The Cure for the Common Shooter

[Zhukov]

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The game does not last 4 and a half hours... What? Did you only play an ARCADE STYLE GAME that is MEANT TO BE PLAYED MULTIPLE TIMES only once and totally ignored the new game plus mode? If so, then why are you complaining about the length when it is clearly YOUR fault? You are the one who doesn't want to play it multiple times when that is the clear purpose. YOU are the only who doesn't want to take part in the new game plus mode. These are YOUR problems... not the games.

I've seen you post this a few times. You are so misinformed it isn't funny. Please, stop spreading blatant lies. Seriously dude... it's not cool to run around and lie like this so blatantly. Sure, it only lasts 4-6 hours PER PLAYTHROUGH, but you aren't supposed to play it just once and uninstall it. If you do, then that's YOUR problem... NOT THE GAMES.

If you take those 4-6 hour playthroughs and multiple it by 4 (once per each difficulty setting), then you've got a 16-24 hour game. Now tell me... since when has 16-24 hours been an unacceptable length for a game?

Christ, what is your problem? Quite frankly, you sound downright manic.

I'm not "misinformed", I'm not "spreading blatant lies". I've played the crappy little game. The campaign for Hard Reset lasts about four and a half hours. You just said that yourself.

Sure, it only lasts 4-6 hours PER PLAYTHROUGH...

When I say the game is four and a half hours long, I mean the game has 4-5 hours of content. How many times people choose to play through that content is their business. "New game plus" is not new content, it's just the same set of levels and encounters being repeated while keeping your upgrades. Big bloody deal.

It is not a lie to say that a game lasts 4-5 hours when that game takes 4-5 hours to complete.

Now quit freaking out because someone pointed out the short length of your dear little darling.

 

[Stall]

When I say the game is four and a half hours long, I mean the game has 4-5 hours of content. How many times people choose to play through that content is their business. "New game plus" is not new content, it's just the same set of levels and encounters being repeated while keeping your upgrades. Big bloody deal.

It is not a lie to say that a game lasts 4-5 hours when that game takes 4-5 hours to complete.

Now quit freaking out because someone pointed out the short length of your dear little darling.

You are spreading misinformation. You are accusing an arcade style game that is meant to be replayed of having no content. Even if you don't want to do the NG+, you are still meant to play it again. That's why the fucking game rates you after every level: because it's ARCADE STYLE. It isn't the kind of game you play once and never touch again. You sitting here and saying that about the game IS misinformed, and IS spreading lies.

And seriously... why do you fucking hate this game so much? Are you really so cynical that you have to hold EVERY game, indie or AAA, to these outlandish standards of having 1000s of hours of gameplay? It's an indie game... it was this studios FIRST GAME... doesn't that warrant a least a little leniency, instead of sitting around on the internet and calling it shit?

Like I said, if you don't want to replay a game that has the intent of being replayed, then that's your problem. Don't blame it on the game. You can easily get 16+ hours out of Hard Reset, which is more than for the price.

Hell dude, what length SHOULD a fucking shooter be? You can fucking beat Serious Sam and Painkiller in 8 hours with ease. Are those games bad because they are short? You'll get 8 hours from Hard Reset playing it through twice to get the all upgrades achievement. Seriously. Tell me how long this game should be. You clearly aren't happy with four. You probably aren't happy with 8. Do you seriously expect a shooter to somehow have a 24+ hour campaign?

I just don't understand. You are saying a game that is meant to replayed is short. You are saying a game in a genre that usually has short campaigns is short. You are saying a game that has comparable play lengths to other games of similar style are short. I just don't get what your problem is. Are you just hating this game to be edgy? Because hating indie games isn't edgy.

 

[Atmos Duality]

My cure for the common shooter:

UT 99' with U4Ef installed

-U4e Gauntlet installed
-Stuffswapper (with all sorts of stuff installed)
-UT RPG mutator with low stat growth to account for the 1000+ kills you will likely be making per match.
-12 gates

Map: Zeitkind (CTF maps work best as they have the most breathing room)

You will scarcely find a more panic-driven game of survival, as you try to force the endlessly spawning hordes back with your limited arsenal before you're overwhelmed. The only game to date that compares is Left 4 Dead, but even that is easier to beat without spawning some broken-ass weapons (which is fun, I admit).

The goal is to destroy a series of monster-spawning gates (hence, the name "Gauntlet", ala the NES game and corresponding franchise). You have 3 lives to do so. The gates are randomly spawned on the bot-pathways at a minimum distance from each other so you can always reach them.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

Hell dude, you can fucking beat Serious Sam and Painkiller in 8 hours. Is THAT too short? Or do you just want to sit around and hate on this game to look cool? Bashing indie games doesn't make you look cool, by the way.

Think about what you said for a moment, Serious Sam and Painkiller last 8 hours on one play through. Hard Reset last 4-5 hour on one play through. You have to run through the areas and enemies twice just to match the time difference. Plus it's not really an arcade shooter. Arcade shooters only last an hour at the most not really giving you the need to save, short sweet experiences y'know. Like Cabela's, Worms, or Renegade Ops.

I've tried the game and it's alright for maybe 30 minutes but it gets old after that. If I sit and play it for too long I start entertaining the idea off uninstalling, Small doses keep it fun for a little longer.

 

[Stall]

Think about what you said for a moment, Serious Sam and Painkiller last 8 hours on one play through. Hard Reset last 4-5 hour on one play through. You have to run through the areas and enemies twice just to match the time difference. Plus it's not really an arcade shooter. Arcade shooters only last an hour at the most not really giving you the need to save, short sweet experiences y'know. Like Cabela's, Worms, or Renegade Ops. .

It stands. If you take 8 as the average, then 4-6 isn't too horribly behind. Besides, I think the fact that you can play it again to get all the upgrades makes a subsequent, immediate playthrough a lot easier than Painkiller or SS. I have a hard time replaying Serious Sam immediately after I beat it, but I was easily able to do three playthroughs in succession with Hard Reset.

And yeah, it's not a true arcade shooter, but it's nonetheless fairly "arcadey" in the way that it rates you at the end of a level and its global leaderboards.

EDIT: I think I might have beat Serious Sam: TFE in 6 hours, so you can't really say the game is short when compared with similar titles.

 

[Zhukov]

[snip]

Now you're just putting words in my mouth.

You are spreading misinformation. You are accusing an arcade style game that is meant to be replayed of having no content. Even if you don't want to do the NG+, you are still meant to play it again. That's why the fucking game rates you after every level: because it's ARCADE STYLE. It isn't the kind of game you play once and never touch again. You sitting here and saying that about the game IS misinformed, and IS spreading lies.

I did not say that it should be played once and forgotten. I said, "How many times people choose to play through that content is their business." Big difference there.

Nor did I say anything about its genre or style.

And seriously... why do you fucking hate this game so much?

I said it has 4-5 hours of content. How is that "hating" on anything? I'm not hating on it, although your manner is rapidly making me want to.

I also said it was fairly fun, and in that other thread where you jumped down my throat I referred to it as "fun and pleasingly chaotic."

Are you really so cynical that you have to hold EVERY game, indie or AAA, to these outlandish standards of having 1000s of hours of gameplay? It's an indie game... it was this studios FIRST GAME... doesn't that warrant a least a little leniency, instead of sitting around on the internet and calling it shit?

Once again, putting words in my mouth. Quit it.

Also, what does being indie have to do with anything? I never mentioned indie-ness or lack therof. Besides, I don't see how being indie makes the game less short. Hell, Bastion was indie too, came at half the price and it lasted me for nearly ten hours. Oh hey, and it has a NG+ mode too, so...OH MY GOD it's clearly made to be played OVER and OVER and OVER again and it will last for FIFTY HOURS!!! Stop spreading you BLATANT LIES and MISINFORMATION!!!

Like I said, if you don't want to replay a game that has the intent of being replayed, then that's your problem. Don't blame it on the game. You can easily get 16+ hours out of Hard Reset, which is more than for the price.

By your logic, you could get 16+ hours out of anything.

Disappointed with Modern Warfare 2's five hour campaign? No problem, just play it again and, hey presto, suddenly it was really a ten hour campaign all along! Then play it again, and now it's a 15 hour campaign!

Hell dude, what length SHOULD a fucking shooter be? You can fucking beat Serious Sam and Painkiller in 8 hours with ease. Are those games bad because they are short? You'll get 8 hours from Hard Reset playing it through twice to get the all upgrades achievement. Seriously. Tell me how long this game should be. You clearly aren't happy with four. You probably aren't happy with 8. Do you seriously expect a shooter to somehow have a 24+ hour campaign?

Nah, 8-10 hours is alight. Although Hard Reset would need a bit more variety and a couple more bosses to last that long. It was getting monotonous by the halfway point.

I just don't understand. You are saying a game that is meant to replayed is short. You are saying a game in a genre that usually has short campaigns is short. You are saying a game that has comparable play lengths to other games of similar style are short. I just don't get what your problem is.

Yup, I'm saying that a video game with 4-5 hours of content has 4-5 hours of content. "My problem" is that you don't like hearing it for some reason.

Are you just hating this game to be edgy? Because hating indie games isn't edgy.

Oh, absolutely. I'm saying something you don't like hearing because I think it makes me look "edgy". Hey everybody, I think Hard Reset was pretty short, aren't I cool?

 

[pyrosaw]

Played the demo. And it was VERY buggy. Hopefully the finished product was a tad bit more cleaned up.

 

[jonyboy13]

It was meh. It started really good but it lacks variety and... A story you can understand and care about. It just came down to get them near the exploding environment and explode it. Then when you get the last guns you basically just spam them. There are no strategies involved, no special weapon to kill certain enemies, no certain weapon to destroy an enemy's shield before you can get to the HP, it's just choose your weapon and don't stop shooting it. If they already went though the trouble of making 10 weapons, couldn't the make some good upgrades for them? It's just bigger, faster, stronger. The weapons that do have 'upgrades' are quite uncomfortable, like the Smartgun's lock which is way too easily interrupted and is hardest to use on the only enemy you actually need to use it.

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I believe you've been trolled, huh.

A game that's made to be replayed is DMC, not Hard Reset. I usually finish games in 1-2 days but I just can't do more than a mission at a time on Hard Reset, it's like doing the same mission over and over.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Wow we barely started and already there is a pissing match...

Well this game is a strange mix, and I played it through twice now to really understand whats going on, it basically really made me see and appreciate all the tricks Serious Sam learned to make things smooth.

So the good stuff, it is a fast paced no holds barred adrenaline filled violence bukake in a cyberpunk world, lots of weapons, lots of enemies, upgrades, secrets, power-ups, and a beautiful artstyle.
Annoying stuff:
- the weapons get split up into 2 subgroups so now you need 3 separate buttons to operate things and the game doesn't respond well with the mousewheel... come on guys this is essential stuff to gameplay
- lack of contrast in: sound, enemies, power-ups and guns, are all very hard to distinguish
- enemies haven't got distinguishing sounds plus every piece of scrap makes noise so you can't rely on your ears at all
- due to the lighting model the entire world from a distance looks like gray panels and shinny lights, problem is so do all the power-ups and enemies, you can only really tell what you are looking at when you walk right up to it or it charges at your face
- the different weapon modes look almost identical so unless you take time to specifically look at the weapon or go read the sidepanel you got no idea what you selected
- invisible fucking walls, oh I see that one neat power up and a path to get there, nope sorry you will haveto find the one path the designers didn't block with invisible walls... fun, real fun
- enemy variety, you really really need more then these
... and the rest isn't that crucial.

I really only list these issues because I care, because it doesn't take much to take this thing and really polish it up to a sparkling gem of a game.

 

[Smooth Operator]

double post snip

 

[DanielBrown]

Eh, it's not that great.

It's fairly fun, but the game only lasts about four and a half hours.

This four hour trend really needs to die. Give me more lengthy shooters!

 

[ScrubberDucky]

-snip- ...go back to a time when shooters were just about killing every ************ in a room and collecting goodies from the corpses

I hated those shooters even more than the ones we have nowadays.

>.> <.< ... I'll just let myself out, then.

You are not the only one. The rest of us just hide to avoid being stoned to death.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

yes a shooter with the cure doing a soundtrack would be awesome.

unless you meant the shooter has something wrong with it, actually it feels more diverse in theme and style than any other genre of game in almost every way.

and Japan largely is not curently inovative(or in the past decade in my opinion), in fact it is by far the least so of any nation heavily into games development.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

I was excited for this one until I played it. Graphically, it's nice. Gameplay? Bleh.

The "destructible" environments are completely contrived; you can tell precisely where things will and won't break, and they always fall apart in neat, room-sized fashion.

Gunplay is exceedingly standard with no interesting mechanics or even gimmicks to differentiate the experience. Environments are very sparse and linear, and the "helpful hazards" are, again, contrived.

I like enjoyed the lack of cover-based shooting, but not at the expense of a believable, flowing game world.

 

[GaWi]

Contra 4, the best game in a great series.