Forums | MacLife

I got it too, for my PC. I think the game rocks. When I got to the US campaign, wow. That just really made my day. I was LoL with delight.

Hey, does the damage system become more realistic if you set the difficulty higher?

Flavum wrote:

I find CoD2 enjoyable, but it's got some faults that really bug me (in single-player mode).

Some of the yelling/conversation between team players is way over the top, to the point of being really distracting. I often hear "Look out! Gerries (Jerries?) behind that stone wall!" after I've already killed said Germans. This happens a LOT.

And please hire some actual English voice-over talent. The "Americans-trying-to-sound-British" approach isn't cutting it. Just a few years of watching Monty Python as a teen was enough to learn the difference. It sounds like a bunch of Austin Powers's running around the battlefield.

The first one had Jason Stathom, but I don't know about the rest of the characters.

I'll need to wait until I have new Mac or a new console that will be capable of playing that game. Yet, by the time that happens I'm sure CoD III will be out. I have other things I need to blow my money on right now.

The regenerating health system kind of intrigues me. If WW2 sims wanted to have a realistic health system, a bullet or two should kill you and you should never be allowed to load the game again after you get shot. You're dead. 

Yet, seeing as how that would suck, and a video game's heath system is going to be inherently fake,  I'd prefer not to hunt around for stupid health packs. I can't say I miss them in Halo 2.

Last edited by AAPL Shareholder (2006-06-19 8:49 pm)

From what I undersand most sections of hard mode are like fighting a real war, you have to be very careful.

I've always likened "health" in video games to luck, which better explains the superhuman traits of characters.  This is why I appreciate how you only really bite it under sustained fire in H2 and COD2.

Both are much more pronounced in H2, which has no health at all- just shields, albeit shields that regenerate much more rapidly. It facilitates faster pacing. Infection forms are deadlier too.

VegasACF wrote:

Aw, the flood's in H2?  I got so sick of them in Halo...  When I replay it now I pretty much play up until they become a central focus and then stop.  They just seem so...  Tedious. 

Now maybe I won't get H2.

Oh, I hated the flood in H1 too, but in H2 they aren't as prominent.  It's more like "Oh look, flood.  SHOTTY'D.  Moving on..."

You'll learn to hate snipers WAAAY more.  Way more.

Hate.

VegasACF wrote:

Aw, the flood's in H2?  I got so sick of them in Halo...  When I replay it now I pretty much play up until they become a central focus and then stop.  They just seem so...  Tedious. 

Now maybe I won't get H2.

I don't think you'll mind them the same way. You spend much less time with them, but as hinted at in 1, they're absolutely integral to the story arc- which becomes ever more obvious, and involves some major revelations (can't say more without spoilers). Remember the Halos were built to contain and study them, and as weapons of last resort against. They're everyone's enemies. (Hint: with tactical exceptions, the top combo is sword and shotgun. There's a Forerunner weapon that kicks, too, and me loves the Arbiter levels. Tastes differ... I do wish it were less linear, and I'm guessing 3 will be the best. 13-14 miles of draw distance, and you can pretty much reach anything you can see).

[sort of aside, but related] Hey Bat, when someone tells you something should be at the "root level" of a drive what does that mean to you?  To me it means (in Windowsian terms) "dir:  C\something".  If that "something" were within a nested folder it wouldn't be at the "root level", right?  That's what got the tech supp guy from Aspyr's panties in a wad.  He was trying to tell me that COD 2 should be at the "root level" of the hard drive, and I replied that I found that odd, since everything from Pro Tools to Microsoft Word is content to run from within a nested hierarchy of folders such as Macintosh HD\Applications\Games\Halo, so I didn't understand why COD 2 would require "root level" installation (he also contradicted himself, at least to my understanding of the term, by saying the game should be installed in a "Games" folder, while at the same time being at the "root level".  I think my pointing out the inconsistency there is what POed him). [/aside]

Yeah, pretty much. AFAIK Aspyr says Stubbs runs better installed at root level too, tho why is beyond me; I think even Glenda said so, but without explaining why. Interesting CoD2 should be like that, too. Hmm.

In a folder and at root level too? Huh?

(I'll shoot you a PM with a spoiler if you want to risk that. Might get the H2 juices flowing again).

Last edited by Bat (2006-06-22 4:04 am)

From what I've seen the Call of Duty enemies are very smart, and will stay hidden on their own very well, waiting for you to sneak on by.  As far as cover fire being worth a darn, the same can't be said for the friendly AI.  The harder levels of CoD play much like Halo, where you single handedly win World War II.

reefdog wrote:

They seem to have the "hide from player" thing down pretty well, but if I'm shooting all around their hiding place, they'll often pop up and return fire.

You pretty much just described my downfall in online play.  Since it's not my actual head on the line I seem far too willing to pop my head up to see from whence the fire is coming.  Usually I'm popped by a sniper flanking the source of the irritation. 

Very often I'll find myself a little nook or cranny in which to hide and take targets of opportunity, but I'm leery of being labeled a "camper", even though I had to run across an open field, dodging fire, to get to that nook or cranny. 

Perhaps I should just hole up and take my targets as they arrive.

reefdog wrote:

13-14 mile draw distance? Sweet. I remember early (1998/1999-ish?) discussions about Halo being "a pervasive complete world" and you were going to be able to, essentially, keep running/flying/driving as far as you could go, completely around the ring. Always thought that would be cool. If they pull that off with Halo 3, that would certainly rock. One day in the future I'll have to get me a 360 and play all three of them straight through.

Sounds like a plan. A couple quotes from Bungie...

Should we expect to see blowing sand and other particle effects during gameplay, or only during cut scenes?

For the "level" shown in the trailer, is the massive size of the surrounding area something that is tangible? Does it really seem like you are on a huge, wide open plain?

The sand, dust, smoke and other effects are all from the game engine. They will be used in the game. The landscape you saw is real geometry - the mountains and city in the distance are not a skybox - they are actual geometry that you can go to. Our cut scenes and our gameplay will be very comparable. Also, CJ Cowan, our director of cinematics, says that the texture "pop" seen in Halo 2's cinematics has already gone bye-bye for Halo 3.

...

Is the geometry you can draw at 13 miles just big triangles or other basic geometry? Or is it like recognizable things like buildings, mountains, or secret Forerunner monuments?

The geometry is basically the real geometry you're flying, walking or running to, although LOD (Level Of Detail) saves the programmers (in this case us) RAM and processing horsepower by simplifying what's actually being drawn at distance. The trick is to simplify things enough so you get that saving, but without turning a once-recognizable object into a dumb triangle.

...

Are most people reading too deep into this short trailer? I've seen some crazy theories, frame by frame analyzations and people crying.

They are teh emo. But that's cool. Also, they're probably not reading too much into it - there are some wrong theories, but none are too deep. There's a universe of drama in that trailer if you know what to look for.

The big HD trailer (150MB .mov, 1280x720): http://download.microsoft.com/download/ … _large.mov

That's Kilimanjaro in the distance. Some spoilerage since you're only halfway thru 1, but you've also said Halo's story/ plot isn't so important to you, so go for the gusto. It's also on the vague side, but verra impressive. This trailer goes to 11.

I look forward to what 360's increased power can do for Halo's AI, too. Multithreaded goodness.