I downloaded the demo and gave it a whirl over the weekend, but I find it boring and uneventful.  Here’s a short description about the game from the Steam website.  “Building on 10 years of constant engine development, ARMA II boasts the most realistic combat environment in the world. It models real world ballistics & round deflection, materials penetration, features a realtime day/night cycle and dynamic wind, weather and environmental effects. The simulation of a combat environment is so effective, the engine forms the basis for training simulators used by real armies the world over.“

Sounds awesome right?  Wrong.  I was expecting full adrenaline rush action, bullets grazing your helmet, people getting blown to bits.  Instead I ran a lot from point A to point B, following orders from the commander.  During one of the demo mission I killed like 3 guys and died about 9 times.  You only get 1 life too, once you’re dead you start over.  Sadly to say that’s a terrible KD ratio.  The character voices are terrible in the game, one guy sounded like a teenage boy when he was talking in the helicopter as we’re being flown to the drop point.  His mouth didn’t even move so I had no idea who was talking and he was looking out the window the whole time.  During the mission everyone talks like those text to speech robots.  For example, “man.  straight ahead.  2.  o’clock.” or “target.  here.”

They listed a few key features of the game and let me tell you what I think just from playing the demo.

• PLAYER-DRIVEN STORY – Command your troops through a branching campaign full of twists and surprises.

I did not get to experience being a squad leader in the demo, but I did follow orders from the AI squad leader that talks like a robot.

• THRILLING REALISM – Explore the 225 square kilometer of highly detailed landscape, modeled using real-world geographical data and master each of 81 weapons and 120+ vehicles.

I’ll give them credit to the realism cause I hated running around in the 225 square kilometers of land.  The details should be awesome if you have a high end graphics card.  I have a 8800 GT which meets the minimum recommended requirement and the setting was on medium.  I mastered about 3 weapons in the demo shooting at bushes because the squad leader told me to cover fire.   In the other game mode, which is capture the city, I found out you need money to purchase weapons.  What?!  You mean the government can’t just give them to you?  I walk up to the weapons cache and I have to buy them!  I was broke after I bought a sniper rifle.  I did drove around in a humvee attempting to run over enemy soldiers.  There is also a fuel limit so you can’t really drive it forever.  So realistic!

• AUTHENTIC SIMULATION – Game simulates various aspects of combat and environment effects from bullet ballistics, material penetration, ammunition types and stopping power to weather conditions.

OK…

• EXTENSIVE MULTIPLAYER – Play the campaign missions in cooperative mode or join duty in the massive multiplayer battles with up to 50 players.

With 225 square kilometers of land, I don’t know if 50 players can cover it all or even have fun trying to explore all that land…especially on foot.

• ADVANCED AI – Compete the ultimate next-gen AI: no scripts, no predefined pathways. All units react on actual game situation.

Not 100% sure about this one but I did attempt to snipe 2 enemy troops and they sure ran for cover after the first shot missed.  Throughout the game I didn’t experience much of the combat like I thought I would.

The controls were a little buggy too.  At first I couldn’t look down the scope of the sniper rifle when I right-clicked.  After switching to my pistol then back to the sniper rifle it worked.  Also in the controls menu it said hold sec. mouse btn to temporary hold breath.  That never worked for me.  GPS didn’t work and amongst other things.

There are a lot in the game that I didn’t experience while playing the demo.  I didn’t get to fly any aircrafts or use the other 79 weapons.  I didn’t even get to drive a tank.  One cool thing worth mentioning is the support for TrackIR.  Overall this demo is quite a disappointment and I felt like I wasted time playing it.  At one point I got so tired of running around I literally sat in a humvee with 2 other AI soldiers just chilling because I just couldn’t find any action.  I just don’t get this game at all.

Have you ever been disappointed by a game demo?

I saw this on ThinkGeek.com a while back and always wonder if anyone would buy this, let alone wear it if they received it as a gift.  This is a Gadget Hip Holster and the tag line is “Han Solo wishes he had one of these“.  This is like the new version of the so called fanny pack.

Forget autonomous cars and humanoid robots.  Can the fanny pack be fashionable again?  You know, that little pouch that wears around the waist.  Most of the time you can spot them around the waist of tourists, they use it to hold everything they need to survive in a foreign land.

That guy is super excited to visit the Epcot center.  I guess you can’t really call that fashionable.  They’re pretty much near extinction and sometimes you can still see one or two in public.  I mean this thing is like Batman’s utility belt, you can store a lot of useful items in there.  Maybe because people are wearing them wrong!  But according to the wikipedia entry it states that:

“The name fanny pack is derived from the fact that they were traditionally worn facing the rear above the buttocks, for which fanny is a slang term in America.  Despite the name, many do not wear fanny packs on their rear because they are easier to pick pocket and harder to access.“

They do look kind of ugly to be honest.  I can’t quite pin point what is wrong with it but it just doesn’t look good.  What if they were designer brand?  I’ve seen people shell out insane amount of cash for ugly designer bags.

Don’t they look good on those models?  Or what if Tyra Banks wears one?

Ha!  Don’t you want one now?  I guess it beats carrying a purse around or sometimes you just don’t want to carry a purse but your pants pockets are too tight.  Or your outfit doesn’t have any pockets!  Or if you’re a guy who wears skinny jeans and don’t feel like carrying a murse.  Or to stop keys in your pocket digging into your thigh.  Or to prevent items slipping out of your pockets.  Or to relief your back problem because you’ve been sitting on your wallet for years.

The Gadget Hip Holster isn’t too bad, kind of reminds me of the fashion statement in the movie Hackers.  If you’re not feeling it on your hip, you can get the Gadget Shoulder Holster.  In a way it could make you feel like a bad ass.  Imagine someone takes a quick glance and thought it was a gun holster and yells “OMG!  HE’S GOT A GUN!”  Wait-a-minute….ok that’s not cool at all if that happens.  I bet you wouldn’t make fun of Hulk Hogan for wearing his fanny pack, at least not in front of his face.  He would probably suplex you to the ground.

Would you consider wearing a more fashionable waist pack?  Would you secretly laugh or comment at someone if you see them wearing it?

I know most of you who followed E3 already know this.  Left 4 Dead 2 has been announced to be released on November 17!!  I was super excited to hear about it then after I saw the trailer and some gameplay videos, I’m feeling a little bit disappointed.  I loved L4D, we play it constantly ever since it was released up until we got all gold in survival mode.  We never got into Death Toll and Dead Air versus, it felt weird and it wasn’t as fun as the other two.

My first reaction upon viewing the gameplay vids is that…”Hmmm, does it look a bit cartoony or just me?”.  Then I asked a few friends who I’ve play L4D with about it and they agreed.  The cartoony look takes away the frightening elements of the game.  I admit that after playing many many games of L4D you get use to the zombies and what not.  But they still should of left it the way it was for some realism. 

They also introduced melee weapons.  Axe, frying pan, baseball bat, and chainsaw.  Frying pan?!?!  C’mon, the last thing I want to kill a zombie with is a frying pan.  I guess they put it in as a humor item.  They say melee weapons possess one-hit kill towards general zombies, isn’t it a bit too powerful?  I could see myself just mainly use it and save my ammo for the special infected and crescendo moments.  I don’t know if you still get a pistol because I haven’t seen it in the vids or read about it.

Special items like the incendiary bullets that set zombies on fire when you hit them.  What?!?  Even though it’s only a temporary boost item still sounds too helpful.  L4D was always about challenging yourself and teammates.  Choosing the best moment to throw the molotov or pipe bomb can win or lose the game.  Items were scarce and you learn to use them wisely.  I wonder what other special items are there.

They also changed how crescendo moments and the end of a campaign works.  It’s nice to see that they don’t want you to hole up somewhere anymore, instead you have to battle your way to safety.  We all know currently it’s boring and easy to camp out, so I’m looking forward to try my skills.  Also a new special infected have been mentioned, Charger.  He’s like a mad zombie bull that will tackle you if you’re in his way; he also can grab and pile drive you to death.  In the new day time level the witch wonders around and if you’re not careful during the heat of the battle you can accidentally make her mad.  We all know that a mad witch is not fun to deal with, think of your gf/bf/mom nagging at you for playing too much video games.

Even though it’s being previewed at E3, it still is an almost complete product.  Six months to continue testing and fix bugs before it’s released.  There are some thing I like and dislike about it, I just hope it all works out well mixing the new with the old.  Six months….I wish I was at E3 giving it a whirl right now.  L4D is one of those games that you just can’t put down and perhaps I will say the same for L4D2.

Articles/screenshots/vids here, here

What do you think about the improvements?  Sweet or meh?