The Shattered Star

Anyone else here getting this? (It is out tomorrow in the US but not until Friday here in the UK/Rest of EU)

Simply put, if you haven't tried the demo of this yet (multiplayer i mean, not single player) i'd recommend doing so, It really is a lot of fun.
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclu ... tion/49501


The demo features a mode called "Damage Control" where 2 teams basically fight for control of 3 capture points and the team with the most points at the end of the match wins. The maps are all completely destructable and the reconstructor tool you're given (which can rebuild a structure to it's original state) really does add another element of gameplay.
There are backpacks which you can get as well which give you certain powers like a Jetpack, Stealth, Rhino (smash through stuff at high speed..) etc, these work really well along side the destructive world i think. (The full game has something like 6 modes and 21 maps iirc)

I've got both this and Prototype preordered but after trying the mp demo of this i'd have preordered it just for multiplayer alone. Me thinks this is going to become quite popular.. (My heavy walker figure arrived this morning hehe)


May give Shingen a bell about this if he hasn't tried it already.. i imagine he'd enjoy it. (Oh and Anny, you should get XBL Gold for this mate ;))

Lol. Foresaw my impending comment did you?

I haven't really paid a lot of attention to Red Faction in the past, and I honestly haven't seen an awful lot - on the SP side of things - to make me consider Guerrilla as a purchase. The multiplayer does, admittedly, look strong on this one and that in itself would be enough to tempt me....if I actually knew I'd play it for a sustained period.

Problem for me is, and will likely be for a long time, that MP games (MMOs aside) very very rarely hold my attention nowadays. Last one that did was EF, and that was before I even joined the SSC. Evidence itself is the free months of Gold I have had in the past, I think I used my initial free month three times for GoW games, and my free month that came with GTA got used maybe four. Then it, and the games, just got abandoned. For that reason I just keep coming back to the point that Gold would be, for me, a waste of money

On another note, did you see the Ostrich Hammer yet? I expect a video!

I tried out this demo today, and I have to say that it seems like tons of fun. There are so many strategic possibilities with all of the weapons and backpack combination, and I love nothing more than open-ended maps, which the hammer certainly creates very well. I played the one single-player mission that was offered in a separate demo, and I thought it was great too. Very hectic, with a nice variety of vehicles. I think I may actually have to pick up a new game for the first time since Mass Effect.

I wasn't too keen on the controls when I tried the 360 demo - I'm used to the whole 1st-person feel too, which this latest outing doesn't have.

At least people still run screaming when you attach an explosive to them

Yeah, I love this game. I didn't realize that it was a sandbox game, but that makes for even more fun times. Just watch how you fell your buildings. I have been doing the whole learn through experience thing... like when I blow up a building, make sure there are no civvys around or else they get caught in the cross fire.... ;p

So, wait, the single-player game is open world? If so, just how open are we talking here? Are there side missions that have nothing to do with the main story line? Are there various factions to gain reputation with? I need more details! If there is much of a sandbox aspect at all to the game, I will definitely need to pick it up; but it would probably be my game of 2009 if it was along the lines of Mercenaries: Mars.

Kahn wrote:So, wait, the single-player game is open world? If so, just how open are we talking here? Are there side missions that have nothing to do with the main story line? Are there various factions to gain reputation with? I need more details! If there is much of a sandbox aspect at all to the game, I will definitely need to pick it up; but it would probably be my game of 2009 if it was along the lines of Mercenaries: Mars.

It is very similar to Volitions previous outtings, Saints Row and Saints Row 2. You are doing various things to wrest control of a given area away from the EDF and back into the hands of the miners. Moral for the miners plays an important role in things like, more ammo in ammo boxes or random miners piking up arms to assist you with a given EDF assault. Basically your liberating Mars.

The side missions are pretty simplistic in the respect that you don't need to do them to proceed, but it does help from what I have seen. Sometimes you will get a call about a particular event, which you can ignore or help with. All of which goes towards gaining moral and lowering EDF control. And most importantly, getting scrap metals to upgrade and purchase weapons and armor.

And yeah, it does have some similarities to Mercs 2 in some respects.