This week sees the release of two games arguably not ready for release. Funcom's X-Files meets Lovecraft meets Stephen King MMO Secret World is suffering the usual teething pains you'd unfortunately expect from an MMO launch..
Spelunky! HD and the long-awaited 3DS-music-game-with-awful-title Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy for me this week, because I want to play a game with bombs and a game with Bombs.
Tom may be interested to know that this week's update for PlayStation Plus (AKA "that service no one spends money on") adds game-he-loved Renegade Ops as a free full title. This means that as long as they log in to PSN and add it to their account during July, PS+ users can download and play it for free as much as they want until their subscription expires. I missed it back when it was released, so I'll definitely grab it now. (The update also adds Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, which is excellent, and Gotham City Impostors, which I've mostly ignored.)
I assume you'll be telling us why you don't think Secret World is ready for release yet once the review embargo is up. It's not obvious to me - I've experienced a bugged quest or two, which is alas par for the course in MMOs, but not to any significant degree, and I've had none of the other technical issues I can recall from many another MMO at launch.
The AI is one of the things the developer intends to finish after the game has been released. Hence, superdumb. My experience so far is that the AI is pretty passive. Do you disagree, jdhas? I would love to be wrong about this.
The bugged quests, poorly scripted quests, screwed up interface issues, bad chat system, and amateurish PvP come to mind. As much as I like Secret World, it's got issues that shouldn't be glossed over just because other MMOs have those issues.
Oh, no, of course not. I'm just not seeing much in the way of the above. I mean, I haven't tried the PvP, but it's really not something that ever appeals to me, so I can't say as I particularly care if they screw that up.
Ha! I happen to think most HIs (Human Intelligences) are intimately dumb, which is why I tend to avoid multiplayer-heavy/-only games. Sadly, this makes the superdumbness of most AIs that much more frustrating.