Archive for category Multiplayer
Crysis Wars: More like Christmas Wars!
Posted by Sam in Gaming, Multiplayer, Shooter on 16 December 2009
Crysis Wars is the multiplayer aspect of well known graphics card melting, explodey, chicken tossing game, Crysis. There is a free trial period courtesy of MyCrysis (AKA official Crysis community), spanning from the 19th to the 29th of December. Grab the client here, register here, and then use your CDKey on the 19th to get fragging those exoskeletons.
Why Battlefield: BC2 will be better than Modern Warfare 2
Posted by Sam in Gaming, Multiplayer, Preview, Shooter on 16 December 2009
If there was one game I’m looking forward to in the coming months it would be Bad Company 2 from EA DICE. There have been so few good multiplayer shooters recently (considering I didn’t buy Modern Warfare 2), and judging from the videos of it there isn’t much reason not to be excited. So, why will BF:BC2 be worth waiting for?
- Dedicated Servers. Not only that, but DICE have said that they will be giving the PC version extra features, presumably modding tools. Player limits are said to be 32 per server, but that may be moddable.
- Huge maps and destructible scenery, set in snow and jungle theatres, not just desert, desert, and more desert.
- A fantastic engine if the videos are anything to go by, the game looks great.
- Vehicles! Official count is 15 ground vehicles and helicopters
- Online stats and rankings similar to BF2.
- A massive armoury consisting of over 200 weapons and thousands of possible weapon loadouts.
- Beta coming early in the new year.
- Singleplayer, well, it could be worth a look at.
It is important to note that this is not Battlefield 3, which has been confirmed to be in development. This is probably going to be the natural successor to BF2 with 128 player servers and full air and sea combat. It’s unknown whether it will be PC exclusive but I think that’s unlikely to be the case. Here are some videos of Bad Company 2 so you can make up your own mind before the release date on (supposedly) the 5th of March 2010.
Panama Canal gameplay (by EA)
Arica Harbour gameplay (by EA)
Actual gameplay from PS3 beta
R.U.S.E: Do want multiplayer beta
Posted by Sam in Gaming, Multiplayer, Preview, RTS on 15 December 2009
This game really intrigues me. RUSE is a game where instead of using ‘uber micro’ to defeat your enemies, you use a set of ruses (ruse – noun. an action intended to mislead, deceive, or trick) to instead beat them with superior intelligence. The developers are definately trying something new, and a concept which has the potential to be either fantastic or unbelievably dull. Multiplayer will always be at the forefront for me, and to keep me playing there needs to be enough depth that you can’t read a guide and determine the best strategy and execute it during a game to automatically win.
Unfortunately, there are mixed opinions being released from people who have access to the beta. Some people say that because the game has been developed for consoles as well as PC, it has been over-simplified to the point where there is almost no micro involved and the macro involves chosing a few ruses from a list and using them to win you the game. However, others say that there is a lot of depth in ruse selection and timing is essential because you need to plan out your attack and ruses long before your troops reach the battlefield.
Another thing is the scale of the game, with zooming done in the same way as Supreme Commander, where if you zoom out far enough you see icons (or board game pieces as is the case here) instead of units, but you can also zoom in and see individual soldiers walking around. I’ll keep an eye out for any beta key give aways because I would love to experience the game first-hand.
The multiplayer trailer looks particularly aruseing.
Team Fortress 2 WAR! Live Battlefield Report
Posted by Sam in Gaming, Multiplayer, Shooter on 15 December 2009
As these two heavyweight rivals continue to face off against each other in the week long war for the ‘secret weapon’, the Solder edges slightly ahead of the Demoman, with 4,666,558 kills to the Demoman’s 4,441,214. However, groundbreaking new discoveries by the Black Cyclops could help turn the tide, as he discovers his Scottish roots with two new weapons, The Eyelander and The Chargin’ Targe. Replacing the Demo’s Bottle and Sticky Bomb Launcher respectively.
True, the shield might block the occasional sword blow. However, they are essentially weapons to be used for hiding behind, and this is a concept the average Scotsman does not understand. “If I were to pick up this cowering-plate, I would have to put down my second sword,” a Scotsman thinks. “And surely that is madness.”
Valve’s motive behind these new weapons seems strange. However, the thought of singling out a target (perhaps a medic) on the enemy team, charging him down and one-shotting him with a critical sword hit sounds quite frankly rather fun. It’s also not too hard to see where Valve may have got inspiration from, *cough*L4D2′s Charger*cough*.
Stealth update: According to my sources, new weapons are released on thursday.
Heroes Of Newerth, it’s DotA, but with good graphics!
Posted by Sam in Gaming, Multiplayer on 13 December 2009
And I’ll let you into a little secret, it kicks ass. Heroes Of Newerth is a modern version of the insanely popular Warcraft 3 mod, Defense of the Ancients (DotA), with most of the game being almost identical (that’s not a bad thing). It’s being developed by S2 Gaming, the guys behind the Savage series of games. The beta was released earlier this year and currently has around one million players, with 32,000 players online at any one time, quite an achievement for a closed beta.<
If you've never played the Warcraft 3 mod (actually, it was a map, or 'scenario), I'll quickly explain the premise. Two teams of 5 players fight on a map with a base in the bottom left and top right corners. Each player picks one hero from a pool of 60 (still increasing as S2 add more heroes), and then controls that hero throughout the game. The objective is to destroy the opposing team's base. To help with that task, AI controlled 'creeps' spawn every 30 seconds from each base and traverse across the map towards the opposing base, along three paths, called 'lanes', one going straight across the middle, one around the top, and one on the bottom. These creeps serve as the income for the players, as killing them gives gold which can be used to buy upgrades.
The hero pool from the current patch (0.1.61)
What really has me hooked to this game is the amount of teamwork involved. Even from the start of the game, at the stage where each player picks their hero, lots of teamwork is required because each hero plays a different role and the 5 heroes on each team need to synergize well with each other and also counter the opposing team’s lineup. Every game is guaranteed to be different, no two battles will ever be the same because of the sheer amount of variation in heroes, items, and abilities. The game is best played with a group of five players communicating with VoIP. S2 is also proving to be a great developer because they update the game weekly with new heroes, new items, and balance tweaks.
Now is a great time to get a beta key and start playing, as there is no indication of the beta period being over any time soon. S2 have said that they want to release the game with more heroes than DotA, which means adding at least another 33 heroes into the mix. To have a chance of getting a hero key, join their Facebook page, they periodically give out beta keys to all readers. Alternatively, ask somebody who already has a beta key for an invite, or post a comment here and I’ll try and sort you out with one.
Demoman versus Soldier. Round one. FIGHT!
Posted by Sam in Gaming, Multiplayer, Shooter on 11 December 2009
It’s about time Valves came round to giving Team Fortress 2′s neglected classes a few new toys, now development on Left 4 Dead 2 has ceased. There is a twist this time however, because there is a secret seventh weapon which will be given to either the “one-eyed bagpipe-playing sonofabitch“, or the “Brutus Benedict Arnold Judas Bloody Iscariot himself: the SOLDIER!“. The winner is the class who frags the other the most over the next week, with the results announced presumably when the update is released in a weeks time.
I have to admit, I do not play TF2 as regularly as I used to, however, updates are always fun to get involved with, and you have to do your bit for the war effort. Therefore I have to chose a side, which is tough considering they are my two most played classes. The Demoman’s ‘Meet The Team’ video is probably my favourite of the bunch, but I have more hours played as the Soldier, and find the soldier’s playstyle more entertaining than the Demoman’s. Needless to say I will be having many games of TF2 in the following week, hunting down and killing as many Demomen as I can find.
Keep track of the WAR! status here.
Update: I think this team has decided who they’re supporting. Click for full image.
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