Not very impressed with COD demo

[eye of the hawk]

Yeah, I'm slow, whatever. At any rate, i finally downloaded COD 4 demo and installed and played it.

Graphics are pretty splendid I'd say, sound is also very nice. The game play though is just a little, i dunno not exactly thrilling.

It seems like it was designed for kids with ADHD and too much RockStar Energy Drink. So, you get put into a level with a mission, obviously, and you run through the fairly linear level--excuse me, let me stop here.

Linear Levels
So in 2001 Flashpoint (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Flashpoint:_Cold_War_CrisisOperation ) was released. After playing the demo i was blown away. A FPS that allowed me to go wherever i wanted! I could accomplish missions HOWEVER I WANTED!! This game was so fun, it was unreal. The online play was equally fun, sometimes more (unfortunately people didn't really latch on, i presume because most people who play online video games are kids with ADHD and too much Rockstar in their system).

The game quickly faded from popularity but a lesson was learned, for me anyways (but i suspect others as well). Let people do whatever they want and a game is much more fun.

Black Hawk Down
HL2

to name two others that followed OPF

*i'm sure OFP wasn't the first game like this, but it was the first shooter i played*

The point is that, almost a decade later (to make it sound better :) ) we still have games where you are restricted to a 'tunnel' of walls, blown up cars and buildings. It helps the game flow ideally i suppose, but i find it less fun.

Anyways, so you go through these linear levels shooting bad guys yelling things things in what sounds to be Arabic. It begins to feel like i'm a hero from Team America "Dirka dirka jalalabad!!!!". I can get over that though because shooting people is fun, and man there are a lot of people to shoot!

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

...oh right, I'm suppose to be moving, ok.

Reminded that I'm suppose to be moving forward through the level i stop shooting these Arabic lunatics and run past their blazes of bullet fury like Rambo. By the way, how bad ass am i? They can't even shoot me, I'm a freak!

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD
BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD
BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

BANG BANG BANG
DEAD DEAD DEAD

Crap, I'm suppose to be moving forward. It's just that these lunatics keep coming and asking for more. It's like killing ants. I kill, they come, i kill, they come, i kill.

Essentially, this is the problem i have with the game. It's just way too 'arcady' for my likes. I kept finding myself trying to "kill these guys so i can move on" only to realize that i'm not suppose to, i'm just suppose to move on.

It makes me feel like they just made a bunch of eye candy and cool effects to try and lure me in past the actual game play, which is unfortunate because the game play was always a strength for these games.

[usp8riot]

Yeah, I hate it when games have infinite soldiers and you don't know whether to keep moving or keep killing. But usually if you play enough games, you can pick up quickly on what is expected in the game.

Also, linear gameplay has been a COD tradition so it's usually what's expected. And if you had more freedom, for a game with those graphics and goings on, it would require a higher end PC to play. So it's kind of a trade off.

But when I play a game, I'm usually all about the missions. I don't really want to wander around endlessly. There's a real world out there where I can do that. But with that said, it still can give you a claustrophobic feeling in the game. I'd probably say the same thing if I was going from games such as you mentioned to COD4, but as stated, if you played them before, that's what's expected.

[eye of the hawk]

Also, linear gameplay has been a COD tradition so it's usually what's expected. And if you had more freedom, for a game with those graphics and goings on, it would require a higher end PC to play. So it's kind of a trade off.

Crysis ;-)

The point is that the game just felt very repetitive. Certainly not worth $50 in my opinion.

[Oc1Kenube]

Really there is more to fps's these days than free roaming.

How about the superb narrative and excellent scripting and set pieces, then there's the spy plane level, excellent weapon balancing, superb sounds, authentic military tactical lingo and bags of atmosphere, multiplayer to die for aswell as an awesome game engine that looks superb andin fact almost as good as any other game ever released crysis included yet manages to work at max setting's on a relatively low spec.

You want free roaming play stalker or deus ex if you want a superb game get cod 4.

[technoViking]

I can't stand any single player games anymore, as soon as I get a game I go straight to multi player, the multi player is fun as hell.

[bLack0ut]

I can't stand any single player games anymore, as soon as I get a game I go straight to multi player, the multi player is fun as hell.

portal? :beer:

[Neuromancer]

Actually you are supposed to wander around a bit... there is like 30 pieces of enemy intelligence hidden thorughout the world.. i have only found like 10 so far (they are laptops you have to press F to use)

[Springbok]

Call of Duty games have always been heavily scripted, they borrowed a lot of cues from Half Life 1 and applied them to a war setting. Sure the infinite respawn on some levels in COD4 can get old, but damn the multiplayer is awesome. I'd put the multiplayer component up alongside Team Fortress 2 in terms of fun factor, though it places heroics above teamwork(which I prefer, I play to win :D ).

Anyway, if you prefer free roam play Crysis :p I found the COD demo better than the Crysis one b/c once I find a tactic to take down the AI then the game feels repetitive. Only problem is that Crysis multiplayer is mehhhhhh.

[SteveLord]

Crysis player cap is too small and maps too big

CoD4 maps can be too small

[ChinStrap]

Crysis player cap is too small and maps too big

they are working on this :)

[grayg]

HL2 is linear, it certainly isn't open ended playing and in my opinion it did a terrible job of hiding it's linear path in most of the game. Maybe for you it did a good job at fooling you of the linear path. For me COD4 does a good job at fooling me of the linear path, obviously for you it doesn't do a good job at it.
Though unlike you in comparison I still like HL2 (whereas you don't seem to like COD4 at all). Anyway I still massively prefer HL1 over HL2, give Black Mesa: Source!!!!! Lots of people think HL2 is the holy grail of shooters but for me it was just missing that 'special something'.
Also as far as COD4 is concerned I feel like they picked maybe the worst level in the whole game for the demo. I thought the demo of COD4 was just ok to be honest, but I enjoyed the game a hell of a lot when I bought. Which was made better when I jumped on a pricing error on a website, I picked it up for £19.99 and now everywhere is selling it for £29.99 :p