Llyranor

I hope it's the KOTOR MMO! Who plays singleplayer CRPGs nowadays, anyway? More like CrapRPGs, lol.

Doesn't have to be perfect. No game is perfect, not even Mass Effect. 10/10 merely means it's the best at what it does. In this case, being a sissy RPG with no death or challenge. No game can surpass it in that sense. Hence the 10/10.

You only die often if you suck.

Okay, okay. You're right. What a piece of crap.

Maria Caliban, you're really full of it. How can you tell the game is going to suck if you've never even played it? That's not a 'fact'. The real fact here is your true ignorance.

Heh, can't be worse than FO3.

You idiots are like the anti-jags.

Actually, if you guys were already registered to callofduty.com before, it'd be a good idea to check the appropriate email address. That's how I got one of my beta keys.

Played a bit of PvP online splitscreen. It was surprisingly fun. Overall, fairly typical deathmatch, though. Less floaty/jumpy than Halo, but more deathmatch-y than CoD4 (you don't die from single bullets). With the large number of players, and the fact that you're more grounded in general and survive a bit longer, it led to some interesting firefights. Team Deathmatch: One of the maps was a subway level (2 levels) in which there were various corridors linking each other. Lots of flanking maneuvers, standstills at corridors/intersections with massive firefights. The various weapons are pretty fun. One allows you to deploy a shield, but you can't shoot while it's on. You have your sniper, your shotgun (awesome dual-shot secondary fire), your standard assault rifle. There's one that fires circular saws, which you can allow keep spinning in your gun to saw people up from up close. One is a grenade launchers that also allows you to spread fire everywhere, lighting enemies and allies alike on fire. One allows you limited 'X-ray' vision and shoot through walls (limited penetration). You also get various powers. Half damage, spread area damage, etc. My favorite one is a team/radius-based X-ray vision that enables your team in an area to see all the enemies coming towards you for a limited time. The second map was a city block, with airlifts flying you onto the rooftops. More vertical. Lots of long-range action. The level design from what I've seen seems pretty nice. Skirmish: 30v30. Squads of 5. Each squad gets an objective, and also a rival squad on the opposite team. The objectives change dynamically, and you constantly get new ones. Mostly, it's capturing objectives. Something, it's killing or defending a specific player (best player on a team?) within a second time. Sometimes it seems objectives overlap, so multiple squads may try to get the same goal, leading to bigger firefights. Also, multiple objectives at the same time. There's a lot of crossover between squads. It's fairly well-implemented. Large map, but a good sense of direction. Co-op:

So, how are you enjoying your beta?

Okay, keep tabs. Who's getting Gears2? Me. Who's getting Left 4 Dead? Me. Who's getting CoD5? Tentative maybe.

I can't honestly say I give a crap at all about the singleplayer. Maybe if the story campaign had co-op...

CoD5, CoD6, who the freak cares.

More impressions about the other co-op classes that I'm too lazy to compile into paragraphs: Llyranor says: spec ops and soldier are awesome Llyranor says: spec ops is also a sniper Llyranor says: you feel a bit redundant, since you're just shooting and giving ammo Llyranor says: i mean, it feels 'pointless' until you play a soldier and realize how crucial you are Llyranor says: as a soldier, your ammo/shield depletes in SECONDS Llyranor says: you constantly need ammo supplies Llyranor says: yeah, the balance is really well done Nick says: nice, that's perfect Nick says: so we need AT LEAST 3 players Llyranor says: at least Nick says: and non-balanced classes = death Llyranor says: I'm never playing this with less than 8p Llyranor says: you don't need to know the others Nick says: so it's literally PuG GW Nick says: only, not GW Llyranor says: as a medic, i had to constantly shoot at enemies and waste time to replenish my healgun Llyranor says: whereas if i had a competent spec ops, i could focus more on healing Llyranor says: the spec ops is really important Llyranor says: as a soldier, you're a tank soaking up buttloads of damage and dealing it back Nick says: ah, right, specs can charge the healing crap too, I see what you mean Llyranor says: but left on your own for a few seconds, and you're virtually defenseless Llyranor says: and the shield is awesome, building defensive flanks from various positions, creating opening spots for medics to revive, or specs to snipe, blocking doorways, good stuff Llyranor says: i'm really happy with the gameplay Llyranor says: the only real complaint i'd have is that some bosses are just soakboxes Llyranor says: they just stand there while the team surrounds and shoots it Llyranor says: not much challenge Llyranor says: the rest of the game is a good challenge, though

You can have semi-auto rifles as well, such as the SVT-40. As per CoD4 tradition, I'm playing with a MG. The BAR is pretty nice. Good stability once you attach a bipod to it, and you can actually DEPLOY it to sandbags and such. Squads are great. The squad leader can even give waypoints.

Depends what your definition of triple A is. Awesome co-op? Yup yup. There's also a 60player PvP mode, but I don't give a crap.

Don't ever mention that piece of crap to me ever again.

You guys are all idiots, anyway. Just get the version which your friends are getting. No one cares if PC or 360 is better. If you pick a version based on its 'superiority' without any friends to play with, you're an idiot. You're an idiot anyway.

Yoink. In any case, not committing to this until splitscreen online guesting is confirmed.

No one gives a crap about the explosions.

You're better off getting CoD5!

I'm in the beta. 8p co-op is fantastic. It's not like your usual co-op mode, instead implementing various class-based PvP elements to it. Only, instead of fighting another team, you're fighting massive legions of AI. IIRC, there are 6 maps, based on the PvP maps. They're semi-randomized. Each map has a bunch of zones, and every mission you're being sent to different zones, so this should have some good replayability. There are 3 classes. -Soldier - big gun, and a secondary fire summons a shield which allies can hide behind. -Medic - attack beam to absorb enemy hp and refill your secondary fire ammo. Secondary fire is a wide area blast which heals allies but not you. It's a good balance between having to shoot enemies to replenish your secondary fire, and trying to keep your time alive (you can also revive dead allies by going next to them and pressing a button, though anyone can do this). -SpecialOps - Don't know the details, but this is your ammo guy. Keeps allied guns running, and replenishes shields as well, I think It's a good balance. You need your soldiers to actually deal good damage and to absorb shots with the shield, your medics to keep people alive, and your SpecOps to keep the war machine going, pushing forward slowly on and on, as you're advancing your shield. Deploying shield near corpses so someone can get near to revive, fending off attacks from multiple flanks. You really get overwhelmed. Didn't get the party wiped out yet, but there's been some instances where more than half the team was dead. Good fun. (re: Nick, medic feels a lot like the monk in GW in terms of awesomeness/keeping the team alive - only, without GW crap)

Guess what I already gave away yesterday!

Infinity Ward is a piece of crap for not implementing co-op in CoD4. Unless CoD6 has it, it can rot in Hades' sphincter, for all I care. But yeah, CoD5 mp feels *a lot* like 4. Squads makes keep tracking of buddies in battle a lot easier, which makes teamwork actually play a role. Also, dogs are awesome. If the co-op campaign is good and it has guesting, I'd be pretty sold on this.

Nick and me are in the COD5 beta. I have an extra key. First post gets it. Or not. Depends on whether I hate you or not.