Boiling Point (formerly known as Xenus)?

So, it’s apparently gold.

They had quite a lot of coverage and interviews, were picked up by Atari for internationalization, put in multiplayer, took out multiplayer (I think), and looks like finally made it to gold.

Anyone in the audience with actual play experience? I have some high hopes for this as a sort of FPS-Morrowind - quests, factions, transportation, cities, stats, inventory management … all done up in FPS style. I’d love to hear some opinions from those who tried it.

Edit: Amazon, GS and EB all have the DVD Edition (risky, but I like it) for 40 bucks, slated for the 24th. Nice? Sign of doom?

Edit again: Arnold Vosloo?? Uh. I have no idea what to think about that.

I had never heard of this game until now, but it sounds pretty sweet. I now second the call for impressions.

Kinda looks like a first person Mercenaries, with some twists of Morrowind and GTA. Sounds fun if it’s polished up nicely.

I first ran into this 2 years ago at E3.

The dev team is very dedicated to the game so that could really help here and getting Atari to sign on was prob a very good thing for them.

A 600 plus square KM map with no loads…indeed Morrowind-esq.

Really if they can get everything in that was originally planned, it could turn out to be a really great FPS.

Nothing, really? Or did I just post too early in the day?

I met the team going on for three years ago when they were working out of a rented flat in a tower block in Kiev. It was like a LAN party had overstayed its welcome, wires and cables threaded through the hall into the bedrooms, servers in the broom cupboard, two programmers working in the kitchen. Despite the conditions they were a hilarious bunch - really great fun to meet.

Since then, I’ve been a bit worried about the game, especially when all the cocaine references were first altered to “adrenalin”, and then removed entirely. That struck me as slightly ludicrious - this is a game about corruption and violence in Columbia. A few months ago, I met the producer, and he /really/ cared about this game. I hope it turned out well - with STALKER still not surfacing, Boiling Point could trump GSC at their own game.

Just picked this up. It’s a real gamble because of the freeform gameplay and the relative lack of buzz. I have a feeling it’s going to be a complete bugfest, but I’ll post some impressions later.

I’ve played it. An incredible bug fest, but… well, I don’t think there’s been as ambitious a game in this year. You find yourself alternating between being amazed by its audacity in its design* and being amazed it’s been released in this state.

KG

*Deus Ex meets GTA meets Morrowind meets Far Cry. To start with.

Hooray for unfinished games.

Better or worse than Morrowind, bugwise? As I recall, that was pretty gnarly at the beginning.

Wonder if the fact that most of us are playing localized versions will delay patching … if there is any at all …

I’ll probably pick it up anyway.

Does this game have a homepage? I can’t find anything related to on Atari’s website

http://www.boiling-point.net/ shows that it has exceeded it’s daily bandwidth.

Man the developer’s webpage is complete ass. WTF is up with those circa 1997 forums?!

http://www.deep-shadows.com/en/index.php

Never played Morrowind at launch, so can’t really say. In terms of a recent reference… well, when it goes wrong, it’s got even more obvious errors than Bloodlines.

EDIT: Though you make the point that does come to mind - that the history of games which sprawl like this is essentially the history of games which are more than a little quirky. To be polite.

KG

If they had a kick-ass, state-of-the-art website, people’d be bitching that they should’ve spent less time building their forums, and more time fixing their game before release :)

OMG this game is REALLY BUGGY!

Thirty seconds after starting the game and being dropped off in the first town by the bus, the first AI vehicle I saw just veered off the road into a wall, for no reason whatsoever. Then, a guy outside the bar told me to go see his boss, the Bandit leader at a house on the edge of town. When I get there, all the bandits outside the house suddenly wake up and start firing at absolutely nothing in the distance. They won’t stop, because they’re not firing at anything!

However, it is quite pretty, although it runs like a dog. My framerates drop horrendously whenever I’m indoors. It looks and plays a lot like Deus Ex, only in the daytime, and in South America.

Pre-orders got mailed out (mine included).

To tell you the truth I don’t know what to think of it. I can list some of what I do/don’t like so far if that helps:

Don’t Like:

1.) Dialogue trees. Stilted and insipid (sorta like my posts on QT3). Also, wholly inappropriate voice work for some of the chars. IE; An old woman, obviously Latino in South America has the same accent as a retiree housewife from Kentucky.

2.) Performance. unless you have a muscular rig, this game will chop on high-ish settings. turning down the eye candy helps a bit but then the game gets quite ugly.

3.) AI. It can show some truly moronic behavior. IE; Its a common sight to see NPC’s in their cars stuck bumping up against buildings and laying on the horn endlessly. Nearby characterss will scream and run in fear for no reason even when your reputation is neutral in all groups.

4.) Atmosphere. The game is similar to Morrowind in that there are NPC’s walking the streets but you don’t get the feeling of a large, living, vital and interconnected world that would go on even if you weren’t there. Its feels very static.

Do Like:

1.) Missions seem varied and (mostly) fun so far. Besides the main story arc of finding your daughter, there are plenty of side missions in which you run jobs for people like the corrupt police chief, local mobsters, etc. Depending on what you do and who you work for, the outcome affects your reputation with that particular group. Alternately, you can just go freeform and shoot people, steal vehicles etc but keep in mind that the reputation system is at work here and you can quickly find yourself unable to even walk the street without being shot at.

2.) Inventory/Character system: Sort of a Deus-Ex/General RPG type of thing here. you have inventory slots which are finite and (I’m assuming) will slow you down the more you carry. Your body has zone specific damage which is represented by an icon in your inventory screen. You can heal these specific areas by dragging various substances over the icon from your inventory such as food or drugs (drugs heal better/faster but are addictive). Weapons can be purchased from a black market dealer or gotten off a victim from one of your missions. the weapons can be improved by purchasing upgrades and having them installed (for a fee).

3.) Terrain/Overall look: Big open seamless world as advertised. You can go into just about any building in town and look around and you’ll occasionally find useful items lying about. Art direction is competent (it sure looks like So. America anyway)

Like a lot of games this one could’ve used more polish but so far it isn’t bad taken at face value. Curiously, the menu has control bindings for things like “Team chat” etc which I’m assuming was going to be part of a multiplayer feature. This thing would be perfect for co-op if at some future point they decide to implement online capability.

Anyhoo, I’m only about 4 hours in so take all this with a grain.

The official Atari site is here. You may note with some amusement that all the countries EXCEPT the US get a version … even though the UK version works.

BTW, the guy from The Mummy is in this! Anyway, I’ve been excited about the game. The release has been pushed back in the states… seems to be alot of PC Games are released later in the US these days… crazy.

etc

Kieron has written a review of this here. Or rather, 3 reviews since 1 wouldn’t do it justice. Heh.

Mine’s on preorder as of yesterday. :)

I was considering the pros and cons of linking to it, and you save me the ethical dilemma. Thanks.

Hope you enjoy it. Bloody awkward game to review.

KG

That review is solid gold, haha. I’ll bite, I can grind my teeth through bugs for a large scope game. sometimes.