Less goofy that Borderlands. Yet more child-friendly. I think I'd prefer Borderlands perversity and ultraviolence, in truth, to a Disney-friendly children's sci-fi experience.

You've done it all wrong, Geg, Pike and co. You were meant to tell me it's dreadful and not to play it

Thread resurrection! Vla! Kenketsu! Pejorative! (reference?)

Discovered I'd already spoken of Titanfall here when popping in for a rambleread, and figured I'd post here... A friend made idle comment attached to an article link over on the grand tome of facades that Titanfall sounded 'boring', and I accidentally blurted my customary thinkspray all over the poor man's wall. 

Wondered if anyone has their own post-match report of Titanfall, their impressions?

----

(Titanfall sounds boring)

"It is. I'm bemused.

It has all the correct ingredients, but the flaw is in the mix... I think it's the fact that playing Titanfall, there is no caution. There's only speed. There's no unpredictability, no tactics, no planning, nothing intelligent whatsoever. These things *could* apply but the game-modes and scoring systems provoke a sort of Western Workplace approach of WORK HARDER WORK FASTER MUST KEEP KILLING CAN'T STOP TO ACTUALLY FOCUS ON WHO I JUST SHOT MORE PEOPLE TO SHOOT QUICKLY, QUICKLY! WE WILL BE REWARDED IN HEAVEN!

Very little sneaking, or listening, communicating or indeed thinking. It's the fastest game I've ever played, but in a way that simply isn't entertaining for very long. And rounds are inevitably over very quickly, with a long boring scoring, quickmatching, and loading sequence in-between. As much as 20% or more of the play-time is spent staring at the interlude menus. I've not played it in weeks.

Tribes 2 was stupendously fast but also had strong strategic elements and long term investments in the construction of defenses and logistical equipment and the use of varied vehicles over vast distance. Rounds could last an hour or more, or so my memories claim.

Assassin's Creed is a game based upon speedy-in, and speedy-out, yet possesses, even in its most minimalist first manifestation, a rich enough world to allow moments of peace between frantic dashes. It's pretty and you can interact with it to some degree, occasionally even in the original game the world will sometimes poke you with an unpredictable event and change how you'd intended to approach a task or exploration of a district.

It's the mixture of action and contemplation that makes the finest of games work. Fallout's vicious combat splashed thick, gooey red excitement onto the dull browns and quiet, unsettling music as you explored the Wasteland,. Morrowind's urban interactions and wilderness wanders. Shadow of the Colossus combines long battles and even longer treks of a beautiful world. Resident Evil's suspense-building explorations of interesting pre-rendered environments full of hidden goodies and nightmares. System Shock 2/Deus Ex/Vampire: Bloodlines all give you tools, a small, intensely detailed world, and the correct balance of Risk (of death) and Reward (loot, story details, and alternate paths, both through the level and as approaches to solving dilemmas)...

Perhaps the finest example is Total War, however - the combination of entertaining real time tactics on the battlefield between turn based grand strategy sessions keep the game 'fresh' for untold hours while a game focusing on either aspect in specific would bore me in a fraction of the time. It only falls apart when the grand campaigns force you to engage in five battles per turn and hour-long turns, at the extreme end."

Any other examples of games which utilise that particular balance of hard and soft, intense and gentle, deep and shallow and so forth to keep the player entertained in the longer term? A modern RTS is the antithesis - constant action. An older RTS however may well contain indepth base/town construction granting time away from the constant vigilance of battlefield command. Planetside 2? Long travels through beautiful terrain, quiet explorations of post-battle bases, taking down the last few stragglers with stealth and caution - then a 300 player battle at night, tracers and explosions illuminating the field to the thud of cannons and the rattle of mixed voices from your outfit.

Diablo 2? No, a poor balance. The ARPG is by its genre title a biased type of game. I cannot keep digging at these for very long unless I'm using them as a coping method during a particularly low mood - the repetition numbs me quickly.

Well, enough blather. Any thoughts, m'friends?