Early Impressions of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Played a bit of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare today, Single Player portion. The graphics are much improved have to be said, finally a new engine and it looks good. It is a little bit more open than previous COD games because the exo suit opens up new traversal routes, but still, very scripted. The AI, well, just like previous game, I don't think they deserve the I word, they just follow script but don't react outside it. Oh well, at least its a progress.

So I played FUSE demo a while ago and here is what I think

Anyone else tried the Fuse demo? Since it is a co-op game, I tried matchmaking several times and couldn't find any players. So I played the first part of the demo, solo...well the AI took over the other 3 characters but no real human players so I am calling it solo. Anyways, you can switch between character. I honestly didn't find it comfortable switching, so I sticked with 1 player. Basically 4 people squad, 4 unique weapons, 4 unique abilities.

First part of the demo didn't do much for me, however the 2nd part was hectic and this is where I believe coop and teamwork really needed to come together in some fashion in order to succeed. Since I couldn't find players, I had to make do with AI squad mates. They are okay, they help you take out bad guys, provide medical support when you need it...but, on this half of the demo when things got a lot tense, they tend to lose their cool and would break off from the teamplay. It was not until a 2nd player joined I could finish this part. So yea, I guess it shouldn't come to any surprise that there is no substitute for human player, and Fuse is no exception. Overall, I would say I was...okay with the demo, it wasn't bad or anything, at the same time there was nothing great about it. Lets see how the final game turns out shall we?

Heavy Rain demo impressions

While the demo is supposed to be released next week's upate on the Playstation Store, many of us who managed to play and solve the alternate reality web investigation game managed to get the demo codes a week early. So how is the demo?

First thing you will see is the menu which is fully rendered, which I am told will change depending on where you are in the game, which is cool and kinda like Half-Life 2. As soon as you start the demo, first thing that will come to your mind is the graphics. Before Heavy Rain, the title for best graphics for the PS3 belonged to and in some cases shared between Uncharted 2 and Killzone 2; now add Heavy Rain to the top of that list. This game looks amazing, the textures are as sharp as it can be, every object is modelled in such high polygon count that they look so damn real. The rain and water effects (this being Heavy Rain) is really well done and sets the tone for the entire game.

After a quick tutorial, you are shown how you control in heavy rain. It features a very unique control system which is unlike anything out there right now, but almost similar to the game's spiritual successor Farhenhiet / Indigo Prophecy (depending on where you bought the game). It is a mix of Quick Time events that works really well as the buttons are meshed together to the item you interact with, so it does not take you out of the experience. You move with the R2 button, change directions with the left analog and change between different camera angles with the L1. Admit it, it feels a bit iffy when you think about it, but trust me, after a few minutes in the game you will get the hang of it.

The voice acting is on the level of games like Mass Effect 2, Uncharted 2, Dragon Age etc so which is as best as it can be. The ambience sound, like a distant cop car, ambulance, thunder, which all dynamically changing depending on where your character is at the moment really adds to the realism and gloomy atmosphere of the game.

There are two scenes in the demo, which I wont spoil it and rather want you guys to try the demo for yourself next week. So what do I think? I really enjoyed it, the presentation is all top-notch, and I really like the way the story is going, really dark, gloomy, mature storyline. I cant believe I didn't keep an eye out for this one before, but now I do.