Extra Punctuation: Battlefield 3 Is Scary

[JackyG]

Yahtzee, if I may speak directly to you for a moment in the vague hope that you still read these posts:

I would love for you or somebody equally qualified to do actual reviews of indie games more often. Right now, the attitude of the Internet towards indie games is something like "Support the independents! Buy all the things! Don't let this vibrant industry die!" when it should be more like "Hey, here are some games you might not have heard of but might like and here's why." This even extends to some of the ways they market themselves, like the Humble Indie Bundle. It makes the whole "scene" look like some sort of charity case instead of an industry that produces things to sell, and it's not hard to see how this could lead to stagnation down the line if it hasn't already.

If you check out youtube, there's a guy TotalBiscuit who does a bunch of "WTF is . . ." videos which are first impressions. They're not reviews persay of course but he does tend to focus on less-AAA games so that might be a viable way for you to check out the game play of some smaller games.

Also reviews on the run, which available streaming in Canada and maybe in the US? Regularly reviews independent games. Though, they do focus on the larger titles of course.

YES TOTALBISCUIT RULES!!!

There needs to be more of a focus from bigger outlets on indie titles. He is a prime example of it's success.

 

[DioWallachia]

Gee.... You think Jack Thompson was right after all?

Oh, god no.

I'm just worried that an oversaturation of video games might condition us to the point where we WANT a war.

But I'm not saying that they're outright tra--- Oh, great, now I just realized how I sounded EXACTLY like Jack Thompson.

*ahem*

Let me rephrase. I'm starting to worry about some people getting the wrong impression from these games, but I do not, in any way, believe that people are out there trying to convince us that war is good, I do not think that video games are violence simulators, and I certainly do not believe that anything video game-related that's said from Fox News, Jack Thompson, or any media outlet looking for a quick story and blame has any credibility beyond the simple, "It's there, therefore it must happen."

If all of that was true, I'd expect World War III to have happened as a result of Rambo.

How munch you wanna bet that The Majestic12 want to ensure that their bussiness around making money with movies stays without a strong competitor, like the video game industry, by abusing the media to spam the idea of games being murder simulators and constructing the stereotype of games being just flashy lights and no substance since the beginning (people seems to forget that films are ALSO going for that route and not for that i am sending all film history to the grave)
But the more sensible explanation is that they made the games as realistic and boring as posible to make people stop playing the games and actually BEG for a real war to get some action or get killed (Actually it will be quite ironic isnt it?? the video games are ACTUALLY making people violent...............because they got angry with the games because they wasted money on ANOTHER Realistic FPS and guest what??? it was boring as hell. If it was a good game they stay in home being a recluse and the media ALSO ***** about that too. We are fucked either way. In other words, "Just As Planned")

Good thing to mention Deus Ex once in a while, isnt it? but wait, didnt Deus Ex mentioned some harsh remarks like the WTC being destroyed by terrorists before the events happened in real life??? (it was a render limitation and had to cut the towers) Wait, what i am complaining about, its a video game. They always were about flashy lights, no sustance and of course no game will ever ask big philosophical questions, and not because the video game developers are actually scared shitless of making anything that may drawn attention related to controversy and are actually obligated to survive by abusing the political "Correct" mindset of the americans of killing everyone that ISNT american and had to release the same game over and over and over. That would be silly and improbable. In fact what are we talking about?? i got distracted by an explosion.

Actually a will like that some troll like Jack Thomsom compares the realistic FPS of today with ZOG Nightmare (a Neo Nazi propaganda video game) What do you think it will happen?

 

[Erttheking]

I'm starting to get the feeling that he's just bashing us over the head now, practically screaming "DID I MENTION I'M A CYNIC?!" Seriously, some of us take pride in where we live, countless countries have long proud histories, America, Britian, France and Spain just to name a few. Those countries have worked hard to make themselves world powers and it only makes sense that people would take pride in that. Then again Yahtzee is the type of person who ripes apart every single last aspect of human life that has the slightest bit of flaw to it, it's only a matter of time before he dismisses Christmas as just a waste of time and money, saying it's just a corporate selling season.

Seriously this guy needs to lighten up and enjoy life a bit more.

 

[ElPatron]

I disagree. Red Faction based it's gameplay on the physics. Crysis makes the graphics a part of it's gameplay but you can tell it's to show off their engine. Yet it's always there.

These two examples are the opposite of Battlefield's case.

Battlefield features sequences that have the purpose of showing off. If it were Call of Duty, it was showing off how the developers can script action packed sequences.






I do understand how unfair he was for reviewing a game that was meant to be played online. He is biased against multiplayer for very understandable reasons. But one thing is being able to review MP and other is being able to point out how d-bags your team-mates are and pretend that it's the developers fault for not making a MP mode that engages him.


But I do think it's fair to penalize BF3 for having a campaign nobody asked to be in a BF2 sequel.

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

@Yahtzee

On the off-chance that you read these comments, I just wanted to say that I'm surprised to see you say this:

It's still another triple-A shooter that succumbs to what I'm starting to call "sightseeing tour syndrome" - where every slightest movement on the part of the player is rigidly predetermined in order to show off the spectacular set pieces. Where every now and again an attempt is made to break up the monotony by locking you into a vehicle or turret section which you are permitted to enjoy for an allotted fun period before being kicked out for the next predetermined point.

This is something I hate in games, and have hated ever since I first saw it used extensively... in Half-Life 2. Valve (the company that you are so openly enamoured with) are IMO almost solely responsible for the popularisation of this sort of gameplay.

Absolute rubbish! Tonnes of games were using cutscenes before half-life 2 (which uses none) and the rate they were used continued at the same rate without them. There is no evidence for such a gameplay-heavy game in anyway adding to cutscene mania. It's like me claiming your denseness is causing the earth to spin out of orbit. Get out of here!

Cutscenes and set pieces are not the same thing at all.

 

[DioWallachia]

Wait, how can someone make a full retail game out of The Binding of Isaac? i mean, what ELSE could we add to the game that is needed?? i believe its pretty solid on his own like Portal 1. I dont see how can we make it even better other than bug fixes and maybe a eternal game mode where you keep playing until you die to see how far you reach. But with items that makes you have almost unlimited health and power ups that makes your attack rape anything on screen i dont see how that could work unless every room is as hard like The Womb + Sheol combined and there is at least 2 eyes with frisking lasers to fight the monstrous Isaac

Quick Edit: forget about what i said, they should have instealled a dinamic dificult mode where the game gets hard only according to your stats

 

[Towels]

Thanks Yatzee, you just helped me figure out why I don't want to ever play Homefront.

 

[2-part Epoxy]

Months ago, I uninstalled Spelunky from my computer; after playing it thousands of times, I decided it was to damn fun for me to handle at this point in life.

Days ago, I bought the Humble Bundle and started playing The Binding of Isaac.

Dammit, Edmund McMillan. Dammit, Florian Himsl. Why must your work be so good?

 

[Alexnader]

I disagree. Red Faction based it's gameplay on the physics. Crysis makes the graphics a part of it's gameplay but you can tell it's to show off their engine. Yet it's always there.

These two examples are the opposite of Battlefield's case.

I can't really understand you here. Are you saying that RF and Crysis show off their engines with destruction and graphics respectively while BF3 does not? If you're saying this then I'd disagree and say that BF3 does show off its engine, however it doesn't detract from the gameplay.

Or are you saying that Crysis and RF include awesome stuff for the sake of gameplay while BF3 includes awesome stuff simply for the sake of advertising their engine? If you're saying this then I'd disagree again, you're drawing a very fine line between making use of the engine and just showing it off for marketing's sake.

Battlefield features sequences that have the purpose of showing off. If it were Call of Duty, it was showing off how the developers can script action packed sequences.

I can't really speak that much for SP since I've only played multiplayer however I would question how you can tell that a sequence is designed to "show off" rather than just to impress which is surely a legitimate thing to aim for in a game, furthermore showing off and impressing are two very similar things.

 

[BonsaiK]

Silly, silly Yahtzee, still thinking that singleplayer BF3 actually matters. This article, and his BF3 video review, is like reviewing a porn and talking about the wallpaper in the bedroom.

 

[Erttheking]

I'm starting to get the feeling that he's just bashing us over the head now, practically screaming "DID I MENTION I'M A CYNIC?!" Seriously, some of us take pride in where we live, countless countries have long proud histories, America, Britian, France and Spain just to name a few. Those countries have worked hard to make themselves world powers and it only makes sense that people would take pride in that. Then again Yahtzee is the type of person who ripes apart every single last aspect of human life that has the slightest bit of flaw to it, it's only a matter of time before he dismisses Christmas as just a waste of time and money, saying it's just a corporate selling season.

Seriously this guy needs to lighten up and enjoy life a bit more.

I think you misunderstand Yahtzees point. He isn't talking about having pride in your country. He's talking about unquestioning patriotism, unfettered nationalism, the fetishisation of the military that formed part of concepts such as Lebensraum, The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and Serbia for the Serbs. That your race/country/civilisation is inherently superior and the ability of your military to buttfuck anybody and everybody else is directly related to your superiority. 'We are America, so we are right' is a frightening concept.

Now I don't think America is going to happily skipping down the path of Fascism and outright empire anytime soon, but I think that a (very) popular game is displaying such ideas is somewhat worrying and worthy of discussion.

Yeah that's something that some people seem to bring up, Yahtzee in particular seems to think that America has a secret lust for being invaded and loves to stomp on people whenever we get the chance and that we think that all other countries are inferior...I'm not quite sure how insulted I should be. Personally I just like living here, though to be fair I would LOVE to go to Ireland (exploring my cultural background) If he took a look at anything releated to American mainstream media for a second, he would see that people are cheering that we're pulling out of the Middle East and that a lot of Americans want to stop helping other countries with military support, a view I am slowly begining to share.

The thing is, I didn't get that much of an "AMERICA FUCK YEAH!" feeling from MW3 (Know it's about BF3 but...I didn't play that one and I'm almost certain he's going to bring up this point again when he gets to MW3, and if not it can be considered a counter to the idea that's all that mainstream games are about.), sure there are a couple of moments like with the Submarine and the AC-130, but the thing is the Russians are seriously dominating the war in that game, and the American forces never really seem to acomplish anything, not to mention the REAL main heros are two former British SAS commandos and members of the Russian resistance. BF3 could be the American > everyone else wank that Yahtzee says that it is, I wouldn't know, but we're not like that, and mainstream games aren't all like that. Sorry if I went off topic.

 

[12th_milkshake]

Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious. O wilde

 

[Panda Mania]

That's a very valid reason for disliking the modern shooters. Personally, I don't like them because they're too grounded in reality as in, dirt-brown environments with boring real-life firearms and such. the stories aren't too riveting, either. I prefer fantastical journeys like Bioshock and Fallout...*shrug*

 

[serata]

Just thought I'd mention, perhaps a quibble, but there's a large gulf of difference between Patriotism and Nationalism, nationalism being the negative form of patriotism. Patriotism generally encompasses dissent (Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it - Mark Twain), love for the land itself, and the principals that its foundation imply, which when you get right down to it, are generally things that we all have in common regardless of our nationality. Nationalism, however, is "the policy or doctrine of asserting the interests of one's own nation, viewed as separate from the interests of other nations or the common interests of all nations. (dictionary.com)" Yahtzee means to say Nationalism, from what I understand his article to be saying.

To illustrate, most Americans experience Patriotism when demanding troops be pulled from an unjust war.

Fox News spouts Nationalism like a beheaded chicken (ironic because good ol' Rupert is an aussie) to the detriment of America's image and the people in it, all because those other guys ain't free like us muricans.

To say most Americans are nationalistic is just plain silly, I know many people here and I know perhaps three at most who are fox-news watchin' gun totin' commie hatin' tea baggers. It just so happens that our PR guys down at Fox News and EA Digital Illusions are in league with Satan.

I concur with the guy who said that a really interesting American shooter would be about trying to balance public relations with body count, so you'd really have to think about the reasons for your actions - is that person really dangerous, or are they just in the wrong place at the wrong time - did you kill someone's son? Then the media has a field day and you're let go from your post.

 

[Terramax]

So many of Yahtzee's articles are like this. He starts by making interesting observations on game design and then can't be fucked finishing them; becoming either really tangental or just going somewhere completely unrelated. It's like he's got ADD or something.

I don't think it's that he doesn't finish them, but more he wants us to come to our own conclusion. He makes an observation, but it's left to us to decide whether we agree and/ or to discuss on the forums.

Perhaps...

Just thought I'd mention, perhaps a quibble, but there's a large gulf of difference between Patriotism and Nationalism, nationalism being the negative form of patriotism. Patriotism generally encompasses dissent (Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it - Mark Twain), love for the land itself, and the principals that its foundation imply, which when you get right down to it, are generally things that we all have in common regardless of our nationality. Nationalism, however, is "the policy or doctrine of asserting the interests of one's own nation, viewed as separate from the interests of other nations or the common interests of all nations. (dictionary.com)" Yahtzee means to say Nationalism, from what I understand his article to be saying.

I think he's talking about patriotism. I think Yahtzee disagrees to the idea of supporting your country at all times, but should either support all countries equally, or support whatever side deserves to be supported, regardless of whether you have lived there or not.

 

[Terramax]

Silly, silly Yahtzee, still thinking that singleplayer BF3 actually matters. This article, and his BF3 video review, is like reviewing a porn and talking about the wallpaper in the bedroom.

I guess that's true if porn videos spend millions of dollars and months creating the wallpaper.

 

[xdiesp]

Silly, silly Yahtzee, still thinking that singleplayer BF3 actually matters. This article, and his BF3 video review, is like reviewing a porn and talking about the wallpaper in the bedroom.

I guess that's true if porn videos spend millions of dollars and months creating the wallpaper.

Not to mention multiplayer focused games would be much cheaper to make & to buy without single. If they still retain it, there's a reason.