Played a fair bit of this over the last couple of nights. It's not bad, certainly not as good as I was hoping it was going to be, but not bad.
Unfortunately 3 of my friends also bought the game and tried multiplayer with me and they all HATE it. Normally they like this sort of stuff, as we had a pretty tight Battlefield 4 squad, and also enjoyed Gears a fair bit - but none of them are taking to this at all.
Most of it comes down to taste - they either don't like the shooting mechanic or don't like how slow it can progress.
In terms of what I think is actually 'flawed', I'd say:
- Bow is OP as fuck. Seriously, if you doubt it - use it. 2 shot kill, fast as fuck, perfectly silent.
- I feel like the Covert perks (specifically, the one that lets you crouch walk without being heard) break the flow of the game. It's not that I think everyone should be able to wallhack you, but it tends to take the game into 'frustrating' territory - particularly against a team of 3+ using it.
- Is it just me (never played this on PS3) or are the supply boxes completely random? I feel like the purpose of locking them down, opening, collecting and ultimately covering teammates while they quickly craft is all but wasted, if the items are randomised and often quite useless. While they obviously all contribute to items, I feel like the person who gets the 2x4 and melee upgrade has a better hand that if I manage to get half way to a med kit or smoke bomb. In any case, randomness in games that involve weapon/supply drops is not ideal.
- Matchmaking is terrible. The game just came out and you're telling me that you couldn't find players anywhere close to my level/skill? No, instead it flies through 'optimal' and 'close', and jumps to 'any' before throwing me against a team much, much higher.
- Lag is terrible. I wish I had kept my share footage of some of the shit I was seeing. Game can feel completely broken at times, particularly during some melee/close encounters.
- Perks the game. Seriously. Of all the multiplayer games I've put time into, this one feels like a grind most of all. In COD, Battlefield, Halo 4, Ghost Recon, Gears etc I felt like the default options (or the first couple of unlocks) allowed me to build a suitable class that was fun and effective. Not 100% of the time, but most of the time. In TLoU - I get none of that. Even with 1300+ supplies or whatever it is I've unlocked, I still don't feel like I have adequate loadout points or choices to make an effective class. I found some fun in using a silenced semi-auto rifle & covert op 2, but even that was a very recent unlock.
- Purchasable weapons. Do these unlock only via microtransactions? I mean, I can select a preset class and enjoy the game, but when trying to create a custom loadout, I'm not seeing purchasable weapons available?
So I don't sound too negative, these are the things I am really enjoying:
- Tense matches. When the matchmaking works, the game is really fun and heart racing. One of the more memorable matches was when a very close match went into sudden death and it was 2v2 left. Me and a friend had to sneak around, slowly taking out nail bombs before quickly healing, armouring and taking on two camping bow users. Was extremely tense and felt like we earned a good victory.
- Shooting mechanics. Feels very weighty and intimidating while firing. When a shot goes past your head it's scary and you know to run/hide.
- Some really cool weapons. The silenced enforcer, spectre, military sniper, hunting rifle etc all feel fantastic.
- Map design. Not amazing, but definitely alot better than I've come to expect from Uncharted, Gears etc.
- Single Player mechanics. I like that everything carries over. Listen mode, crafting, shivs, healing etc. It would have been very easy to make the multiplayer feel tacked on and undercooked, but the fact that it utilises most of the single player elements makes it feel very 'complete'. The only glaring oversight is the lack of a strangle or human shield option.
This ended up being a lot longer than I had initially planned! But overall, I'm finding it okay. Between the single player and occasional MP match, this should hold me over until Destiny blows my socks off.