jaymind

There seems to be a lack of online shooters out now that can reliably surpass BF2 and it's mods for a lot of us, that I thought we could throw together a thread on those upcoming games which may turn out to be "the" new game. For me, TF2 is more of a distraction than a replacement for BF2; COD4 multiplayer is underwhelming to say the least; ET: Quake Wars has been a let down overall, and I can't seem to find the time to play so much online while there are some spectacular single player games out (COD4, Crysis, Portal, HL2, Bioshock, Witcher, and I've been replaying Gal Civ II) and some decent MMO type games such as Hellgate, Tabula Rasa (for me in a month or so) and Pirates of the Burning Sea (a possibility in March).

I have been playing a bit of the beta Frontlines, and this game does show some promise. Although, I would classify the beta as more late alpha than anything else but the game dynamics are worth paying attention to and the game does show some promise.

Left 4 Dead is upcoming and may be the ultimate online shooter of 08. Who wouldn't want to play as a boss zombie chasing your buddies down across the map? Out of everything I've seen so far for 08 this game shows the most promise. Whenever you read anything about this game, they stress teamwork over everything else in order to survive the hordes of zombies chasing you around. This is definitely one to pay close attention to.

There have also been a few rumors here and there about EA getting ready to talk about BF3 for a possible fall release. I'm not sure how credible those rumors are since since there has been no official word at all, and no typical hype build up, so take that with a large grain of salt. However, it is getting to be that time when EA has to be realistically thinking about a new Battlefield game.

One of the others I've been thinking about giving another shake to is the HL2 mod Insurgency, which just released a new major update with a lot of bug fixes and new content. I thought this mod was a lot of fun before, but the bugs were killers and if they are fixed it may be time to try it again.

So, anyone else have any games they are paying close attention to/hoping for in 08?

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barefacedstorm

Untill the wheel gets re invented a BF3 (i.e. Quake Wars) would just be another disaster IMO.

PhoenixxFire

I would wait and see Battlefield: Bad Company for the consoles, in the early part of '08, to see what might be in store for BF3, since BF3 will likely be using a modified version of the Bad Company Engine (Frostbite DX, or so the "leak" stated). If its any indicaton, Destructible environments would be the word, which is fine by me.

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barefacedstorm

Well UT3 is taking advantage of my physix card and the add ons for destructible walls ect are pretty neat.


What I found on BF3: http://www.digitalbattle.com/2007/10...3-leaked-info/

icky

I just hope that game developers realize that in terms of the quality of the multi-player experience, BF2 hit the bullseye with the large teams, the squad system, and the squad VOIP. Other game developers can add whatever elements they want to the mix, but if they drop those key items, they will never surpass the mark set by BF2.

The only thing missing from that game were high-quality expansions. The expansions that came out made it clear to me that they didn't understand the good and the bad of their own game. They needed to play at TG.

When it comes to "upcoming games", I will stick to my current ways. I will play the next great game when it comes, and until that time, I won't worry about whether or not they SAY it is coming. In other words, I'm patient enough to ignore the hype and wait.

Bommando

Which brings me to hope they don't try to add too many bells and whistles which cause the player count to lower. They need big maps with 64 players to keep it good. I can do without destructible environments or special stuff like that. Just make the game look reasonably good, add enough new elements, vehicles and maps to make it worthwhile and people will play.

2142 hit the nail on the head. Exactly the same engine with much expanded gameplay and huge variety. Most importantly of all: improved balance.

I worry that developers are trying to out-do each other with visuals and missing the real attraction of a game like BF: the large community and the real war-zone feeling. I just don't get that from any other game.

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Arf

Well, from what I understand about EA development strategy is that it's managed by Beelzebub. When you first buy a game it's just out of the limbo where it's good but not excellent. At that point the game passes through descending rings of programmers; the creators of the engine, less experienced programmers, foreign programmers, programmers on another continent, and finally programmers on another continent who speak obscure languages. This culminates in something like EA Cambodia calling up the original programmers of EA Canada trying to figure out how EA Bulgaria caused a memory leak. Eventually everyone gets tried of that so they send it to the lowest ring, EA Indonesia which is actually a brothel.


Long story short the guys who programmed the original game probably aren't the same people who made the expansions.

Ultrablue

Thank you Arf for dropping that knowledge on my head.

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“Grass grows, birds fly, sun shines, and brother…I hurt people.” -the Scout

Bommando

Has anyone tried the FFOW Beta? I have heard mixed reviews, but the U3 Engine is pretty good and maybe it has some potential.

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Zoopy

ZOMBIES!!!