F.E.A.R. Multiplayer Demo

[bapenguin]

Another day, another F.E.A.R. demo.

Mirrors
3D Gamers (http://www.3dgamers.com/news/more/1096482965/)
FileCloud (http://www.filecloud.com/files/file.php?file_id=2164)
FilePlanet (http://www.fileplanet.com/157279/150000/fileinfo/-F.E.A.R.-Demo-%5BMulti-Player%5D?r=5)
FileRush (http://www.filerush.com/download.php?target=fear_mpdemo_en.exe) (torrent)
FileShack (http://www.fileshack.com/file.x?fid=7745)
WorthPlaying (http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=28671)

[KarmaGhost]

Yoink! Yes indeed.

[Spooky]

So, how exactly does this differ from the multiplayer demo (or was that the beta?)that was previously released? I trust some additional content or maps have been added.

[KarmaGhost]

The last demo was single player. There was a beta released for multiplayer, but as most betas are, was limited in the number of people that access to it. This is a multiplayer demo.

EDIT: So I really haven't answered your question, in retrospect.

[Orphiuchus]

Well, the multiplayer beta sucked all kinds of ass, so I think I can skip this one.

[Neosho]

I kinda wonder about the multiplayer beta.

It seems that it was very much a love it or hate it kinda thing...Even though i was running it on a geforce4400, it still ran ok, although i had all the settings cranked waaay down.

Orphiuchus, what didn't you like about it?

[The Iron Weasel]

I thought it was standard in the beta but i loved the way the game played so I played lots and lots of the beta

[TheKeck]

Well, the multiplayer beta sucked all kinds of ass, so I think I can skip this one.

Don't you think that MIGHT be why they're releasing ANOTHER multiplayer demo? Maybe this one is worlds better. I don't know... just speculating. I haven't played either.

[Worldcrafter]

So has anyone actually tried the new demo? If you didn't like the beta, then you shouldn't skip this, because (and maybe I'm just being naively optimistic here) the point of a beta is to find out what need to be fixed in future versions.

[The_Darr]

all i remember from the beta is the winning player of each round had at LEAST a 1/2 kill/death ratio which for me seems ridiculous and unrewarding.

[civx]

This demo is prertty fun although its laggy even on low. But then again I have a Radeon 9600 Pro.

Either way I'll most likely be buying the game.

[Chagrinful]

Seems like pretty much EVERYTHING counts as a headshot. Kinda sad, deathmatch is dead! Long live some sort of objective based multiplayer!

[Neosho]

all i remember from the beta is the winning player of each round had at LEAST a 1/2 kill/death ratio which for me seems ridiculous and unrewarding.

That's odd...the only game type that i really play is FPS's, and i found that after adjusting to the speed/style of the game, i easily ran up 1.5-2/1 kill/death ratio.

[civx]

Seems like pretty much EVERYTHING counts as a headshot. Kinda sad, deathmatch is dead! Long live some sort of objective based multiplayer!

Quake 4 will fix that.

[Neosho]

ok. So i've played the demo for about an hour now, and it's cool...but melee breaks the game. Press h to holster your weapon, and then run around at double the normal speed punching people for one hit kills. Broken.

[civx]

ok. So i've played the demo for about an hour now, and it's cool...but melee breaks the game. Press h to holster your weapon, and then run around at double the normal speed punching people for one hit kills. Broken.

No not really.

[KarmaGhost]

Um, all I get is "waiting" when it's looking for servers. What gives?

[civx]

Um, all I get is "waiting" when it's looking for servers. What gives?

You can thank Gamespy for that. Click 'Look for servers' on the top.

[Spooky]

The principle issue with the multiplayer format is that its purely deathmatch. This isn't 1992 people, we have come to expect more.

That said, the melee in the game is remarkable amounts of fun. Jump and hit melee attack and do a spinning round house. Run forward, hit jump, and do a melee attack to do some sort of leapng scissor kick (that can drop multiple people). Run forward, crouch, and melee attack to do a sliding attack. These are great deals of fun.

[civx]

The principle issue with the multiplayer format is that its purely deathmatch. This isn't 1992 people, we have come to expect more.


No, we haven't. I'm sick and tired of OH MAN YOU WORK AS A SQUAD AND USE REALISTIC WEAPONS WHILE CAPTURING BASES AND VEHICLES

I just want to shoot the crap out of everything I see and not have to worry about anything else.

[KarmaGhost]

You can thank Gamespy for that. Click 'Look for servers' on the top.Ahh, gotcha. In terms of other features, this ingame browser rivals BF2 in its stupidity. I've heard that some people don't like HL2's (and its sister games) browser, but I personally feel it is the best.
The principle issue with the multiplayer format is that its purely deathmatch. This isn't 1992 people, we have come to expect more.

That said, the melee in the game is remarkable amounts of fun. Jump and hit melee attack and do a spinning round house. Run forward, hit jump, and do a melee attack to do some sort of leapng scissor kick (that can drop multiple people). Run forward, crouch, and melee attack to do a sliding attack. These are great deals of fun.There are CTF modes in there too! :p I'd have to say that the melee component, while I see what they're trying to do with it (reward you for getting up close and personal), is too extreme. The speed advantage and apparent damage advantage is just too great for a game that, as far as I've seen, has nothing but close quarters combat to begin with. The whole deal is mildly fun.

[F3nyx]

I've been playing for the last few hours... to me this feels like the most solid deathmatch in a long time. Weapons are well-distinguished, it doesn't feel as though all the same guns are variants of the same thing. Physics are nice and subtle... not overly noticeable when players die from bullets, which makes it all the more glorious to toss a grenade into your opponent and watch him and his leg fly their separate ways.

Graphics are beautiful, as expected, but what I hadn't noticed in the single player demo was the sound. Gunshots sound more muffled, depending on how many walls are between you and the source, and the individual gunshot sounds are very distinctive. Also, I hardly encountered any lag at all. Hooray for UNC's massive bandwidth.

I hardly saw anybody even trying to use the melee attacks... very few people even got within melee range. I had some (very satisfying) success with the scissor-kick, but typically was shot to death in mid-air. I don't see what people mean by saying that it's "nothing but close quarters combat"... I saw people doing a LOT of long-range fighting with the assault rifle and sniper rifle on the "Factory" level. It's more understandable if you were referring to the CTF level, which is extremely cramped.

I've only got two complaints so far: one, the unbelieveably stupid Gamespy server browser (why, for instance, can't it refresh and sort by ping automatically? I have to hit "find servers", wait for the list, then hit the Ping tab twice to sort it in descending order, and then I have to scroll because for some reason I'm now viewing the middle of the list rather than the top... WTF?). Two, the aim feature, where you bring your gun up to your shoulder, is toggle-only. I'd really like it if I could aim by HOLDING the aim key, rather than toggling back and forth. Oh well.

Quake 4 will fix that.I'm not convinced. Judging from the multiplayer videos that have been released, well... people talk about sequels as being the same game with better graphics. That stereotype's often accurate, but I've never seen one that fulfills it so completely as Quake 4.

[Neosho]

No not really.

Ahh, yes...well, i'd have to say that out in the open, perhaps the person with the gun has the slight advantage. But given that most of the game is close, room to room combat, you can just sprint around the more enclosed sections of the map. I decided that it was just a touch broken when i killed an entire 4 man team on my own while only getting shot once or twice.

They walked around the corner, i jump kicked 2 of them, and punched the last 2. Totally reasonable that one guy can take down 4 guys without any real damage. I can understand that i got the first 2 because i was lucky with the multi jumpkick, but that the other 2 were unable to kill me with a shotty and assault rifle before i ran up to them and punched them in the face is...kinda...absurd. (as a note, even the shittiest of players should be able to shoot me when i'm standing there useless after i jump kicked the first 2)

Also, the fucking shotgun is useless. The SMG is decent, run and gun, the assault rifle is what everyone uses because it's pretty much hands down the best weapon, and the sniper seems to be troubled with a slight lag issue. IE, you click and it fires the 3 round burst a quarter of a second later. Kinda not so great when you only get 4 shots. Unless i'm missing some way to make it single shot, it seems sorta retarded as a sniper rifle. The nailgun is fun, but the smaller clip size and the fact that randomly headshots don't kill mean that the assault rifle is a much more useful weapon on the rather close quarters map that i played.

If the melee were tweaked slightly, maybe with a lesser speed bonus or a slight lowering of damage for the punching attack, i think this game would be a lot more fun. As it is now, on the servers i played on, 3-4 people (myself included, after a bit) just ran around punching teams to death.

[Neosho]

I hardly saw anybody even trying to use the melee attacks... very few people even got within melee range. I had some (very satisfying) success with the scissor-kick, but typically was shot to death in mid-air. I don't see what people mean by saying that it's "nothing but close quarters combat"... I saw people doing a LOT of long-range fighting with the assault rifle and sniper rifle on the "Factory" level. It's more understandable if you were referring to the CTF level, which is extremely cramped.


It's not the melee attacks of the guns that are overpowered, those are perfect, a last resort smack in the face if someone gets in close and you're reloading. If you hit h, you holster your gun, you run twice as fast, and you can one shot people with a punch. That's when it gets a bit absurd.

[F3nyx]

It's not the melee attacks of the guns that are overpowered, those are perfect, a last resort smack in the face if someone gets in close and you're reloading. If you hit h, you holster your gun, you run twice as fast, and you can one shot people with a punch. That's when it gets a bit absurd.Hmm... I'll have to try this technique for myself, but I haven't seen anybody using it.

Also, the shotgun is completely useless beyond short range, but it kills instantly if you're less than, say, 10 ft. away. Very much a niche weapon.

[civx]

It's not the melee attacks of the guns that are overpowered, those are perfect, a last resort smack in the face if someone gets in close and you're reloading. If you hit h, you holster your gun, you run twice as fast, and you can one shot people with a punch. That's when it gets a bit absurd.

I'm sorry but you have no idea what you're talking about. If you sit in one spot in melee mode and just camp that's not exactly overpowered. Try running at someone with a gun and you'll get shot in the face before you even get halfway towards them.

That "4 man team" was either really stupid, or just had terrible aim.

[Neosho]

I'm sorry but you have no idea what you're talking about. If you sit in one spot in melee mode and just camp that's not exactly overpowered. Try running at someone with a gun and you'll get shot in the face before you even get halfway towards them.

That "4 man team" was either really stupid, or just had terrible aim.


You don't sit in one spot, you just avoid the big rooms. Half of the advantage of melee is that they don't expect someone running at them twice as fast as normal. You can basically run circles around people when your gun is holstered. Also, you don't run directly at someone, you jump, sidestep, duck around corners, and make yourself hard to hit in general. The thing that makes it unbalanced is the fact that you move so much faster than normal and that any melee attack is an instant kill.

On the 4 man team bit, yeah, they probably were suprised, but it still seemed a bit absurd that i could kill 4 guys who should have been able to easily drop me.

Edit: After playing for awhile longer, the shotgun is good...but only in hand to hand range or just beyond. To me, this game was apparently designed to be played single player, and multiplayer seems to be more of an afterthought.