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Old 02-11-23, 06:25 AM   #6
Dowly
Lucky Jack
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Finland
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Platapus View Post
For the challenge. You can fulfill the objectives in a different way just by changing your approach. You can unlock different starting locations which changes the game experience.
Yes, I can do that, but only if I want to complete everything in every way in the game that doesn't reward me for it. That was the whole point of my criticism; the progression system in SE5 doesn't encourage the player to re-play missions.



*clears throat*

So, I'm now on the 5th mission of the game and I can't shake the feeling that things have been left halfway.

Let's start with a mission where one of the optional objectives is to destroy an antenna mast. The main way to destroy it is to go inside the coastal bunker (on which the mast stands) and destroy the antenna's electronics, but if you listen to the guards talking it turns out that the antenna cables are in bad shape and if two of them fail, the whole mast will go down. Sounds like a clever opportunity for a little sniping, doesn't it? Wrong! You can't shoot the cables to pieces, you have to cut them with cutters. Where can you find cutters? At the bunker. Where are the cables? At the bunker. Sure, you'll need a crowbar to destroy the electronics, but that too can be found near the bunker. The game gives you two ways to do something, but neither way is easier or harder. The only choice is: Do you prefer a crowbar or bolt cutters?

In the same mission, you'll find a safe with the combination you need a few feet away on a table. Why? The information you find in the safe could have been left on the table. Sure, you'll have to shoot the lock off the room door using armor-piercing bullets, but I suspect all players at this point in the game already have them with them from the start of the mission.

***

The glass bottles used to distract enemies is another thing that makes you wonder. Unlike in Hitman, for example, you can't use just any bottles. The only way to get more bottles is to find them around the map, and they have to be the exact same bottles. Why do away with throwing stones and replace it with such a gamey system? A system that makes no sense.


The elusive glass bottles. Only empty bottles found in these boxes can be used.



***

In-game cutscenes will always show your character with their starting weapons and uniform, regardless of how you've customised your character and what weapons you're using. Games have shown your character wearing proper gear during cutscenes for a very long time. No reason to leave it out in a game published in 2022.


Fairburne in a cutscene and immediately after.



***

In SE5, the sniping doesn't feel so much like a half-finished job as an afterthought. I don't mean how the sniping works, the shooting, but where the rifle can actually be used. So far, the fourth mission has been the only one where I've felt like I could incorporate sniping into the otherwise stealthy gameplay that is the main focus of SE5.

There are plenty of sniping nests, but in the missions so far they've always felt forced. They feel as if the game makers just wanted a few spots per map where the player could perform a precision brain drain method before being sent deeper into the mission where the rifle is less useful due to the short distances. Sure, from these nests you can clear areas of enemies you might go into later, but it never feels necessary. The submachine gun as well as the pistol will do the job just as well up close.

I mentioned earlier the fourth mission of the game. Of the ones I've done so far, I think it's the best because the rifle remains an effective option throughout the map. Even though the other maps have been more open, the factory area in mission four is made so that you'll constantly find ways to use the rifle in addition to other weapons in a natural way. The area could easily have been made into a maze where the rifle is useless, but thanks to the verticality of the map and the large factory halls open at both ends through which you can force-feed lead to the Germans, the map is a real pleasure to play. The only downside was the lack of enemy snipers. I think there were one or two enemy snipers in the mission, although the map would have been perfect for more.


The beginning of mission three is perhaps the worst case of offering sniping for the sake of offering sniping. All of the objectives are in Mont-Saint-Michel, past the bridge, where the rifle is far less useful due to narrow winding streets and small interiors. This entire starting section could be removed without it affecting the mission itself.

Last edited by Dowly; 02-11-23 at 12:56 PM.
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