Quality Control

[Fluffy Kitten]

Five months of work to bring us Dead Air and Death Toll for Versus mode...

And for some reason, this really bothers me :



They add that bit in the alleyway, presumably for Boomers to spawn in, but they don't spend the extra 30 seconds to make sure the ground texture lines up. It seems representative of the whole campaign...

In the early levels of Dead Air last night, I constantly found myself trying to leap on top of buildings that were clipped off for no reason, with no signs saying you couldn't get up there. The crane event had the fences removed, providing Smokers with an insta-kill spot on an already pretty Smoker-friendly level.

I climb up the buildings on map 2 and can't see in to where the Survivors spawn due to visibility optimisation...



They could have totally justified that Smoker "insta-kill" spot if they'd just taken that fire escape on the right hand building and moved it over to the left, allowing Survivors the chance to walk down a few stairs and then drop down to the start in order to rescue their fallen teammate at the cost of having to repeat a section of the level.

The finale edit seemed to consist entirely of adding a truck for the Survivors to corner-camp on top of during the horde, before kiting the Tank around the nearby plane, practically mirroring the 'enclosed area and open area right next to each other' problems that the Blood Harvest finale has.

Map 4 broke the trend set by No Mercy and Blood Harvest by not being completely terrible and actually seemed rather fun. But the whole thing seemed so... familiar.

Dead Air and Death Toll Versus are the other half of the game we paid for all those months ago, they're not new, free content like the TF2 unlocks or Survival mode, and looking at Dead Air (which, to be fair to Valve is the only bit I've played so far) I can't see 5 months of work in it. I can't see 5 weeks or even 5 days of work having gone into editing Dead Air for Versus mode. I don't see why they've held on to it for so long when it could so easily have been slipped out several months ago, followed a bit later by Death Toll, followed today by Survival mode.

As we're still without the SDK, we still haven't got "the full game" that should have been there on release, and even disregarding all the stuff they've broken with the patches, I'm feeling a bit sadface about the whole thing. Anyone else ?

I assume I'll be back here later with more screenshots after I've played Death Toll... see you then !

[White Kite Fauna]

where is the smoker instakill spot on the screen shot?

[Yeti]

well it does seem that the work done here was made either by amateurs, or unsupervised team. If some one that cares would have tested the map, he would notice it and have it fixed.

Before this patch I though Dead Air is going to be hard since smokers can easily get ppl incaped or dead.
But unfortunately, they made it worse. Most maps have parts added that arnt important, and the strategy isnt fully though through.

Its like the custom NS maps that have been made with rather good amount of detail, but had no though of strategy, time to get from ms to hive, siege spots, res control territory etc.

On deathtoll5, just above the saferoom house theres aircon motor that I wanted to stand on as a smoker, but guess what, its an empty texture, you jump through, so why put it there? either make it solid, or move it 3 meters to the part outside the map.... lots of small flaws, and the big ones arent fixed yet...

Still is a fun game, but it does annoy me that games arent fully thought through these days...

[Obraxis]

Lets not even get started on the LIGHTHOUSE menu screen...

[Yeti]

Why would there be an infected ladder here? it doesnt lead any where, if you spawn on it you are in the middle of the ally, in plane sight, why would it be there?!

and about 1 min later, as a hunter, I pounced up from the power line onto a wall, and to the rooftop (just after the cop car) and instead of landing in the safty of the roof, I landed in mid air, about 15 meters above the roof, where I could be shot, I even had 1 second to run on that air, annoying...

Also I found out, that unlike BH and NM, all along DA you can find places you can have 20-25 point pounces, which is crazy.

[White Kite Fauna]

why is it crazy - i pounced someone for 25 points on that same screenshot of FK - and i thought "wow, me!"
I guess you discovered already an invisible box with electrical wires coming out, on the roof on Dead air, map 3? I was running around and hit an invisible wall. I turned and looked for some object sticking out or a texture connection glitch where one might stuck but there was nothing. Then I bumped into it again.

[SMudgeh]

[White Kite Fauna]

and at the end of the pipes there is a "special" joint the smoker hid before he went on with his business. And if you get to it, a secret "Get high!" achievement is unlocked.

[Yeti]

hmmm, well I tried getting on that pipe, but I didnt succeed, pretty sure its lodged under the second story, so you cant stand on it, but even if you can, whats the point? its inside the ally, u spawn miles away, instead of just around the corner, and those 3 meters arent gonna change anything... you will still get shot before the survivors get in range.
Totally pointless...

clipped buildings also annoy me, either clip em all, or dont clip at all, why would u clip a building on one side, and let inf climb it on the other? whats the point, to block one side? it doesnt limit, it just annoys...

[White Kite Fauna]

FK, you gonna post something about Crash course?

[Fluffy Kitten]

I've only played it once, but if you're after a bashing of it...

FAO Valve : Width != Length

...as the actress said to the bishop.