SCDA PC MP and SP demos out

[Icarusintel]

SP Demo here (http://www.gamershell.com/news/34220.html)

MP Demo here (http://www.gamershell.com/news/34219.html)


They finally came out. I'm downloading the SP one and will give impressions when it's done. Might take me a little while because it's off a European server.

[ktimekiller]

a gig demo? -_-

[Steel.Inferno]

It will probably be like all the other SC games except it sounds like a loads better plot. I'll grab the MP demo though.

Demoes on Fileplanet (vomit) http://www.fileplanet.com/170264/170000/fileinfo/Splinter-Cell:-Double-Agent-Demo-%5BMultiplayer%5D

[VictimOfScience]

Ooh! I'll try that alright!

Thanks for the heads-up!

[StardogChampion]

It's a .zip too. It better not fudge up when I'm extracting it.

[ailevation]

**** yes!!!

[Uriel]

**** no!!!
Stupid computer, be faster

[Drackard]

Yesh !!!
I'll download overnight so it gives me something to play before i go to College tomorrow :D

[ailevation]

omg guys im so excited, I am installing the SP one right now! WOOT!


Great, so I installed and I cannot play... once I start a new mission the game crashes with some "vertex error".

[StardogChampion]

omg guys im so excited, I am installing the SP one right now! WOOT!


Great, so I installed and I cannot play... once I start a new mission the game crashes with some "vertex error".
Your graphics card doesn't have Shader Model 3, and neither does mine.

Ubisoft won't be getting our money this year. I'm not due another graphics card upgrade until next September or something, since I just bought a new one last Xmas and I refuse to upgrade so soon. :sniper:

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

yeah just a heads up for everybody before you you spend hours downloading the demos- make sure your Graphics card support Shader Model 3.0 or the game won't run....

Ubisoft is gonna lose a ton of money because of this...

[ailevation]

hilarity ensues.

[Drackard]

What cards support 3.0 ?

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

What cards support 3.0 ?

*Supported Video Cards at Time of Release

ATI® X1600/X1800/X1900

NVidia® 6600 /6800/7300/7600/7800/7900

[boglito]

Strange move.

Anyway, I have an older card atm, but I will still download the demo and bully my mate into installing it (not his kinda game) so I can test it out on his slightly beefier puter.

I absolutely loved SC:CT, so if this is an improvement it will be a heavy argument to upgrade.

.bog.

[StardogChampion]

I want to see some hi-res screenshots. If it doesn't look majorly better than SC:CT then they've made a bad move not supporting SM2.

[Shippi]

*installs* :D

[Drackard]

Bugger it then, i'll see if there is a demo out on XBL Marketplace yet, rather get it on 360 anyway, prefer the SC games on console, just find them easier to control :)

[B_MAN]

thanks for the links!

anyone played?

[Steel.Inferno]

I've played the MP. Not terribly impressed, but I've never been a fan of SC multiplayer.

The Menus and such ingame are atrociously done, in my opinion. Terribly unintuitive, I couldn't even find options settings or anything simple like that. Graphics were I suppose better than the previous games, but alot of new stuff is just stupid, like how damn shiny the spy uni's are. Mercs look like beer-bellied rednecks with fancy gear attached.

Control system is as always poor, this is almost certainly better to get on the 360, especially as probably 50-75% of ya'lls comps won't support it thanks to the required SM3.0

I would grab the sp demo, but my download will be done later today anyway.

[Icarusintel]

SP demo was pretty good. The level looks absolutely gorgeous. I hate the new interface and HUD though. It's obvious this was a straight port. I like the new moves and such. Pulling a guy through the ice and stabbing him in the chest is oh so deviously fun. Besides that, it's pretty much the same. Gameplay is tried and true.

[Raziaar]

So... I wonder how long this'll take me to download on my fios! woo

EDIT: It'll be finished in 8 minutes from fileplanet. heh.

[Krynn72]

Ive beaten the full game. Its a fantastic game, best splinter cell so far. Its basically more in depth than all the others, better story, and with choices that can change how the game plays out.

And I found the menus to be fine... if you cant figure them out then you are rediculously stupid. Besides, your in the menu for like 3 seconds during the entire game. Also, the game controls perfectly too, so I dont know what you're talking about there.

[Raziaar]

WTF. You need a 3.0 shader? I have a 2.0 shader on my radeon 9800 pro. grrr

And I found the menus to be fine... if you cant figure them out then you are rediculously stupid.

No need to be insulting to people.

[Krynn72]

Im not insulting. Thats actually an understatement... if you cant figure it out. They are as easy as any other game to navigate.

[Icarusintel]

And I found the menus to be fine... if you cant figure them out then you are rediculously stupid. Besides, your in the menu for like 3 seconds during the entire game.
The menus just don't feel like they were made for a PC game. They're overly simplified and not exactly precise when it comes to mouse movement. I just hate the fact that it feels like a straight port from the X360 when it comes to menus. It's not like it's difficult to change the interface for a PC.

[Lucid]

Hooray for another port!

Why can't devs just take the time to rework the game properly for the PC?

Lazy bastards. D:

[Krynn72]

Firstly... why would you want a complicated menu?
Secondly... How can it be unprecise? You but your mouse over the button and click.
Thirdly... Check out the video im going to post. Its the menus, and its not hard to make your way to the settings or to load a game. Or anything for that matter

To whoever wanted high res screenshots... I took a couple (3 in fact) but they arnt very good since I didnt have any save files close to the cool looking areas. You can see the detail in the Sam Fisher model though, and its nice. But let me tell you... it looks damn good in motion.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/turkeyslapper/SplinterCell4-2006-11-09-21.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/turkeyslapper/SplinterCell4-2006-11-09-20.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/turkeyslapper/Splin4terCell4-2006-11-09-2.jpg




EDIT: Heres the video: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/turkeyslapper/th_SCDAMenus.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v325/turkeyslapper/?action=view&current=SCDAMenus.flv)
Also, those screenshots look like crap. The Jpeg compression destroyed them

[ChiChi]

I'm getting the PC and the xbox version. From what I've heard, the current-gen versions are loads better. But being the SC fanatic that I am, I really want to experience DA on the PC.

[Doppelgofer]

been playing the multiplayer since pt...was the only mp i played for ages infact

played this one tonight and i'm overwhelmingly dissapointed. FOR ME, its ruined

[Raziaar]

OMG snow levels! <orgasms>

[ailevation]

oops, nvm I reread lol.

[Steel.Inferno]

Firstly... why would you want a complicated menu?
Secondly... How can it be unprecise? You but your mouse over the button and click.
Thirdly... Check out the video im going to post. Its the menus, and its not hard to make your way to the settings or to load a game. Or anything for that matter


EDIT: Heres the video: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/turkeyslapper/th_SCDAMenus.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v325/turkeyslapper/?action=view&current=SCDAMenus.flv)
Also, those screenshots look like crap. The Jpeg compression destroyed them

Um, I was talking about the MP one, asshole. It is COMPLETELY different. One more annoying thing there, why are the menus so totally different in sp and mp? Have you even played the MP? It's bloody awful. You *cannot* change or even view your control scheme as far as I can tell without editing the ini files. The only way I saw to see the controls was a handful it tells you in the map loading hints. So to play my first online match all I knew was 3 controls, the only one I can remember being c = crouch.

I want a "complicated" menu because I want some choice! Like the choice of how my controls are set up. I never ever use c for crouch, or shift for jump, and in this game they don't give me the option to do it my way.

To reiterate from above and other forums: This is a 360 game through and through. Such as in confirmations, it looks honestly like they switched out the little images of the a/b/x/y whatever buttons on the gamepads and threw in a mouse with one of the buttons highlighted.

There is no game lobby in mp, you simply join a random game with a random host (who, by the way, could be hosting from Delhi on a 56k line for all you know, no pings shown)

Playing through MP as Merc: Wander about a tiny, cluttered map until you see a spy. Own the spy in one-two seconds or die yourself. Oh wait, I don't need to see a spy, as the game OUTLINES THEM in a thick white line. Yes, outlines them :hmph: . And not only that, when they were nearby (not even when I was looking at them) I could hear a buzzing sort of sound when the spy was near. Just stupid. The map is atleast half spy-only areas that are for the most part impervious to you (except nades). Since there was no physical way to chase or pursue a spy once he was in one of the areas, I had to just patrol between the objectives and hope the spy was too stupid to run away after a few seconds of objective downloading (you have to "download" something from a giant glowy cylinder, faster/slower depending on how far you are from it, and can stop/resume progress at any time)

MP as spy: More console crap as before. Leaving spawn more outlines flashed at me, this time blue ones that showed me where I could climb poles, fences, boxes, etc. Thanks for taking away ANY little fun of exploration and finding a good route on my own. :sleep: I did the same thing I saw spies doing on merc, just pick an objective to run between using the spy passages and download one for a bit, then the other while the merc ran around like a headless chicken. It just wasn't fun.

Also, not only does it not support anything but SM 3.0, it apparently causes major issues with dual processors and the like. So if you rig is too old, it doesn't work, and too good, it doesn't work either. Grats Ubisoft, you made a shitty port. Game also appears to be around 9gigs (more?) in size.

Do not waste your money buying this for MP.

I'll play more on the full version and write a proper review for ya'll perhaps. This is just a rant... (I'm an evil pirate who will burn in hell, playing terrible videogames)

[Krynn72]

oh... who gives a shit about multiplayer.

I honestly dont think I ever played a single round of Splinter Cell Multiplayer ever, in any of their games.

[Steel.Inferno]

Not me, I was just defending myself there and it turned into a rant. I've played SC mp once or twice. But I can say for certain it was a much better Mp game in PT.

[Krynn72]

I heard the MP had a extremely hard learning curve before you get good at it. So thats probably why you dislike it so much since you only played a couple times. I bet if we played a bunch we might end up liking it when we understand all the intricacies of the game.

Anyways... the single player is the only thing that ever interested me at all... and in this Double Agent really delivers.

[B_MAN]

played both sp and mp demos
i really enjoy splinter cell for the most part but this game is just so mediocre
seems like you need a killer rig to run it well and keep it looking nice, the UI, hud and menus are sub par, and the gameplay brings nothing new to the table
im pretty disappointed
although it might be better on 360.. dunno

[Raziaar]

Man it's so lame that you NEED a 3.0 shader card to play the demo. 2.0 should be enough. Grrr.

[Shippi]

I played it for half an hour or so last night before I had to sleep :(

:D! the level is goooorgeous, the Fisher model is amazing, gameplay isn't so different but that's not a problem :D I don't like the new HUD much, but it's just a case of getting used to it.

I've played the XBOX version, and it felt very much the same as the previous few, with medicore graphics. It was very enjoyable though and I'm playing it through again now to see the other choices I can take :) I'll probably do the same for the PC when my full copy arrives (hopefully today, damnit)

The only thing the PC needs is a proper co-op. I hate the versus mode.. co op is incredible though. I'll be finishing the new xbox co op (15 missions?) with a friend soon

[StardogChampion]

Someone said he got his SM2 card working after he installed Vista, since it can software emulate SM3 or something. Don't quote me on that.

[Gargantou]

I've already played this through on the 360 and XB1 versions of SCDA, and I must say I wish they'd release the XB1 version on the PC too, it's far better, being done by the original Ubisoft Montreal team, rather than Shanghai(The lamers who did GRAW on the PS2/XB1 xD), aside from feeling more truer to the original SC formula and not having as superannoying timed missions, it also has a far more fleshed out story and more indepth character development :)

[Shippi]

I've already played this through on the 360 and XB1 versions of SCDA, and I must say I wish they'd release the XB1 version on the PC too, it's far better, being done by the original Ubisoft Montreal team, rather than Shanghai(The lamers who did GRAW on the PS2/XB1 xD), aside from feeling more truer to the original SC formula and not having as superannoying timed missions, it also has a far more fleshed out story and more indepth character development :)

I agree with the xbox having the more indepth story, but I seem to remember little to no character development. I felt no emotional attachment to any of the characters, which was a bit silly as that was meant to be a huge point of the game - tough decisions and so on. I'm not far enough on the PC version to say if it has the same problem, but I take it it does. Ah well, it sure does look pretty!

[Hypnosos]

Someone said he got his SM2 card working after he installed Vista, since it can software emulate SM3 or something. Don't quote me on that.
So, the game does work on Windows Vista? Because, according to the system requirements, the game only supports Windows XP.

[Krynn72]

So, the game does work on Windows Vista? Because, according to the system requirements, the game only supports Windows XP.

Why would they officially support a operating system that isnt even released yet?

[Steel.Inferno]

SP isn't very impressive to me.

Alot of the stealth is gone, as for one thing, there is no REASON to be stealthy. Unless I force myself to be sneaky, I just knock people out. Generally how I play it atm is never kill anyone (primarily because killing = lose trust), but other than that no limits.

The main game plays as a balancing act between JBA and NSA objectives, sometimes conflicting.

But I really, really hate the JBA HQ missions. Which is basically every other one. It is just really dull, a collection of easy stealth bits and wandering around. You have half an hour to do whatever in the base. Most of it is minigames like safecracking, rifle range, hacking, etc. Speaking of safecracking.. this game is BUGGY. I've gotten off map twice, and had to load. Safecracking takes 5-10 retries to get working which often forces a load in timed parts. Maps are, like all SC games, very very linear as well, though with the NSA/JBA objective choices its not so bad.

It's very easy to keep both trusts up, and there really isn't as much deep moral choice as the hype made it seem.

Like the here's a gun, kill this prisoner part. Maybe I have no moral conviction, or maybe I'm just a rational human being, but I didn't even think twice about it really. One, the guy was just some random person, two, I knew they would kill him anyway if I didn't, so to preserve cover it was obviously necessary to shoot the guy.

Also choices don't seem to actually effect anything. For example, in one mission I was supposed to get the frequency for some detonator. I didn't, and yet in the next cutscene Lambert said I did and it would be able to stop the bomb. :hmph:

Anyway, its all rather dull, more of the same SC. I've stopped playing at the bloody THIRD trip to the JBA HQ, with more poeple telling me to do this do that in the exact same map. better games to waste time on imo...

While graphics and such are loads better, Sam Fisher looks way, way too old. I mean really, he looks like a buff 60 year old.

[StardogChampion]

It seems the Shanghai team are noobcakes at making games :/

[Unfocused]

Hm by default (detected) my settings are set to "next-gen", but I get 15 fps with these settings, so I decided to switch to "standard". I restart the game - hmm, no difference, access the menu - it's still on "next-gen"! I can't change it oO. Customize settings is greyed out BTW.