I still have hope that the local providers will have access to BO servers, but if not, well we're kinda limited... It'll be BC2 or MoH. Incedentally, I don't expect too much difference in MoH over BC2, it is built by the same team using the same engine, after all...

As much as I'd love to play UT, I don't think that there is anywhere near enough interest outside of grrr to make that viable.

The only other FPS thta I still think has some legs, is TF2. I know that a lot of us have it, and that a lot of us enjoy it too. Maybe this might be an option?

PS Damn, I'm happy that I'm not going to be clan leader after another week... Someone else can take the responsibility of leading our diverse little group into the promised land!!

[Megageth]

BC2 has been a nice interlude. It has a lot of good aspects despite the frustrations with its shortcomings. Destructible terrain is high on the list.
The fact that DICE called it 'Bad Company 2' rather than 'BF3' gives me high hopes for BF3.

I guess the next logical step is to try MOH and see what its got in its pocketsiz. Looks like a lot of SA clans are in the same boat as us. BC2 is wearing thin and there are no other clear options for clan games at the mo. Arma2 is another good option tho might not be everyone's favourite flavour.

[SlipperyDuck]

I've got Arma2, but have yet to play it ... maybe its time to check it out... might be good as tactical training for future games.

[J_Th4ng]

ARMA2 is just too realistic for me. It's also got a very small community, who don't play the game competitively (all missions are run co-op). Sessions usually require a good few hours of play, with mission planning and exectution. It's very slow and methodical, and if you die, you're out of the game. A true simulation.

I don't think this is one for me tbh.

[Phatso]

Good points guys.

I never thought of MoH having the same engine as BC2... That is the same engine that my PC does not enjoy... This is worrying to me because unless I can play a game smoothly, I'd rather not play it (the case with BC2)... Hopefully a playable demo will be available or i'll "loan" it or something.

ArmaII as mentioned will most definitely not be everyone's cup of tea. I played Arma I for quite a while and really got into it. The serious problem with it, is that getting a game together takes a while, getting your tactics together takes a while, getting to the opfor takes a while, and before you know it, its taken you 3 hours to just pull the trigger (at which point you die 15 minutes later and have to make the great trek back to your team). Don't get me wrong, its a good game. But holy shit does it take tactical FPS to a new level (so much so that it annoys the fuck out of you).
*EDIT: as pointed by Mr Dragonne*

But lets keep the convo flowing. Its good to let your opinions be heard.

[pmurgs]

Well, reason I mentioned it... is because it is different to the battlefield type games. Thought the difference might be nice for a while. Then I can say... ok, done that, never need to again, experiance had and now over with.

[NiteShade]

Kinda seems that if we are done with BC2, then the only real option is MoH. I wouldn't mind giving that a try.