Bionic Commando - Xbox 360 Multiplayer Demo - (Out: 29th of April)

[hellrizer]

Thanks for the info

[James]

This goes live soon-ish, how many people are going to be playing? =D

[Carnivol]

BIONIC FIREMAN!

[Mr. Spencer]

Is that bloke at the end you?

[Carnivol]

Okay, ladies and gents!

The demo lands tomorrow (along with plenty of awesome XBLA stuff)

Also, it's worth noting that Microsoft is having celebrating Xtival 09 this coming weekend (1st of May 'till the 4th), with free Xbox LIVE GOLD access for Silver users and stuff... so... yeah... Now even the cheapest of the cheap amongst you guys have no valid excuses left for not showing up!

[Zombie Fred]

Today's the day to go-go- bionic! Let the games commence!

Damn work

[The Dude]

The Demo's live, well as in I can see it on the Xbox Live site and queued it for download but i'll have to check it out later on this evening.

[Carnivol]

It is indeed LIVE!

Already had a good few rounds with it.

Quite fun to force sniping people into finding a new tactic other than "camp snipe spawn"

(A sniper = free kill... or kills, if there are other people trying to take him out too)

[The Dude]

To be honest i've played it a few times on my brothers XBL with a few friends as I can't get to my Xbox Atm and frankly im pretty disappointed so far.
On a 1080p screen, the graphics look blurry, the frame rate throws me off, and the shooting controls aren't as intuitive and fast reacting as I hoped, the stage doesn't exactly promote swinging/combat either as so far everyone seems to go for the sniper rifle of the Bulldog grenade launcher thing and camp it out.
I think this demo is actually going to have the opposite effect of what Capcom and Ben Judd had intended, which is a shame as I still have high hopes for this game but whoever considered a multiplayer demo for what really is a single player game at heart to be a good idea could probably do with an arsewhoopin :p.

Im hoping once I get to sit down with it for 2-3 hours later on instead of the 30mins I just spent on it, my opinions will change, i've gotten to grips with swinging properly, and the combat isn't bad, just seems very sluggish.

[Archelon]

I can't find a single game to save my life. I managed to get into one, and just as it started, the host ended it. Argh.

[Carnivol]

Visuals are fine to me.


Gameplay works smooth too (with the occasional lag hiccup).

It does take a terrible amount of time to find a game, though
(Really wish there was a lobby or player match system like in the Lost Planet demo)

Controls work pretty fine if you ask me, but they really should've included the tutorial part of the single player game, just to allow you to get the basics of how things work.

There's plenty of stuff to swing on in the demo area, though. But the demo doesn't contain the swing aid thingy... (The single player has this thing that basically gives you feedback on your swinging for the first 50-or-so swings)


As for people going for the sniper and camping that spot?
They're free kills and sitting ducks. They can only cover one area at a time with that sniper, so either just swing around the building they're standing on and go up on the back or just go up on the tower in the middle and use the radio antenna/satellite dish thingy to swing out over them and enter their sniping spot with a mighty death from above.



I think people are a bit too focused on staying alive. Take a few risks! There are health pickups, so if you're actually good, staying in motion all the time and pulling a 30/0 shouldn't be impossible in the demo.
(I've had a few good ones hitting 20 and stuff with only a couple of deaths myself... and that without having to feel like I've been cheap for picking up a health pack or armor along the road)

[The Dude]

Due to your current position and experience with the game, I kind of find your view somewhat biased and would also want to hear others opinions aswell.
But anyway;

I just spent 2 hours on the game, so far still the same issues with campers, but my best record is 24/1, got pipped in the final second from behind, was not amused when the guy on the mic kept gloating, but then my XBL mic broke shortly after so it was a relief not to hear pubescant retards anymore.

It can be very hard to get in a game, and at least 4 times the map loaded only for the host to disconnect.

I still find the close combat moves pointless, very occasionally do I see a short range punch land or cause damage, however i've been able to take out 5 at once with Death From Above, *usually the best way I find to take annoying players out*

I can already tell that I won't be playing Multiplayer much, however i've gotten the hang of swinging now, but I still feel the zoom in/over the shoulder view gunplay slows the game down alot when in the middle of a firefight.

Unfortunately i've seen a few lag switch users playing though, hit one guy with multiple rounds of the machine gun only for him to glitch/lag then proceed to take me and others out with his handgun *more then one person complained about this guy ingame he eventually won the match with 18 wins and 1 death but it was due to him falling off the map*

[Carnivol]

Due to your current position and experience with the game, I kind of find your view somewhat biased and would also want to hear others opinions aswell.

I just like a good game when I see one (and of course have been wanting a big budget Bionic Commando since... like forever)
It's refreshing to play something that doesn't play exactly the same way as most other stuff (which is also why I had such a hard-on for Lost Planet's multiplayer too... that and the grappling hook, of course :p)

When you play games day in and day out (and also often in order to pay the bills), you quickly get tired of how a lot of games play the same. You start to appreciate the stuff that stands out and does stuff that a lot of developers and publishers fear (such as making games in this day and age that aren't just carbon copies of previous AAA million sellers)

I just spent 2 hours on the game, so far still the same issues with campers, but my best record is 24/1, got pipped in the final second from behind, was not amused when the guy on the mic kept gloating, but then my XBL mic broke shortly after so it was a relief not to hear pubescant retards anymore.

I've yet to have anyone gloat over the mic, but I've so far encountered the usualy bunch of mic spammers (gotta love listening to someone's conveyor belt produced "beats" over scrambled microphone audio)

Really wish there was some sort of talk indicator in the game (pre- and post-game lobby would be enough), so I could easily figure out who to mute and who to toss the negative feedback at.

The more I've played now, the more I notice people (in general) are more in motion and doing less of the camping stuff.
+Try to keep an eye on the scores after a match (not the kills 'n' deaths, but the other thing awarded for style. That's where you often see the real winner, though, landing a huge multi-kill combo often raises it bit high, even if all you ever did was sit and snipe)

It can be very hard to get in a game, and at least 4 times the map loaded only for the host to disconnect.

Agree. I've had to sit and wait for nearly 15 min without getting anything. Also had a lot of disconnects. Some crashes when it tries to start the match too. Also had a good few matches where the host as seemingly randomly disconnected and also some where the host has complained about his failures in the game and quit the game as a result of him not being part of the Top 3.

I still find the close combat moves pointless, very occasionally do I see a short range punch land or cause damage, however i've been able to take out 5 at once with Death From Above, *usually the best way I find to take annoying players out*

Hand to hand is a bit of an "area of effect" thing.

The easiest is to use the Uppercut (Y) to throw someone up in the air and then follow it by a Jump (A) and then a kick (B). Should usually send them flying. If you're really awesome, smack them with the wire instantly and zip kick after them and pray that you're not going out of the map yourself.

Being in constant motion is part of the key to success, I suppose.

I can already tell that I won't be playing Multiplayer much, however i've gotten the hang of swinging now, but I still feel the zoom in/over the shoulder view gunplay slows the game down alot when in the middle of a firefight.

I probably wont be doing much ranked stuff myself. I really wish they'd included a game lobby or a player match system in the demo. 'cause I know I'll mainly be playing with friends. (Just like I've been doing in Lost Planet)

Zoom system shouldn't be used in close combat (unless you've already got the aim on someone and want to minimize the spread even further).
Actually, zoom, sans Sniper, should probably not be used at all in multiplayer (most of the time). It's more of a distance and single player thing.

Unfortunately i've seen a few lag switch users playing though, hit one guy with multiple rounds of the machine gun only for him to glitch/lag then proceed to take me and others out with his handgun *more then one person complained about this guy ingame he eventually won the match with 18 wins and 1 death but it was due to him falling off the map*

Ugh, yeah. Those seem to be everywhere
The best is when you actually beat them and they go apeshit over how you're a cheater ('cause obviously it takes a cheater to beat a cheater...)


Guess the best is to just scratch that player off your list of targets and ignore those players' existence.



**gonna update main post with some controller stuff**

[edit]


All hail the Bionic Middle Manager

[Mr. Spencer]

I think Groeder has the potential to become a better antagonist than Wesker.

[GuardhouseMusic]

I'm enjoying the demo quite a bit. Plus I seem to be getting opponents of different styles. There was one match where I saw about 4 sniper lasers aimlessly wandering around lol. Really like doing the zip kick.