My Views and revue of the game.

Ok let me 1st tell you who I am. My gamer tag is Chauffeur Drive. I dont knwo anything about the PC version of the original game but I do know ALOT about the xbox version. I have been playing the AA series since its 1st release of ROS several years ago. I was an AA ref on GB.com for a while and am the Co-Leader of TKT, Formerly UN3. UN3 was one of the top 3 clans on AAROS for several seasons. I have been extremely active on the AA games and forums since the begining of time, though this is my 1st post on the ubi forums. If you ask anyone who is a TRUE AA player on xbox they know me, or atleast know who I am. With thsi in mind here are my views of the game, with both good and bad.

1st off I have been told that you should never start anything off with the bad, however I have never been one to do as I was told. That's why I am self employed

The engine that was chosen to build this game on was the absolute worst choice that the creators could have made. I know that the team was the GRAW2 team but that was problem #1. Who ever teh guys are who had the thought of "hey lets build an AA2" chose the wrong guys to build this game. GRAW2 if you look and read the PLAYER REVIEWS which are the only ones that matter, not many people like the game. Yah there are players who enjoy it but there are a few people who also enjoy the game "HOT DOG STAND". Granted, the graffix on teh original AA game were not the best however the gameplay was. On the original AA your soldier was capable of climbing over a 3 inch rock and climb stairs while crouched. When I try this on the new AA it seems that with all the training that my US ARMY SOLDIER got when i was forced to go through boot camp, for no real reason to the game, they forgot to teach him how to step over a small rock on the ground or how to walk up steps while crouched. Also, when I have my sniper rifle, Saw gun, or M16 w/ ACOG I woudl have loved to have the option to put on my bipod. being a sniper I like the realism and stability that the bipod offers. It also helps to keep the sight above the grass being that when you try to lay down you cant see more than 3 inches in front of your face on any of the grassy maps.

HEAD SHOTS: where are they? Ifthsi was a realistic game I would be dead if I took a 50cal sniper shot to the head, why can i be healed after? I understand some people may not want to die that fast but hey! thats why yall added responds to this game! for us OG players no responds, and no getting up when you get blasted in the face!

Stealth & Vision: in AAROS there were skills called stealth and vision. Vision helped you identify the enemy and stealth kept them from seeing you. This was extremely good for if you were a sniper. It was taken out of this AA game for reasons unknown. I think it shoudl be put back in.

Sniper towers and water towers: DUDE those would be such great places to sit up and camp. The most important thing a sniper needs is to be up high. you put water towers and sniper towers in teh game but yet we cant climb into them? why? just remove them if they r going to be useless! I heard you guys are going to continue to make maps and all, lets add some towers we can climb into ok? thanks!

As for some good thinsg about the game, I do like it i promise. There are alot of things that should have been done diffrent and all that the creators would have done was ask the PLAYERS what they liked. I mean hell, its not the creators who are playing it and they get their $ either way so i suppose it doesnt even matter to them but for those of us who have been waiting for this game to come out for a few years, thats plenty of time for them to give us a call and see what we enjoy.

The 203 is great! i do liek it a hell of alot. its easy to shoot, easy to aim, and its a fun overall gun. the sniper rifle is good once you get the 50cal. however I think that the aiming on it needs to be spead up. when you are scanning the area it moves way to slow. so slow that if you see someone and they are running the same direction that you are scanning you cannot catch up to them. in real life you can scan as fast as you want. so whats the deal with that?

The enemy AI is cool, I like the fact that there is campain mode in the multiplayer and 16 people? wow thats killer as well, however if you get mroe than 8 in a room the room drops, thats killer as well, but in a bad way! I hear that is getting fixed so i wont complain too much about that.

The friendly AI is about the dumbest group of dudes you could have put in the game. Damn they are stupid. They glitch out all over when they try to heal you, in the 1st level of war games the last checkpoint you go to before the tank comes, teh SGT SMITH guy doesnt even go near it but you cant move forward til that area is clear so you go to clear it and you lose a ton of honor because you are away from your team. its dumb. really dumb. Then your team has this infatuation with jumping infront of your shot as you are goin at it with liek 15 enemies so you kill your own dude cuz hes dumb. In multiplayer when peopel do that to me i leave their dead asses behind. but in single mode you cant. THE AI NEEDS TO BE FIXED!

The game is overall good. I give it a 7 out of 10 on my own personal scale. There is alot that needs improvement but Im glad i bought the game. I will be on it alot and If you play I promise i will own you at some point in time

The creators need to go buy the AA ROS and look at the game play and physics of the game and create some patch to fix what WE THE PLAYERS dont like. I am speaking for myself, as well as for many others in the game.

The biggest things to me that I would change Are HEADSHOTS, useable towers, and the friendly AI, make them smart please? I have alot of buds in the army and I know they areant geniuses, and thats why they joined but they do atleast know which way is up!

Also, you may want to add a bit of single player campaign. If i didnt have LIVE I would be the most pissed off person on the planet spending $60 for 8 levels of game play all of which are overly glitched out.

If anyoen would like to add anything I am sure I missed some. Add your statements of what you agree on and what you dissagree on.

-CD Co-Leader TKT/UN3

It's my understanding that the headshot thing is due to be fixed in a patch. No official word on that though.

I'd also love to see the towers become accessible, so I'd know where to look to get an easy kill.

even if they dont want to they can create a button in the server options to turn on teh head shots. That way the lil kids who are too scared to die can have head shots off and us real players can turn it on.

and yes towers would be great so you can get easy kills... or so i can see you coming over that hill and take you out 1st

Artillery doesn't need line of sight.

HAHA! true...

One good thing though i forgot to mention that i do thank the creators for is...


The communication. I love the fact that you have to call fire team to fire team to talk to your other units. i think that is pimp.

Map. I like being able to look at the coordinates to tell where my other teams are getting hit so i can run to help them. Not enough people take advantage of either of these tachtics though. Its sad because they really do help with the gameplay and make the teamwork aspect alot better and more real! Thanks for both of these add ons!

To clarify one thing:
You CAN play the campaign missions without Live.

Go to multiplayer, then local instead of Xbox Live. You can play alone or splitscreen. The game will give you AI teammates to make a 4 person team.

Personally, I'm glad to get rid of the red dots over people's heads. Want to increase your observation skills? Pay attention, watch for movement. If you want to increase your stealth, then proceed more stealthily (that doesn't have to mean crawling everywhere). Increasing observation and stealth doesn't have to be accomplished artificially. You don't need red dots, especially if you like realism. No need to simplify the game for people that won't simply pay attention. I remember when ROAS came out people were pretty upset about the red dots. Now, we can get rid of them in TS mode.

I agree about being teased by towers in games. If it's there, I don't want the ladder broken off 6' up. LOL
They usually mean death though, like in ROAS at the airfield.

Good review though.

yes indeed. I normally play without red dots but the dots dont bother me one way or another. The red dots make it easier to see them but taking them off makes it harder for them to see me. so either way im good with

What the vision did though on teh ROS was if you had it up high enough, when someone came into your view the screen would zoom in slightly for a split second in their general area so as to say "there he is" yah i pay attention and I do quite well with it. But something similar would be cool though too.

I agree with a lot of what you say. I also miss a lot of the Little features for RoAS, and I cannnot understand why they left them out:

Mission Objectives
Better After Action Reports
Bipods
Cannot use NVG's and optics at the same time, had to use IR lasers
Left trigger would sight over the scope on a scoped weapon. Stick click would sight through the scope
Your guy stood up if you moved too far crouched.
Suppressive fire had more effect
Weapons sway seemed more real
Squeezing the trigger made for a better shot break
Assigned roles
Etc. Etc..

That said I like this game a lot and it is the best tactical shooter on 360 to date. It would be nice if they would have learned some lessons from RoAS..

I really miss the defined fire team roles too. So far, teams have been well balanced, but I suspect you'll see more and more grenadiers as the game picks up. No way for the host to limit it either.

Objective based MP mission in team vs team is the biggest loss in the game, IMO.

On the crouched walking, I remember a developer video on that subject before ROAS was out. They'd have a demonstration where they'd put a fully loaded pack on one of the developer's back and see how long they could walk while crouched and wearing that thing--you just couldn't do that all around the area. It was a good detail to make the soldier stand up when moving any distance or speed.

Both TS and RoaS suffer from your character not being able to negotiate minor obstacles. If you remember the landing strip, there were telephone poles lying at the edges of the airstrip that you could not step over, you had to walk around them.

That said, I have to agree we should have more mobilty. Ladders and doors should be usable environmental elements, not just window dressings. And why I can't climb a few stairs while I'm crouched seems a bit lame to me.

Bi-pods have been mentioned, but going prone mostly solves the steadiness issue. But, I would like if I am behind a low object that if I step up to it, my character instinctively would use the object as a steady rest, without have to click anything to engage it. If I am in close enough proximity to an object to use it to steady my aim, then my character WILL use it when I pull the left trigger and take up aim.

yah even if we dont have to press a button, it would be cool if it auto used it too. instead of being crouched and having your scope in a wall instead of over it so you are overexposed to the enemy.

quote:

Originally posted by Long4Short:
Both TS and RoaS suffer from your character not being able to negotiate minor obstacles. If you remember the landing strip, there were telephone poles lying at the edges of the airstrip that you could not step over, you had to walk around them.

That said, I have to agree we should have more mobilty. Ladders and doors should be usable environmental elements, not just window dressings. And why I can't climb a few stairs while I'm crouched seems a bit lame to me.

Bi-pods have been mentioned, but going prone mostly solves the steadiness issue. But, I would like if I am behind a low object that if I step up to it, my character instinctively would use the object as a steady rest, without have to click anything to engage it. If I am in close enough proximity to an object to use it to steady my aim, then my character WILL use it when I pull the left trigger and take up aim.

the problem with prone is that on most maps when you are prone all you can see is grass. And we all know the grass is not rendered past about 20yds so it is a real problem..

The 1st long paragraph where I was bashing the graw team and the guys who created the game... I TAKE IT BACK.

I was able to play AA with one of the head engineers/creaters of the game tonight for a good few hours and I am happy to say that he is a gamer just like us. He is here to make the game better and to fix the issues that need to be fixed. Hes a good guy.

Thanks Randy!

-Chauffeur Drive

quote:

Originally posted by ChauffeurDrive:
The 1st long paragraph where I was bashing the graw team and the guys who created the game... I TAKE IT BACK.

I was able to play AA with one of the head engineers/creaters of the game tonight for a good few hours and I am happy to say that he is a gamer just like us. He is here to make the game better and to fix the issues that need to be fixed. Hes a good guy.

Thanks Randy!

-Chauffeur Drive

i agree i was also in that room and i have to say randy is a cool guy and i also want to say thanks for letting ue bend his ear a bit about the game as well thanks randy

Hate that I missed that, hope to meet some of the guys in there later on.

quote:

Originally posted by ChauffeurDrive:


As for some good thinsg about the game, I do like it i promise.

-CD Co-Leader TKT/UN3

That made me ROFL. Sorry, it just did.

I think the gameplay is great as it is. It seems the 203 is already becoming an abused weapon. When you have players switching to the grenade launcher as soon as the game starts and begin randomly shooting grenades, I think it takes alot of the fun out of the game. It should be a fallback weapon. I don't mind hand grenades as it takes time to throw and you risk being shot in the process of throwing it.

The samething happened in Ghost Recon and most servers started limiting hand grenades only. Intended or not I think the fact that you have obstacles that you have to transverse is good because it keeps the speed of the players slow so you don't have an entire team sprinting around freely spamming the map with 203's like it was Halo 3. This game is about keeping out of sight and using strategy to flank the opposition, rather than nuking the entire map.
My only complaint about this game is the limited number of maps and the design of the maps. On some maps huge portions are not ever played on because the rush is towards the next teams spawn such is the case in Diamond Mine. Selectable team spawn locations would be a nice feature and throw some different angles of attack into play.

I really don't see the need for 1 shot kills as it plays now you and your team has to make a decesion to cover the wounded soldier as bait or move on risking losing a confirmed kill. If it is changed then the team of 203's should have a blast.

Edit: True Soldier should have been turned ON by default.

Overall I'm really happy with this game. I've been playing the Ghost Recon series since the Original was released nearly 5 years ago. I hated when Ghost Recon 2 was released with third person view so I'm really enjoying the weapons view of AA.

The realism of this game far surpasses any of the so called simulators available today. Unlike the review above, I'm used to the GRAW engine so I have no problems with it being picked as the base for this game.

To give the servers a guideline, on GRAW, to host a 16 person room you needed an absolute minimum of 768KB upload with no packet loss and very minimal latency. I can host a full 16 person room on AA without a problem. I have over 2mb upload with very clean service. With this many graphics it does require better than average connections to host a full room.

My team will be primarily playing Assault for our game mode. I'd like to make a few suggestions specifically for that mode.

1. We'd like the ability to shut air strikes off. With territories so clearly defined in assault, air strikes can become abused with right off the load kills.

2. We'd like the ability to set incapacity to zero. This doesn't mean every shot would be a kill shot. Leave the ability to heal yourself, but when the program goes to incapacity, the life would end immediately.

3. When you or a team mate are killed, we'd like to see who died and who killed them like you can when you're dead. Just like GRAW.

4. One thing that GRAW never fixed was the HUD scoreboard for siege. I was hoping you'd be able to do this. If you start with 8 vs. 8 the scoreboard would start showing 8 vs. 8. As players are killed or drop, the number would drop so you'd know how many were left alive.

5. Many of the ladder sites offer the option of allowing observers during match play. We'd like the ability to move a player to observer mode like GRAW had.

Thank you for your consideration of these additions.

not to burst you but I promise you have had issue with it dropping at some point in time. Its not teh speed or servers tha make the games drop its the game itself. There is something inside the game that sends currupted information and it drops games. The 1st patch will fix it as well as several other things.

thanks.

quote:

1. We'd like the ability to shut air strikes off. With territories so clearly defined in assault, air strikes can become abused with right off the load kills.

in our ladder you will be able to. www.pro-playaz.com

quote:

2. We'd like the ability to set incapacity to zero. This doesn't mean every shot would be a kill shot. Leave the ability to heal yourself, but when the program goes to incapacity, the life would end immediately.

the game is built to be able to heal your team mates. if you dont wanna be healed go play halo. Headshots will be turned on so that you die immediately soon.

quote:

3. When you or a team mate are killed, we'd like to see who died and who killed them like you can when you're dead. Just like GRAW.

ummm no.


[quote
4. One thing that GRAW never fixed was the HUD scoreboard for siege. I was hoping you'd be able to do this. If you start with 8 vs. 8 the scoreboard would start showing 8 vs. 8. As players are killed or drop, the number would drop so you'd know how many were left alive.

5. Many of the ladder sites offer the option of allowing observers during match play. We'd like the ability to move a player to observer mode like GRAW had.

Thank you for your consideration of these additions.[/QUOTE]

i dont feel liek answering the rest of these...