GRAW 2 (PC) - Feedback Thread

[ynnek]

I just noticed, there's no GRAW 2 PC feedback thread here.

Weapons mechanics are totally different. Its much harder than GRAW1 now, but it balances out the weapons now. I'm slowly getting used to it.

Graphics are definitely a step up from GRAW1. The game is not just shades of brown and yellow anymore, especially in that multiplayer maps, cove and castle I believe they are called (or at least take place in). Can't wait for our mapper to make custom ones.

So far, single player, its a bit more polished.. I'm just in middle of the 2nd mission, and so far, I have to admit, the enemy AI isn't totally winning me over.. Although it did surprise me that after I killed one my camping around a corner, his buddy a min later, was smart enough to realize there was a corpse around the corner, and decided to start firing while rounding the corner.

Multiplayer has been great, at our Beer Drinking Assassins server. In the usual peak times (after work in US and UK times), the server is packed with 32 players, and unless you are just sitting in an really odd area, there's plenty of action.

[stncttr908]

Neither demo really impressed me. One thing that did please me were the constant 80+ fps, but that's unsurprising with the lack of any AA. The "edge smoothing" does a decent job at a distance.

The style of game is just not my cup of tea I suppose.

[agentkay]

SP was fun, I finished it on weekend and I played it for a week, total around 18-20h. It´s definitly harder than GRAW1 and a lot more open/flexible for multiple tactics. It definitely has more replay value than the first GRAW as well.

I liked the graphics, nice improvement over GRAW1 but I wish I could have adjusted the LOD system because some objects (trees for instance) in the distance were fading away too early as well as the shadows, even when I maxed out the settings. Performance was excellent at 1920x1080, all settings maxxed out, 60+ fps most of the time. The game also has excellent sounds and animations and the weapon models are sweet.

I am missing the day/night cycle during the missions that was announced and shown a few months ago. I´m not sure why it didn´t make it into the game but a day/night cycle would raise the replay value even more.

[breathemetal]

Yea, a day/night cycle would be nice

[slaWter]

I agree the singleplayer was very entertaining, I also took me about a week to finish. In my opinion it's better than the first GRAW.

The story may not be a highlight but the missions are very good. Enemy AI on normal is kinda stupid, they don't really react to their environment.
Graphics are solid but not spectacular. But I like the sound, some good effects there.

Overall it's a solid 7/10 for me

[Destroy]

After playing through 7 SP missions on Hardcore I thought I'd post my impressions on GRAW2 so far.

First off, similar to Rainbow6, forget what the original game of the series was like and about; they have moved on and changed this game. Sad but that's life.

That being said, taking GRAW2 for what it is by itself, is a great game; 8/10. Only reason it is an 8 is cause there are too many bugs or issues. Tweak the AI, gfx and scripting a bit and this would easily be a 9.5 game.

It begs to be played carefully and slowly with lots of timeouts for planning and surveying. It is not intended to be a run and gun but it can be poorly played that way on easier difficulty levels if one wants to reload save games often.


Things I really don't like:
- scripted events are way obvious and as such, enemies can literaly spawn right in front of your eyes
- been said before but enemy and friendly AI isn't perfect (as the BOSS you gotta compensate, back track or baby sit sometimes)
- no FSAA
- popup of ground objects like rocks and grass
- HUD VR CrossCom window is useless
- not able to control Drone camera(but not a big issue cause only in 1 level so far)
- SP is kind of short, I'm on mission 8 of 10 and have about 12 hours in so far (days of 25+ hours are over I guess)
- drone, tank, artillery and air bombing support has only be in 1 mission so far


What's good:
+ AI does what its suppose to 90% of the time
+ GREAT satisfaction when you're maneuvering and tactical plan 'all comes together' and kicks enemy butt
+ a huge hurray for Quicksave
+ overall gfx are nicely done with fast frame rates
+ being able to command friendly AI from full screen CrossCom
+ crouching and prone (use it, it's a must) actually works very well for sneaking and stealth
+ levels are very decently designed with good, gritty atmosphere and convincing destruction/busyness (some later level are pure evil but oh so good)
+ crouching and stealth is key in this game which is a good thing and works pretty well (stand up alot and you will get seen and shot very quickly)
+ map editor is to be released (hopefully soon)

This IMO is definitely better than GRAW1 by a rather large margin. Many more things you can do and ways you can control or handle them=more fun.

Don't judge too harshly by the demo, demo is exactly like the full patched version as far as I can tell but the demo level (first level of full) is the very poorest and unfun level of them all by a rather large amount IMO.

[JohnDio]

Just had the most intense MP fights of my life (in Siege mode). When there are good players in the server,the game is simply breathtaking. Loving it

[Blade]

Originally Posted by JohnDio

Just had the most intense MP fights of my life (in Siege mode). When there are good players in the server,the game is simply breathtaking. Loving it

Amen.

[Destroy]

Originally Posted by JohnDio

Just had the most intense MP fights of my life (in Siege mode). When there are good players in the server,the game is simply breathtaking. Loving it

I must be goofy cause I tried the MP demo several times and just don't see the fun. No team work. No voice com. No 'General Commander' person with some sort of pointing system to control the men on his side sort of thing to plan a coordinated assault.

Everyone is just running around killing and trying to plant the bomb.

[JohnDio]

All of the players in the server i was playing this afternoon were simply great. Heck we were even communicating with the text messages. For instance in one round i went behind enemy lines (i was watching the backs of 13 soldiers which were camping and killing my teammates ). Your goal is to enter a zone and stay there for 5 seconds. So in order to win i had to be undetected. As i was behind enemy lines i was taking cover and watched my back for a spawned enemy. I reached the zone and it was guarded by one player. We had an intence fight and luckily i won,entered the zone and our team won. It was great

[maxpaynez]

Some of the worst vegetation yet...

[img=http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/6029/graw2202007070820000735tt3.jpg]
Shot at 2007-07-23

[ynnek]

Originally Posted by JohnDio

All of the players in the server i was playing this afternoon were simply great. Heck we were even communicating with the text messages. For instance in one round i went behind enemy lines (i was watching the backs of 13 soldiers which were camping and killing my teammates ). Your goal is to enter a zone and stay there for 5 seconds. So in order to win i had to be undetected. As i was behind enemy lines i was taking cover and watched my back for a spawned enemy. I reached the zone and it was guarded by one player. We had an intence fight and luckily i won,entered the zone and our team won. It was great

We increased the zone time on our bda server to 65 I believe. Its an awesome sight though when the teams working together and yours gets the siege zone, and the other side panics and just rushes to the siege zone, only to get picked off like fly's from all sides.