The Reviews/interviews Thread

[PsychoticMarik]

MW2 also didn't add it to their spec ops mode, but perhaps that was completely intentional.

I'm just concerned about because they have yet to say anything about it having matchmaking.
They only ever say "up to four friends"...which worries me.

I certainly hope that its not a problem tho.

[Glowing_Amraam]

The "survivor" trailer says "up to 4 players" ...

[PsychoticMarik]

True, but whenever the devs talk about they only ever say friends.

I just find that a bit odd.

[l3awl3ag]

They definitely should on PC, since that has dedicated servers.

It's not going to make a difference for us console players if we can play with randoms or not. Since if you aren't hosting the game, nine times out of ten the person who is hosting is a no mic'er who quits after five minutes.

Anyone who has played Gears of War 2's horde mode knows that. You never get past wave fifthteen on that game unless you're playing with people you know. So with that in mind I'll probably only be playing it with mates anyway.

[PsychoticMarik]

I played hours and hours of gears horde mode, but that's only because it had matchmaking.
I probably played it with my friends about 3 times.

I don't care if they talk, or if some people leave early. Fact is its fun with matchmaking, and its a waste without it. Like ODST's firefight...no one plays it.

Playing games with friends is always more fun, but survivor wont provide people any fun for more than a few weeks without a matchmaking system. Why even add a mode like this if it doesn't have matchmaking?

You would think it a no brainer, but developers do stupid things...

[AJL]

According to this Sega Nerds preview the MP part of the game have
diminished graphics compared to the SP part... And this includes the
lighting system... Which affects alien gameplay...

While in SP alien gameplay is based on stealth, using the shadows
and such, in MP there are not real shadows and such... In MP the
alien gameplay is based on your insane speed...

[MadassAlex]

What.

Tell me it's all lies.

Even AvP'99 allowed Aliens to effectively hide in the shadows.

[Xhan]

According to this Sega Nerds preview the MP part of the game have
diminished graphics compared to the SP part... And this includes the
lighting system... Which affects alien gameplay...

While in SP alien gameplay is based on stealth, using the shadows
and such, in MP there are not real shadows and such... In MP the
alien gameplay is based on your insane speed...

That's how it usually works, and I can't think of one console FPS that has equal graphics fidelity in MP and SP... not even GRAW, KZ2, GeoW or UT3 and sure as hell not H3.

[Drone23]

 The lighting will still be sufficient in MP, just look at the MP videos, you can clearly tell there's areas you can't see into without a flashlight flare...

[MadassAlex]

Perhaps.

Here's hoping the PC version doesn't necessarily suffer from the same drop in graphical quality for MP.

[Xhan]

That's not really the issue, but a side product of it, MP has to juggle an assload more resources that dynamically change in a static set of confines, particularly on consoles with shared memory and bandwidth, or on PCs with limited resources, especially single procs with low end cards or (barf) IGPs. Things are going to be cut out, else you play MP with a much smaller player population per instance like 8 man MP.

[MadassAlex]

Certainly, but the darkness is such a powerful component of the Alien gameplay that I'd hope they'd cut its quality last of all, and only out of dire necessity.

[Xhan]

Personally, I would cut the number of players down before anything else, but that's usually the least popular choice (D3, ETQW, MW2PC = BAAAW from pundits/players).

The last FPS game I can remember running at equal fidelity no matter the mode was Doom ]I[ (PC). (DoW2 does too, but that really doesn't count as it's an action RTS)

[Stalker]

From all the multiplayer videos we've seen, the graphics still look very close to the single player in my opinion.

[MadassAlex]

That's true, but the main issue is how the less powerful lighting will affect the Alien gameplay.

In this case, the graphics actually count for game balance.