The Reviews

[Morgoth]

Oh come on, it doesn't really look that bad. Some of the locations (especially Rome) look even outright good. It's just that some of the enemies look a bit dated. Some animations (like sneaking behind a dude and take him out) look good, while others (Mike crouch run) look outright stupid. But hey, that's not a deal breaker, really.

[Red Mundus]

There is only one animation that made me laugh and only one.

 

Crouch walk.

 

Oh God, I laughed out loud when I saw it. The rest of the animations I was okay with. But, God help me, it reminded me of someone trying to squat and run at the same time without ever being able to make up their mind.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Red Mundus

[Capone]

Oh come on, it doesn't really look that bad. Some of the locations (especially Rome) look even outright good. It's just that some of the enemies look a bit dated. Some animations (like sneaking behind a dude and take him out) look good, while others (Mike crouch run) look outright stupid. But hey, that's not a deal breaker, really.

 

Hey morgoth, were you playing stealthy? What's your build? Is it truly possible to go through the entire game without killing anyone as was billed by Obsidian?

[Hathur]

Oh come on, it doesn't really look that bad. Some of the locations (especially Rome) look even outright good. It's just that some of the enemies look a bit dated. Some animations (like sneaking behind a dude and take him out) look good, while others (Mike crouch run) look outright stupid. But hey, that's not a deal breaker, really.

 

Hey morgoth, were you playing stealthy? What's your build? Is it truly possible to go through the entire game without killing anyone as was billed by Obsidian?

 

I don't see that as possible... considering that i've seen numerous missions that involved "Kill so-and-so".. usuallly a boss or mini boss.

[edgarcuk]

My reference is DAO reviews, anyone who gave it 8+ and trash AP is out of consideration, it just showed bias at the lowest. I have DAO on Xbox and it is plagued with bugs...

 

If there's some "professional" review that trashed DAO as well as AP, then I would give some credit.

 

But the tendency is evident, US reviews trashing and European reviews praising.

 

I had DA:O on the PC, and it, too, was buggy as hell.

 

There you go, the Joystiq guy didn't say the same of DA:O on PC... just shows how good the PR ($) is working...

 

Yes.... when all else fails, blame BioWare and accuse them of bribery. DA:O was buggy (and boring) but by western RPG standards it was fairly well polished. The console versions were hammered fairly.

 

AP is unpolished and buggy and I can see why it's getting a bad reception. The combat and AI is last gen, the visuals are bland and outdated, the story and writing and branching paths is as good as I expected but Thorton is a lame protagonist with some really poorly delivered lines, the plot twists are kinda predictable, hacking minigames every 3 minutes, the "stealth" in this Espionage RPG is a joke, the boss battles are absurd, very limited enemy variety, the game is short.. at first I thought this would be a disappointing mess, then when they started releasing more trailers and videos it looked like it might actually be great, and now I can say I agree with the scathing reviews.... this is easily Obsidian/BlackIsle's worst game. It just isn't very fun in the end and I feel so let down for actually changing my mind and preordering awhile ago.

 

This game doesn't change my mind about New Vegas though, I'm sure that will be great. But yeah....AP is very, VERY disappointing. Just an opinion.

 

 

Exactly, I don't understand why people here are making excuses for this game being recieved poorly. This game sounds awesome on paper, but in motion it easily looks like obs worst game. There's a good rpg in the mix of this mess, but I might wait for a price drop.

 

Ehem, first, the point was to not take all those "professional" reviews too seriously, as BW, and other game companies, push their PR in order to gain acceptance... and sorry, the DAO version was "hammered" quite poorly in consoles, I've got the Xbox version and it's buggier than Fallout 3, so far the PC version is the one that has received all the patches and else.

 

With regards of AP being buggy and has another member said, perhaps is bad luck but I only know I've got no bugs (citing DAO).

 

So, at the end of the day, you like the game, you play it... you don't like it, you can return it (in the case of Xbox and PS3). If the gameplay, killing bosses and "polishing" is really important, you should try Demon's Souls, that is a real challenge on combat system, but not available on PC/Xbox only PS3.

[Morgoth]

Oh come on, it doesn't really look that bad. Some of the locations (especially Rome) look even outright good. It's just that some of the enemies look a bit dated. Some animations (like sneaking behind a dude and take him out) look good, while others (Mike crouch run) look outright stupid. But hey, that's not a deal breaker, really.

 

Hey morgoth, were you playing stealthy? What's your build? Is it truly possible to go through the entire game without killing anyone as was billed by Obsidian?

Forget that. You'll have to shoot dudes. A lot. No way around.

 

And yes, I maxed out Stealth.

[Red Mundus]

For not killing anyone it is possible but damn hard (but rewarding though). You are given a tranq gun and can go invisible. But as for mini-bosses I would assume you could just tranq 'em to death, but never tried it myself. Might play around with it some more.

[Calax]

For not killing anyone it is possible but damn hard (but rewarding though). You are given a tranq gun and can go invisible. But as for mini-bosses I would assume you could just tranq 'em to death, but never tried it myself. Might play around with it some more.

Basically you can play like Solid Snake then?

[edgarcuk]

Oh come on, it doesn't really look that bad. Some of the locations (especially Rome) look even outright good. It's just that some of the enemies look a bit dated. Some animations (like sneaking behind a dude and take him out) look good, while others (Mike crouch run) look outright stupid. But hey, that's not a deal breaker, really.

 

Hey morgoth, were you playing stealthy? What's your build? Is it truly possible to go through the entire game without killing anyone as was billed by Obsidian?

Forget that. You'll have to shoot dudes. A lot. No way around.

 

And yes, I maxed out Stealth.

 

Good to know, I was about to max stealth out... I suppose I'll keep maxing the rifle

[Morgoth]

Oh come on, it doesn't really look that bad. Some of the locations (especially Rome) look even outright good. It's just that some of the enemies look a bit dated. Some animations (like sneaking behind a dude and take him out) look good, while others (Mike crouch run) look outright stupid. But hey, that's not a deal breaker, really.

 

Hey morgoth, were you playing stealthy? What's your build? Is it truly possible to go through the entire game without killing anyone as was billed by Obsidian?

Forget that. You'll have to shoot dudes. A lot. No way around.

 

And yes, I maxed out Stealth.

 

Good to know, I was about to max stealth out... I suppose I'll keep maxing the rifle

Nah, there's plenty opportunity to use your stealth skills. Just don't expect to rely on it once hell breaks lose and 10 guys are after you!

[Rostere]

Ordinary troops are ell easy to take out stealthed. Bosses are trickier though.

[Pop]

For not killing anyone it is possible but damn hard (but rewarding though). You are given a tranq gun and can go invisible. But as for mini-bosses I would assume you could just tranq 'em to death, but never tried it myself. Might play around with it some more.

Big boss kills are done in cutscenes, so it doesn't really matter how you whittle their health down. "Mini-bosses" (ex. Triad Bosses in Taipei) can be stealth-incapacitated or martial art'd just like normal enemies.

[Pop]

Most of the way through the game now. The encounters and scenes shown to me by Obsidz two months ago didn't show up in my playthrough. There is a fair bit of branching in the middle of the game, and most of it has to do with the context of your missions - I went Taipei - > Rome - > Moscow, and as a result I've had a relationship with the G22 through most of the game, but only the last few missions with the VCI. Had I switched up the order of things, that would be different, and the things I'm doing and the way I'm doing them would be different. There have been a few interesting twists, and a few tour de force conversation pieces (with one character in particular), and for a first-time action RPG Obsidz have really outdone themselves - Stealth is pretty good especially at higher levels, which is hard to pull off, and weapon combat is, as I said, better than ME1's but not quite as polished as ME2's. I haven't run into any bugs at all besides the obligatory UE3 issues (some momentary texture pop-in, etc.)

 

The reviews are trickling out even though there's an embargo till the 1st. Most seem to be around the 80's as expected, though some have gone lower. Gamespot gave it a 6/10 and G4TV gave it a 2/5. 1Up gave it a B+ and it's a surprisingly good review.

 

Anyway, more thoughts upon completion.

[Red Mundus]

Well....kind of.

 

I'm a ridiculously patient person, so waiting behind a column for 2 hours and watching patrols doesn't bother me.

 

So to specify, if you're crazy to wait obscene amounts of time to get through gunfights, wait for the AI to screw up, restart often and don't mind finding unorthadox methods and in some cases glitches to taking out a few enemies you're fine.

 

On the other hand if you're normal then no, pure stealth is impossible.

 

So far I'm focusing on H2H, tech aptitude, and stealth, I also pump a few odd points into pistols.

 

So for me a traditional level that lasts 45 minutes would last me about 1 hour and 30 minutes or more.

 

Also I never really bothered stealthing bosses, Just pumped them full of lead. So can't say much about that. Might try to play around with the bosses on a second playthrough. Also the noise generator is your absolute best friend.

 

And just to specify, there are enough stealth parts in the game to satisfy most stealth gamers but to "ghost" would be damn-near impossible.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Red Mundus

[edgarcuk]

Oh come on, it doesn't really look that bad. Some of the locations (especially Rome) look even outright good. It's just that some of the enemies look a bit dated. Some animations (like sneaking behind a dude and take him out) look good, while others (Mike crouch run) look outright stupid. But hey, that's not a deal breaker, really.

 

Hey morgoth, were you playing stealthy? What's your build? Is it truly possible to go through the entire game without killing anyone as was billed by Obsidian?

Forget that. You'll have to shoot dudes. A lot. No way around.

 

And yes, I maxed out Stealth.

 

Good to know, I was about to max stealth out... I suppose I'll keep maxing the rifle

Nah, there's plenty opportunity to use your stealth skills. Just don't expect to rely on it once hell breaks lose and 10 guys are after you!

 

lol, indeed... in fact I do prefer stealth, but as backup I had to put some points on the rifle, for those situations

[tr1pod]

The checkpoint saving is really annoying me. I am old school. I love to be able to save when I choose. The checkpoints in this game are actually quite far apart.

[Joseph Bulock]

For not killing anyone it is possible but damn hard (but rewarding though). You are given a tranq gun and can go invisible. But as for mini-bosses I would assume you could just tranq 'em to death, but never tried it myself. Might play around with it some more.

 

If you're going for no kill, you likely want to go stealth, pistol, and some ranks in martial arts, and likely some toughness. Taking an enemy out with martial arts doesn't count as a kill.

 

Shock traps are also your friend.

[Red Mundus]

For not killing anyone it is possible but damn hard (but rewarding though). You are given a tranq gun and can go invisible. But as for mini-bosses I would assume you could just tranq 'em to death, but never tried it myself. Might play around with it some more.

 

If you're going for no kill, you likely want to go stealth, pistol, and some ranks in martial arts, and likely some toughness. Taking an enemy out with martial arts doesn't count as a kill.

 

Shock traps are also your friend.

 

Yeah, Toughness is starting to look Reallllly nice right about now. I originally thought tech apt. would be good for cool down. But thicker skin is starting to look like a must as I go on. Still doing alright. Although anyone watching me would probably fall asleep.

[Starwars]

I'd really recommend reading and watching the 1up preview which I found to be surprisingly reasonable. I didn't have some of the problems they mention in my playthrough but they bring up both good points and bad points. Good review and good on them for mentioning the choices.

[Alpha]

For not killing anyone it is possible but damn hard (but rewarding though). You are given a tranq gun and can go invisible. But as for mini-bosses I would assume you could just tranq 'em to death, but never tried it myself. Might play around with it some more.

 

If you're going for no kill, you likely want to go stealth, pistol, and some ranks in martial arts, and likely some toughness. Taking an enemy out with martial arts doesn't count as a kill.

 

Shock traps are also your friend.

nice advise.

[Alpha]

I found this funny in other forums. I can't believe what people can do to play with the beans of other people.

 

I've posted this on the UK board, but I think more people should read this.

 

I don't if this is 100% true, but is sound legit. The following quote was posted after the Joystiq review of the game.

 

I worked on this game (a fact of which I am not proud). I'm not here to defend it; I agree with all these reviews.

 

First, a comment for the guy at Cheesecake Factory - Most devs eat in the office most days, if they do go out they tend to grab something at the food court and head back. I know the execs take long lunches, but they often use them for informal meetings as well. Most of the programmers and designers very rarely ate outside the office during the time I was on this project.

 

There was a ton of work put into this game. The problem is that is was a ton of undirected work, or work on things that were just stupid. The Executive Producer for the game, Chris Parker (also an owner of the company), seemed to think he was the world's greatest designer ever, and created all these absolutely ****ty systems and wouldn't listen to any of the real designers or devs about things that just didn't work. And you can't exactly argue with one of the owners of the company when he doesn't want to listen. He basically took over the game and dictated exactly how everything would work (or not work, as the case may be). The other producers realized this early on and just gave up, leaving Parker to micromanage all the designers and programmers directly.

 

Sega also was a factor, because they kept changing the design requirements (yes they had heavy influence there), which never gave the producers and designers time to actually decide on one set of features to make and polish. The blame is still mostly Obsidian's because the execution was absolutely terrible, and it was obvious 2 years ago that this game should have been scrapped. Instead, though, they focused on adding still more features and never fixed the ones they already had. That is a recipe for tons of bugs and no polish... as is obvious.

 

This game was just an absolute failure of production, and it's no wonder that so many of the developers left the company, even after the 40% staff layoffs. I am still happy about some of Obsidian's other current projects, New Vegas included, because they are going pretty well. Their big unannounced project is looking great and is already much better than AP ever was, and that may end up being the game that everyone was looking for with AP.

 

Sega should have canceled AP instead of Aliens...

[HoonDing]

At least one can be sure New Vegas won't have the same management problems. Bethesda surely keeps a tight leash with regular project briefings and reports to the Toddster.

[Syraxis]

At least one can be sure New Vegas won't have the same management problems. Bethesda surely keeps a tight leash with regular project briefings and reports to the Toddster.

 

If that quote is true, some 'managers' really need to be fired resign. At least Josh seems like a good director.

[Ausir]

Unfortunately, it does sound true to an extent (as in, at least the guy being a disgruntled ex-employee sounds consistent with what I know).

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Not to mention it sounds plausible enough. The game really does look like it tried to add way more features than it managed.

 

But, I'll have to play it first to judge.