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Dead Nation |OT| This Is Thriller, Thriller Night

Ricker

Member
I asked this before about the armor stat and that equipped screen,got no answer...what you have equipped is what`s in the column you choose right?...like the last for the head,the second if I want for the hand,one with 3 stars for the feet...
 

DireStr8s

Member
lara croft looks & runs like ass on ps3. beat it in local co-op & have zero desire to ever touch it again. i could not, in retrospect, recommend it to ps3 owners.

dead nation, however, is a pleasure to view & play. beat it on normal, loved it, & i'm excited to tackle the harder difficulties.

IMO dead nation outclasses GOL in every respect.
 

Gattsu25

Banned
the_prime_mover said:
After beating the game on Normal and working halfway through Grim, my opinion is that (without a demo) people should take the money they would spend on this and buy Lara Croft instead. Then, when they are done with that game and start thinking about this game again, they should take their money and buy SSHD.

Both of those games are substantially better than this experience.
Judging by the Lara croft demo I'm going to disagree with you. Not my cup o tea.
 
moments where i realized i love this game:

i saw gibs flying and their shadows on the wall. good lighting is sweet.

i was on an elevator of some sort with my buddy playing local co-op and tried melee on a zombie corpse laying on the edge, and my character kicked it off and it looked awesome.

it's the little things.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Lara and this are both good. Haters get out.

That said, I am immensely disappointed with this in a "SSDHD was addicting and this really isn't" way.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Ricker said:
I asked this before about the armor stat and that equipped screen,got no answer...what you have equipped is what`s in the column you choose right?...like the last for the head,the second if I want for the hand,one with 3 stars for the feet...

Yep, I was confused by this as well.

but you select an item but moving over it, so it shows the stats on the little equip screen, no button pushes required
 

see5harp

Member
nickslicl said:
lara croft looks & runs like ass on ps3. beat it in local co-op & have zero desire to ever touch it again. i could not, in retrospect, recommend it to ps3 owners.

dead nation, however, is a pleasure to view & play. beat it on normal, loved it, & i'm excited to tackle the harder difficulties.

IMO dead nation outclasses GOL in every respect.

In graphics yes, not in any other category.
 

Ricker

Member
Snuggler said:
Yep, I was confused by this as well.

but you select an item but moving over it, so it shows the stats on the little equip screen, no button pushes required


Ok cool,thanks,just wanted to make sure hehe...
 

alterno69

Banned
TheSeks said:
Lara and this are both good. Haters get out.

That said, I am immensely disappointed with this in a "SSDHD was addicting and this really isn't" way.
I was never hooked by SSHD, and i think DN is really adiccting as hell
 
My apologies, I did not really mean to turn this into a GOL vs DN thread though my comments were obviously dismissive of this game.

For the armor: Strength affects melee damage, Endurance seems to affect the recharge speed of your boost and Speed seems to affect the responsiveness of your character.

For people that are having a hard time with this game, I would strongly suggest that you avoid the SMG for the first three levels and put all of your money into the Rifle, then the grenades and flares. Once you get mines, put a bunch of money into that, alternating between number of mines and number of explosions. Around the third level you might want to start leveling up the Shotty. The money you will put into the SMG is a waste until later in the game where you start getting a lot more cash.

On Normal you could probably make it through almost the entire game using only the Rifle and the support items, but the flare shotty combo works best for big crowds.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
see5harp said:
In graphics yes, not in any other category.
I'd be very surprised it doesn't outclass it in shooting gameplay - because that wasn't really great or engaging at all in LC.
 

see5harp

Member
Lord Error said:
I'd be very surprised it doesn't outclass it in shooting gameplay - because that wasn't really great or engaging at all in LC.

That's probably fair, but Lara Croft does so much more in terms of variety, coop experience, replay value, and story. Dead Nation is a score based shooter that looks pretty but to me lacks replay value. The coop mode is essentially a difficulty bump.
 

No45

Member
the_prime_mover said:
My apologies, I did not really mean to turn this into a GOL vs DN thread though my comments were obviously dismissive of this game.

For the armor: Strength affects melee damage, Endurance seems to affect the recharge speed of your boost and Speed seems to affect the responsiveness of your character.

For people that are having a hard time with this game, I would strongly suggest that you avoid the SMG for the first three levels and put all of your money into the Rifle, then the grenades and flares. Once you get mines, put a bunch of money into that, alternating between number of mines and number of explosions. Around the third level you might want to start leveling up the Shotty. The money you will put into the SMG is a waste until later in the game where you start getting a lot more cash.

On Normal you could probably make it through almost the entire game using only the Rifle and the support items, but the flare shotty combo works best for big crowds.
I'm playing through on normal. I fully upgraded the rifle then the mines before even buying a backup weapon, now I've bought the shotgun and maxed all three of those things. Up until this point (chapter four complete) they've seen me good in pretty much all situations.

I've just bought the flamethrower, primarily because it looks like it'll be useful for crowd control considering it heavily restricts their speed.

I'm absolutely loving this, I have to say. I really hope they can get voice chat up and running soon (and that the online performs well) and I can see me going through all of the difficulty levels that way. ^_^

My only complaint, as has been mentioned, is the lack of saves at checkpoints. I can only really manage a single level an evening at the moment because I don't really have enough time to play through two. :(
 
I feel I've wasted some of my upgrade cash but as long as I can make it to the next checkpoint I'll be allright. I'd like the chance to go back and re-play a level to build up some cash but that would make it to easy.

Anyone else find themselves running through a crowd and making a break for the checkpoint?

The atmosphere and sound in this game is top-notch.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
BigNastyCurve said:
Someone please explain what GOL is.

Guardian of Light, the DD Lara Croft game from last Summer

I guess they're being compared because they share the same perspective
 
the_prime_mover said:
For people that are having a hard time with this game, I would strongly suggest that you avoid the SMG for the first three levels and put all of your money into the Rifle, then the grenades and flares. Once you get mines, put a bunch of money into that, alternating between number of mines and number of explosions. Around the third level you might want to start leveling up the Shotty. The money you will put into the SMG is a waste until later in the game where you start getting a lot more cash.
I say avoid the SMG altogether (for the campaign). I bought it on a whim and I dislike not having the shotty one step away from the rifle anymore. The Shocker does basically the same thing as the SMG only better because of the stun.
nextgeneration said:
Anyone know if this runs at 30 or 60 fps?
It doesn't run at 60, maybe a little higher than 30 depending on what's going on.
 

owlbeak

Member
Virro said:
Why not just press the PS Button and leave it until later? Or do you turn off your PS3 every time you leave the room?
Because I prefer to turn my PS3 off when I run out to the store or whatever instead of having it sucking 100s of watts of power for no reason. It's not like Jurassic Park for Super Nintendo where you had to leave the console on forever because there were no saves!
 

FredFish

Member
Just beat the Graveyard level on Grim difficulty. Very exhilarating to beat that final stage after numerous near misses. Current mood: PUMPED. Not looking forward to doing it on Morbid though.
 
Danne-Danger said:
I say avoid the SMG altogether (for the campaign). I bought it on a whim and I dislike not having the shotty one step away from the rifle anymore. The Shocker does basically the same thing as the SMG only better because of the stun.

True enough.

On Normal I would avoid the Flamethrower as well as it is not necessary, however on Grim, where most enemies take at least one or two extra rifle shots, the slow down effect is well worth the cost.
 

Virro

Member
Snuggler said:
What if it's late night and you don't want to leave your PS3 on all night? It is a serious pain in the ass, a bad design decision. Sometimes you have to shut off the game and do something else, sometimes you might get frustrated and want to take a break - either way, it sucks to lose all progress when shit comes up.

I suppose. I didn't think it was that bad considering most levels are designed to be beaten in under 25 mins. I'm guessing on Grim that's pretty frustrating though...
 
the_prime_mover said:
True enough.

On Normal I would avoid the Flamethrower as well as it is not necessary, however on Grim, where most enemies take at least one or two extra rifle shots, the slow down effect is well worth the cost.
It'll also clip through walls/gates pretty easily, which I find to be pretty useful at times. And you don't really need to upgrade it at all (DMG is shit no matter what, fire spreads so you don’t need much ammo, range is pretty good from start anyway).
 

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
After completing the campaign...

Boy, am I disappointed.

The game looks and runs great, but it's basically just you running through hordes of overpowered random enemies that the game throws at you without using any logic whatsoever.

I won't blindly buy Housemarque's next title, so hopefully they'll have a demo ready when it launches.
 

CozMick

Banned
2- Canada - 7,000,000+ Kills
3- United Kingdom - 13,000,000+ Kills

Why is it that Canada is placed 2nd but with half the amount of zombies kiilled?
 

YoungHav

Banned
2/5 my ass. And are people that hurt over lack of voice chat? They said the day the game released that they would patch it in.
 

Volcynika

Member
YoungHav said:
2/5 my ass. And are people that hurt over lack of voice chat? They said the day the game released that they would patch it in.

People need to review the product that is currently available.
 
YoungHav said:
2/5 my ass. And are people that hurt over lack of voice chat? They said the day the game released that they would patch it in.


Take note, game companies: If you promise to fix a flaw later reviewers aren't allowed to talk about it in their reviews! Watch your metacritic scores soar! And you didn't have to hire N'Gai Croal to tell you this!!
 

TTP

Have a fun! Enjoy!
GB review said:
Worse, none of the levels are what I would call "well lit," and some areas are downright pitch black. You've got a flashlight that lets you see what's directly in front of you, but even in the best cases, there are often enemies coming right at you that you can barely see. Hiding the monsters and the scenery from you is a central tenet of the game's design, but dual-joystick shooters are all about brightly colored entities moving in obvious contrast to the background. That contrast is necessary so you can subconsciously track the objects moving around your peripheral vision, because everything is moving too fast for you to stop and scrutinize every entity directly. The action doesn't move any slower in Dead Nation than in other shooters; it's just harder to see.

You have got to be fucking kidding me. Sounds like he was expecting to play SSDHD with zombies instead of asteroids.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Harsh review, but whatever. It's not like it detracts from my enjoyment of the game.
The game is far from perfect, but I'm having a hell of a time with it so far.

Of course, my feelings are entirely based on the single player experience, so the lack of voice chat and stuff haven't effected me yet.
 

mollipen

Member
YoungHav said:
2/5 my ass. And are people that hurt over lack of voice chat? They said the day the game released that they would patch it in.

Why was the game released without it? Saying you'll add in a basic feature "later" isn't an acceptable way of putting a game together.

And I've not played the game yet, but lord am I getting sick of the lazy "darkness = scariness" school of design. If this game does that as well, that's really disappointing.
 
man of science said:
2/5? Gtfo. Too dark? No voice chat? Or just too hard?

Valid reasons, actually.

I don't agree with it because I have a bias in favor of the game BUT:

-it's the first game I've ever had to sit close to my tv because A) it's so dark and B) the view is so far away. I don't mess with my tv settings because they're perfect and to my liking with everything else.

-I can see why people would be bothered by no voice chat

-and it is pretty difficult for a game with this control scheme, not to mention the limited ammo and the horrendous default weapon that hardly feels adequate (even though I use it 95% of the time haha). If the game wasn't so dark and there was a better gun mechanics, it wouldn't be that bad.

Still, probably my favorite downloaded game I own.
 
TTP said:
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
?
I haven't read the review at all, but from that excerpt, he's dead-on. It's one of my main gripes with the game: the game is ridiculously dark, and there's no recommended brightness setting whatsoever. For all we know, we're playing the game significantly darker than it should be.

Then, couple in the fact that the red zombies are virtually silent, sprint at you, and are damn near invisible in the dark (the times they ARE visible is just a shimmer of light on their bodies, which just resembles ash flying across the screen VERY strongly), and you've got a recipe for cheap hits... and as you know, that's no fun at all in a game where an untouched multiplier is at least 75% of the battle.

As I said earlier in the thread, the game just doesn't feel as tightly refined as it should be (and as SSHD was).

Still, I think 2/5 is way low. If anything I'd give it a 3.5. I still enjoy it but it's still not up to the level of SSHD. Oh, and the voice chat thing is inexcusable. Playing online is fucking embarassing - my friend and I were waving the flashlight back and forth at each other when we're standing across the street to try and communicate to each other. :lol
 
TTP said:
You have got to be fucking kidding me. Sounds like he was expecting to play SSDHD with zombies instead of asteroids.

Even though I like the aspect that he's complaining about, the complaint actually makes sense. The game rewards headshots (lol) but I can barely make out zombies coming at me from all sides and line up my shots effectively. Again, I love that because it adds to the tension but it sort of is a design flaw even if some prefer it.
 

TTP

Have a fun! Enjoy!
Darkness is hardly a design flaw. It is the most important element of the DN design actually. It's what forces you to look around with your flashlight, adding tension to the action. Besides, I don't have problems "detecting suspicious movements". You just have to be cautious and keep your eyes wide open.
 
TTP said:
Darkness is hardly a design flaw. It is the most important element of the DN design actually. It's what forces you to look around with your flashlight, adding tension to the action.

The problem with darkness in games is that developers don't use it properly and when the rare developers does use it properly you then have some gamers turning up the brightness so much that it eliminates the point of darkness. If you're going for darkness, as DN is, then you shouldn't be able to see your surroundings too well without a lightsource. That's what your flashlight is for. The game forces you to constantly keep checking in every direction to see if you see anything with your flashlight. If you don't take advantage of that flashlight then that's your fault.
 
TTP said:
Darkness is hardly a design flaw. It is the most important element of the DN design actually. It's what forces you to look around with your flashlight, adding tension to the action. Besides, I don't have problems "detecting suspicious movements". You just have to be cautious and keep your eyes wide open.
I brought up the example of red zombies moving in pitch back resembling ash flying across the screen. It's happened to me, it's happened to my friend in online co-op, and it happened to my girlfriend in local co-op. I've resorted to bumping up the brightness setting to the max to be able to tell if it's actually just the post-processing or a zombie about to take away 100x multiplier. I'm not going to go as far as saying it's a design flaw, but they certainly could've done a better job.
 

TTP

Have a fun! Enjoy!
Revolutionary said:
I brought up the example of red zombies moving in pitch back resembling ash flying across the screen. It's happened to me, it's happened to my friend in online co-op, and it happened to my girlfriend in local co-op. I've resorted to bumping up the brightness setting to the max to be able to tell if it's actually just the post-processing or a zombie about to take away 100x multiplier. I'm not going to go as far as saying it's a design flaw, but they certainly could've done a better job.

A better job like making the flashlight totally pointless? Still I have the impression you are seeing it darker than you should. Is your RBG setting set to full or limited in the XMB?
 

NeoZylom

Member
CozMick said:
2- Canada - 7,000,000+ Kills
3- United Kingdom - 13,000,000+ Kills

Why is it that Canada is placed 2nd but with half the amount of zombies kiilled?

Because the position isn't related to the number of kills (Which is why US has 47G kills and 41% while Canada has 8G kills and 32%).

And this is good this way. Who could beat the US if it was only classed by the number of kills? Like there is 330 millions of americans vs 35 millions of Canadians, it would be impossible to beat them lol
 

kevm3

Member
It's refreshing to have a game with a bit of difficulty, where you get the sensation that you've beat the stage due to skill as opposed to the handholding that goes on in most games these days.
 

Agent X

Member
I still haven't played Dead Nation yet. To be honest, I'm not too interested in this game thematically (not a fan of horror/zombie shooters), and have been following it primarily because of Housemarque's pedigree over anything else.

I'm not a fan of Xbox Live, but there's two things that Microsoft guarantees with their downloadable online games that Sony still lacks (and should imitate). One is a demo for every new XBLA release. Considering how the vast majority of other games released on PSN in the last few months have been accompanied by demos, it's shocking this game (which was highly anticipated by Sony fans) doesn't have one. I really wish there was a demo, as an impressive demo might push me over the edge to get the full game.

YoungHav said:
2/5 my ass. And are people that hurt over lack of voice chat? They said the day the game released that they would patch it in.

This is the other problem. No voice chat. Really? (Doing my best impersonation of The Miz.) In the year 2010? Really?

As far as "patching it in" goes, they shouldn't have to patch it in. Why, you ask? Because it should have been there all along!

Sony (the publisher) shouldn't even be releasing an online multiplayer game without voice chat. I mean, if this was a low-profile release from some rinky-dink third party, then maybe, maybe I wouldn't be so surprised...but not a highly anticipated first-party release. That this is a Sony-published title makes the lack of voice chat particularly disappointing.

I'm glad they're patching in voice support. At least they're responding to consumers' requests. But it shouldn't have ever been released without voice support in the first place, and I can't blame reviewers for banging out complaints over it.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
I'm with you on all of that, X. It's a goddamned shame that they still can't make either of those things a standard, in this day in age it should be a requirement before the game even hits the market.

Plus, I think a good demo (even just the first level) would have helped sales. It didn't take long to start kicking ass, and it would have definitely translated well to a quick trial.
 
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