piydek
4 Jun 2010, 10:05
First of all, thank you Team 17 for releasing this wonderful classic in a new form that really does it justice :)! I enjoy the game thoroughly.
My idea with this was to start a thread where we'd express our opinions on AB:I, perhaps share some thoughts and discuss the game. In my post, I'll put an emphasis on possible "suggestions" i might have regarding the game that are not already in it.
Currently, I'm playing the game on elite and I'm somewhere at the end of 2nd level. Haven't played the game on other difficulties. I've had a few thoughts so far:
- I'd really like a game mode that's at the difficulty of elite (which is just perfect, not easy at all but still perfectly playable - i find it similar to how original AB was) but without the saving possibility. I think that the ability to save games at Intex terminals and autosaves take away from the very important gameplay element where you just really have to watch your every step, be 100% alert all the time. That's how it was in original AB. You die, you restart the game...these levels in AB:I are much bigger than the ones in AB, so i think it'd be necessary to be able to save at the end of each big level, but not within levels. I think this would further improve the excitement, tension and feeling of accomplishment that the elite mode brings to this game. Actually, I feel that the possibility to save is taking away from this. At pretty much any moment, if i die, i reload and the reload point is never truly far away and just repeat the short-ish sequence until i get through it. For complete oldschool experience, I'd need a mode with no possibility to save. I know i might play with a self-imposed rule not to save/load, but it's not the same. Perhaps there could be an extra "oldschool" mode with elite+no save and an achievement for playing in that mode.
- So far, most of the spawning of aliens seems pretty scripted. That is cool, since that way you designed our experience of levels and it's a great way to influence our experience. You used this in a great way IMO. What I'd like though is if you kept this and added more random spawning on top of this. Not so much to smother player and atmosphere in non-stop shooting, but a bit of random spawning of more generic alien types would be really cool. That's how it was in original AB - you couldn't linger for too long anywhere, you'd get smothered by huge amounts of aliens.
- I read in interviews that Allister Brimble did a new take on original AB music theme and it'll be in game. How come it isn't in the game? That was a SUPERB piece of music :).
- I'd like to be able to play story mode with a friend.
- I think you captured the oldschool feel of AB incredibly well - it does feel like an Alien breed game which i think is very difficult to pull off in such a major change of game engine, 3D etc.
- I find speed of character movement, alien movement, alien AI just great, spot on. Also, the weapons feel VERY nice, a joy to use. Flamethrower i find better than in original AB where i always felt it was underpowered. Here it's just great. Camera is great, it's distance from the player character is just right - fairly zoomed in and that's how it should be...that's how it was in AB as well.
- The thing that surprised me the most was level design - i love it! Levels contain larger spaces and some spaces that are for pure exploration and it didn't seem it'll be that way from the demo and videos i saw previously. What I'd like in future releases though is a design that would have more "dead ends" (perhaps not completely "dead", but with maybe some ammo or credits at the end of them), more rooms that are not purely functional for playing through. That would add to the exploration of levels, it would add to possibility of gradually losing ammo/health and all the other nice trappings you could fall into in original AB. A big gameplay element as well IMO.
- I love how on elite mode you just have to be very careful with ammo. It's designed just right.
- Credits/corpse/locker system is superb. I'd like it more though, if weapons themselves could only be bought at intex terminals and not stumbled upon on the floor. That way even more emphasis would be put on long-term tactical planning. It would be necessary not to have enough credits to be able to buy all weapons, so you'd have to choose.
Those are my impressions so far with a bit of an accent on things I'd like added. I have to accentuate that i LOVE the game and it turned out even better than i expected (and i expected much). Like I've said already - if anyone can make this kind of game, it's T17. You guys are superb in making it feel and play right and also at atmosphere.
My idea with this was to start a thread where we'd express our opinions on AB:I, perhaps share some thoughts and discuss the game. In my post, I'll put an emphasis on possible "suggestions" i might have regarding the game that are not already in it.
Currently, I'm playing the game on elite and I'm somewhere at the end of 2nd level. Haven't played the game on other difficulties. I've had a few thoughts so far:
- I'd really like a game mode that's at the difficulty of elite (which is just perfect, not easy at all but still perfectly playable - i find it similar to how original AB was) but without the saving possibility. I think that the ability to save games at Intex terminals and autosaves take away from the very important gameplay element where you just really have to watch your every step, be 100% alert all the time. That's how it was in original AB. You die, you restart the game...these levels in AB:I are much bigger than the ones in AB, so i think it'd be necessary to be able to save at the end of each big level, but not within levels. I think this would further improve the excitement, tension and feeling of accomplishment that the elite mode brings to this game. Actually, I feel that the possibility to save is taking away from this. At pretty much any moment, if i die, i reload and the reload point is never truly far away and just repeat the short-ish sequence until i get through it. For complete oldschool experience, I'd need a mode with no possibility to save. I know i might play with a self-imposed rule not to save/load, but it's not the same. Perhaps there could be an extra "oldschool" mode with elite+no save and an achievement for playing in that mode.
- So far, most of the spawning of aliens seems pretty scripted. That is cool, since that way you designed our experience of levels and it's a great way to influence our experience. You used this in a great way IMO. What I'd like though is if you kept this and added more random spawning on top of this. Not so much to smother player and atmosphere in non-stop shooting, but a bit of random spawning of more generic alien types would be really cool. That's how it was in original AB - you couldn't linger for too long anywhere, you'd get smothered by huge amounts of aliens.
- I read in interviews that Allister Brimble did a new take on original AB music theme and it'll be in game. How come it isn't in the game? That was a SUPERB piece of music :).
- I'd like to be able to play story mode with a friend.
- I think you captured the oldschool feel of AB incredibly well - it does feel like an Alien breed game which i think is very difficult to pull off in such a major change of game engine, 3D etc.
- I find speed of character movement, alien movement, alien AI just great, spot on. Also, the weapons feel VERY nice, a joy to use. Flamethrower i find better than in original AB where i always felt it was underpowered. Here it's just great. Camera is great, it's distance from the player character is just right - fairly zoomed in and that's how it should be...that's how it was in AB as well.
- The thing that surprised me the most was level design - i love it! Levels contain larger spaces and some spaces that are for pure exploration and it didn't seem it'll be that way from the demo and videos i saw previously. What I'd like in future releases though is a design that would have more "dead ends" (perhaps not completely "dead", but with maybe some ammo or credits at the end of them), more rooms that are not purely functional for playing through. That would add to the exploration of levels, it would add to possibility of gradually losing ammo/health and all the other nice trappings you could fall into in original AB. A big gameplay element as well IMO.
- I love how on elite mode you just have to be very careful with ammo. It's designed just right.
- Credits/corpse/locker system is superb. I'd like it more though, if weapons themselves could only be bought at intex terminals and not stumbled upon on the floor. That way even more emphasis would be put on long-term tactical planning. It would be necessary not to have enough credits to be able to buy all weapons, so you'd have to choose.
Those are my impressions so far with a bit of an accent on things I'd like added. I have to accentuate that i LOVE the game and it turned out even better than i expected (and i expected much). Like I've said already - if anyone can make this kind of game, it's T17. You guys are superb in making it feel and play right and also at atmosphere.