Hard Reset; the next attempt to make a modern classic Doom style game?

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/hard-reset/news/6326099/hard-reset-qanda-whats-old-is-new-again?sid=6326099&tag=newsfeatures;title;1&mode=previews

The next attempt to make a game like classic Doom, Quake and "Painkiller".

I put quotes around Painkiller because although a good game, it isn't like Doom or Quake in my book.

Anyway, given that it's out in September, there isn't long to wait to see if it succeeds.

No regenerating health, less linear than most modern shooters, PC exclusive.... not bad. Not bad at all.

"adapting the classic shooter style[...] for the modern age" kind of worries me, but that's probably just paranoia.

No running at 60 mph? Pass.

This looks pretty fuckin sweet. Probably the only game this year I'm looking forward to now.

The trailer doesn't reveal much but I'll probably check it out when it's released.

Explosions that dazzle you so you can't see what's going on? I can see that getting annoying.

Or maybe it will just make that weapon less attractive (like Doom's plasma gun.)

For some reason this actually left me with a positive impression, which is rare.

Maybe it was the cool electric Raiden-like weapon, the movement speed which was better than Doom 3's, and the action for the same reason. I will be looking forward to it.

Hmmm this is looking kinda interesting. Will have to keep eye on this one.

A modern-day game without modern day gimmicks? Could it possibly be? This looks like something to keep track of. Pretty sweet.

Xeros612 said:

"adapting the classic shooter style[...] for the modern age" kind of worries me, but that's probably just paranoia.

Well hey, the modern shooter gameplay style blows a house full of dicks so I'm interested in seeing how this goes.

Looks interesting. I'll have to keep an eye on this.

It's a shame that my friends will probably ignore this due to "lol no unlocks" or something equally trivial. But I'll eagerly look into this once reviews start rolling out.

Framerate is Golden.

The next attempt to make a game like classic Doom, Quake and "Painkiller".

You mentioned Painkiller but left out Serious Sam? Shame on you.

Looks great, but needs hordes of hundreds of monsters.

It looks good. It actually looks more futuristic than any Doom ever did. It actually feels more like Contra Alien Wars level 1 in 3D.

I dub thee Contra Alien Wars 3D

Craigs said:

You mentioned Painkiller but left out Serious Sam? Shame on you.

Neither game is like doom or any other 'classic' fps in any way shape or form so who cares?

Uhhhhh.... fast paced (compared to modern shooters) gameplay, shooting loads of unintelligent enemies with a large arsenal of weapons, lots of gore... that kind of fits the bill for "classic shooter" gameplay, albeit missing the "find keycards" part.

Don't want to be a grumpy, but:-

GS: What can you tell us about the game's multiplayer?

MS: There is none! Seriously, you can gather achievements and level scores and compare them to your friends--that's all. Why? Because nowadays there are just too many games focused only on multiplayer. We had to choose whether we wanted to put all our efforts into creating the best single-player experience or add a multiplayer mode just to fill the check box and still get it done worse than in other games focused on multiplayer modes.

No multiplayer. How can it be considered reminiscent of Doom and Quake when it has no multiplayer?

It's true that most shooters these days only include a multiplayer mode because it's "the done thing", and it's usually a mediocre experience at best. But that doesn't mean deathmatch can't be fun and engrossing if it's designed well and not an afterthought. If this game really lives up to what they're claiming it to be then it's going to be lacking something once everyone gets bored of the singleplayer.

No word on how modifiable if will be, either. Being a PC exclusive you'd expect the developers to be aware of how much of the player base will be wanting to create custom content.

MS: There is none! Seriously, you can gather achievements and level scores and compare them to your friends--that's all. Why? Because nowadays there are just too many games focused only on multiplayer.

I guess this pretty much makes it official that the developers are hipster douche bags
"Multiplayer is just like... you know man... so mainstream..."

The idea of trying to cut out the option for friends to play the game together just for the sake of trying to avoid doing what everyone else is doing strikes me as flat out stupid. Also, if you're just trying to avoid the game being "multiplayer focused", why not just keep that aspect to a minimum? Maybe simply add co-op support for the single player campaign and leave it at that?

No MP? That's fine by me. I pretty much ignore the MP in 90% of the games I play anyway. Like they say, there are game that are more focused on it, and that's what I would probably spend the little time I play Multiplayer games playing.

Who am I kidding, I'd play Borderlands and nothing else.

This looks not bad, but god that HUD is ugly as fuck.

Craigs said:

The idea of trying to cut out the option for friends to play the game together just for the sake of trying to avoid doing what everyone else is doing strikes me as flat out stupid. Also, if you're just trying to avoid the game being "multiplayer focused", why not just keep that aspect to a minimum? Maybe simply add co-op support for the single player campaign and leave it at that?

Assuming they're a small studio with little to no external funding, it could be just a matter of money. Writing a good, reliable netcode isn't that simple, plus today's players will want dedicated servers at least for the lobbies, and hosting those costs money too. It's the same as what Runic Games did with Torchlight: They knew they couldn't make the kind of a multiplayer experience that players would want with the limited resources they had, so they simply cut it out altogether until the sequel. That let them use all of their available resource on doing as good single player as they could instead of cutting corners on both modes of gameplay.

I think that is a legitimate decision, and if the game takes off everyone will start crying for multiplayer and they'll release an "online expansion" just to pinch a few more pennies :P

Seriously though, as a new studio they will get their balls stomped on in the multiplayer realm.

also:

Xeros612 said:

albeit missing the "find keycards" part.

MS said:

It's rather similar to old-school shooters like Doom, where you had to search the level to get a key card

Quast said:

Neither game is like doom or any other 'classic' fps in any way shape or form so who cares?

MS said:

So the main inspiration were games with such a gameplay style--again, Doom, Painkiller, or Serious Sam

Processingcontrol said:

Looks great, but needs hordes of hundreds of monsters.

MS said:

we wanted to create a game where you eliminate hordes of enemies

Actually no MP sounds like a breath of fresh air. This means that the community will focus on good, single player maps (assuming it's moddable) and that the base game itself will be focused on allowing a single player to play decently -something which unfortunately is considered somewhat of a fashion victim today.

As others said, there are many others MP players with established userbases. I'd rather see a new game that excels at SP, rather than being forced to struggle with three or four digit pings to "enjoy" it "online'. Fuck that.

Craigs said:

I guess this pretty much makes it official that the developers are hipster douche bags
"Multiplayer is just like... you know man... so mainstream..."

Bethesda say the same thing about their games (that they focus on SP to get the best SP experience they can give). Are they hipster douchebags too?

"No MP" is one of the main reasons that makes me want to buy the game so it doesn't fail, even if it doesn't deliver on its promises. I have nothing against MP shooters (nor against the numerous MP only games, for that matter), but I'd like some SP goodness too, and not as an afterthought.

I don't own a smartphone, don't understand how to use Twitter and only wear black suits, though, so I make a rather lousy hipster.

Looks pretty confusing, like playing all those beastiary-heavy wads where all different enemies are coming at you with 3-4 different swirly multicoloured attacks, and you don't know which ones are the most dangerous. Except here they are all blue.

BUT it also appears to have leadsleds. I'll hang about and see what other people say about it.

magicsofa said:

stuff regarding what I said

Damn you, late night failing of memory!

LOL it'll have multiplayer.

A lot of FPS and 3PS literally start their game with multiplayer to see if its actually fun before they spend the time making AI. Transformers War for Cybertron is a good example.

I don't see how MP could ever influence SP, unless you're talking coop. MP usually means "FFA deathmatch where griefers spawncamp you", so that's hardly indicative of how SP will work out. OK, there ARE some FPS which only have a SP mode thrown in as an afterthought (like the Battlefield series or CS), but Doom surely wasn't designed that way, not even Doom 3.