Note: People looking for more of an overview of what the game actually involves should watch this.
Over the last weekend I thoroughly played NS2 (unfortunately not with Toj T_T ). I've come to the conclusion that NS2 inherits strengths and weakness of the genres from which it is derived. For both bad and good it's particular combination creates a unique experience that few have even tried to emulate.
First off let's talk about the commander role which sets the tone for the whole game. Other team games stress overall player balance for a good game which, while still apt here, takes a back seat to the importance of the player in command. I've lost games because of my mistakes in the role, dooming teams, and even won a few eventually attaining competence, somewhat. If you don't have good commanders on both sides odds are nothing your individual teammates can do will win it or make it fun. When it is working commanders are not only building structures in a timely manner but directing and coordinating players and that is where the magic happens. Marines need to cover each other, Aliens need to rush in numbers to overwhelm, skill takes a backseat to teamwork and your mic will get use. Both sides have tank/healer combos which will fail without teamwork too. Many, but not all, of the teams I was on were fairly polite win or lose. It might be because the game is new and they know little themselves or it could be they know the pains of trying to command.
Teamwork aside the game itself is fairly balanced with both sides being so different. Starcraft fans will easily recognize the dynamic at work. Aliens are fast, melee combatants which lean towards a rapidly expanding approach with their need for three hives to get all upgrades. Marines are ranged and lean a tad more on the defensive needing two command chairs to get all upgrades. Don't let any defensive talk fool you though regardless of side both must be continually aggressive to win. Any defensive pause must be short and getting hemmed in while your opponent expands is a death sentence. Unfortunately the Starcraft analogy also seems to apply to Aliens being harder to learn. Their build order is more unintuitive, or "alien"
, and their reliance on melee, speed and stealth makes their game play slightly harder. Most FPS players will find the Marines play style familiar. In my play time the people trying to join the Marines was disproportionately full compared to Aliens. Once again the sides appear balanced just one is harder to learn.
Also akin to Starcraft your late game, if it goes that far, comes down to getting "that" overpowering unit group in mass. Unlike Starcraft just what "that" unit group will be is more limited though. Onos and Gorge for Aliens, Dual Gun Exoskeletons and Welders (or repair bots) for Marines. To be clear there are options of how to get there but late game pretty much comes to that and the game's re-playability suffers slightly from it. This does keep the command role simplified though. Newbies can learn easier and masters can give their attention to strategy and supporting more. It's also inherited that RTS tenancy to drag on past the point you could conceivably win, at least with turtling Marines, but lacks the mechanism to GG and end it sooner. I am told the game will end if enough players leave a team but a voting option would be nice (if there was one it was not obvious to me). That's not to say all games drag on or that you can't always fight back. In one game we had started to win but our commander lingered at a critical point and that was enough time for the Aliens to push back to win. In another, even though we were losing, our team's dramatic and coordinated efforts made it fun, that's right losing can still be a winning proposition. Then there was one I noticed the enemy team failing to repair their base power node. I was not commander but I got my team to swarm it and we won early on. Strategic teamwork, it's wonderful and this game has it in spades.
Perhaps what the game does best is ambiance. It's very nice looking while still running on my core 2 Duo 3.0, 4 gigs of memory and a Geforce 550ti. Really though it's the entire package working together that engrosses you. From the scurrying sound of aliens in the dark to unearthly infected corridors it comes as close to the experience of the movie "Aliens" as I've seen in a game. Yes I know there are boatloads of Alien games, Alien vs Predator games and I know NS2 doesn't look Giger-ish. What I expect NS2 does better is realism (or movie-ism?) derived from the RTS and teamwork aspects. What other game are you going to shout out " I need that power up in nano.", "I need backup. Get to cargo on the double!" or "He's in the vents!". Without resources to protect and attain other games lack NS2's sense of urgency. For most games it's an objective point if you're lucky. Here there are rooms of things to build, protect and destroy to win. It's not really scary but perhaps caution inducing? You'll be in a room building something, hopefully not alone or with the power out XD, hear "the alien scurry", back yourself into a corner and start scanning the ceiling. It gives you a moment of trepidation, of uncertainty, that few games have. Should I risk turning my back and continue building? Is it gone? Then with the team aspects you get people talking together like platoons or I guess like Zerg rushes would if I understood Ke, Ke, Ke, Ke .
There are a few tiny cravats that should to be mentioned. There are a couple spots which you can get stuck between something, particularly as a Skulk, and forced to evolve to escape them (there may be a console command for this too IDK). Also, while quite pretty, none of the maps are intuitive to learn. I did learn them but initially I spent more time running around with my map displayed than actually looking where I was running. In addition I noticed at least one spot,"nanogrid", which seemed to lend an overt advantage to the Marine's strengths. There was also a key binding issue I found out about the hard way. When I changed my talk hot key, to what I use for every single game I play V, it still worked as the cancel or recycle key in commander mode too T_T. Why let you change and double assign the talk key when it doesn't between non-commander keys? Plus it excludes commander keys from the options menu totally.
The Bottom Line:
With long games NS2 is not a casual FPS or a FPS where players with impeccable aim can carry a team (well they do help) but a game full of coordinated, strategic, teamwork. It won't have the replay value of TF2, unless they add more options, but it's still a good value. If you enjoy Starcraft, FPS games and teamwork this game should be a buy outright. When the game is good it is very good and an experience you won't get elsewhere, it just takes teamwork to make it a GG.
Over the last weekend I thoroughly played NS2 (unfortunately not with Toj T_T ). I've come to the conclusion that NS2 inherits strengths and weakness of the genres from which it is derived. For both bad and good it's particular combination creates a unique experience that few have even tried to emulate.
First off let's talk about the commander role which sets the tone for the whole game. Other team games stress overall player balance for a good game which, while still apt here, takes a back seat to the importance of the player in command. I've lost games because of my mistakes in the role, dooming teams, and even won a few eventually attaining competence, somewhat. If you don't have good commanders on both sides odds are nothing your individual teammates can do will win it or make it fun. When it is working commanders are not only building structures in a timely manner but directing and coordinating players and that is where the magic happens. Marines need to cover each other, Aliens need to rush in numbers to overwhelm, skill takes a backseat to teamwork and your mic will get use. Both sides have tank/healer combos which will fail without teamwork too. Many, but not all, of the teams I was on were fairly polite win or lose. It might be because the game is new and they know little themselves or it could be they know the pains of trying to command.
Teamwork aside the game itself is fairly balanced with both sides being so different. Starcraft fans will easily recognize the dynamic at work. Aliens are fast, melee combatants which lean towards a rapidly expanding approach with their need for three hives to get all upgrades. Marines are ranged and lean a tad more on the defensive needing two command chairs to get all upgrades. Don't let any defensive talk fool you though regardless of side both must be continually aggressive to win. Any defensive pause must be short and getting hemmed in while your opponent expands is a death sentence. Unfortunately the Starcraft analogy also seems to apply to Aliens being harder to learn. Their build order is more unintuitive, or "alien"
, and their reliance on melee, speed and stealth makes their game play slightly harder. Most FPS players will find the Marines play style familiar. In my play time the people trying to join the Marines was disproportionately full compared to Aliens. Once again the sides appear balanced just one is harder to learn.Also akin to Starcraft your late game, if it goes that far, comes down to getting "that" overpowering unit group in mass. Unlike Starcraft just what "that" unit group will be is more limited though. Onos and Gorge for Aliens, Dual Gun Exoskeletons and Welders (or repair bots) for Marines. To be clear there are options of how to get there but late game pretty much comes to that and the game's re-playability suffers slightly from it. This does keep the command role simplified though. Newbies can learn easier and masters can give their attention to strategy and supporting more. It's also inherited that RTS tenancy to drag on past the point you could conceivably win, at least with turtling Marines, but lacks the mechanism to GG and end it sooner. I am told the game will end if enough players leave a team but a voting option would be nice (if there was one it was not obvious to me). That's not to say all games drag on or that you can't always fight back. In one game we had started to win but our commander lingered at a critical point and that was enough time for the Aliens to push back to win. In another, even though we were losing, our team's dramatic and coordinated efforts made it fun, that's right losing can still be a winning proposition. Then there was one I noticed the enemy team failing to repair their base power node. I was not commander but I got my team to swarm it and we won early on. Strategic teamwork, it's wonderful and this game has it in spades.
Perhaps what the game does best is ambiance. It's very nice looking while still running on my core 2 Duo 3.0, 4 gigs of memory and a Geforce 550ti. Really though it's the entire package working together that engrosses you. From the scurrying sound of aliens in the dark to unearthly infected corridors it comes as close to the experience of the movie "Aliens" as I've seen in a game. Yes I know there are boatloads of Alien games, Alien vs Predator games and I know NS2 doesn't look Giger-ish. What I expect NS2 does better is realism (or movie-ism?) derived from the RTS and teamwork aspects. What other game are you going to shout out " I need that power up in nano.", "I need backup. Get to cargo on the double!" or "He's in the vents!". Without resources to protect and attain other games lack NS2's sense of urgency. For most games it's an objective point if you're lucky. Here there are rooms of things to build, protect and destroy to win. It's not really scary but perhaps caution inducing? You'll be in a room building something, hopefully not alone or with the power out XD, hear "the alien scurry", back yourself into a corner and start scanning the ceiling. It gives you a moment of trepidation, of uncertainty, that few games have. Should I risk turning my back and continue building? Is it gone? Then with the team aspects you get people talking together like platoons or I guess like Zerg rushes would if I understood Ke, Ke, Ke, Ke
.There are a few tiny cravats that should to be mentioned. There are a couple spots which you can get stuck between something, particularly as a Skulk, and forced to evolve to escape them (there may be a console command for this too IDK). Also, while quite pretty, none of the maps are intuitive to learn. I did learn them but initially I spent more time running around with my map displayed than actually looking where I was running. In addition I noticed at least one spot,"nanogrid", which seemed to lend an overt advantage to the Marine's strengths. There was also a key binding issue I found out about the hard way. When I changed my talk hot key, to what I use for every single game I play V, it still worked as the cancel or recycle key in commander mode too T_T. Why let you change and double assign the talk key when it doesn't between non-commander keys? Plus it excludes commander keys from the options menu totally.
The Bottom Line:
With long games NS2 is not a casual FPS or a FPS where players with impeccable aim can carry a team (well they do help) but a game full of coordinated, strategic, teamwork. It won't have the replay value of TF2, unless they add more options, but it's still a good value. If you enjoy Starcraft, FPS games and teamwork this game should be a buy outright. When the game is good it is very good and an experience you won't get elsewhere, it just takes teamwork to make it a GG.
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