It was added to the PC version of 2033 for free after release. Last Light’s Ranger mode will cost $5 on release day. You get it for free if your pre-order, but you also get an automatic weapon and some military-grade ammo, both of which could do damage to the game’s difficulty and weapon progression. No word on if you can disable those in the Steam version.
Ranger mode was included in my preorder from GMG. Shame they apparently “had” to include it as dlc, but GMG voucher put the preorder at under $40, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt since it sounds like it was more of a publisher requirement from what I’ve read.
Either way, I’m just happy it didn’t end up in the toilet after THQ bit the bullet.
Huh? A difficulty level is a paid DLC?
They prefer the “preorder bonus” term :P. But yeah, they have to put an incentive or people will buy the game for $15 in a few months in a sale, instead of $50 now.
I think the opposite will happen now judging by the backlash against this on Reddit and elsewhere. People are just going to wait until it’s 50% off and pay the $5 for the Ranger mode.
So, this is out. Tom gave it a 5/5.
Is anyone playing it?
I will be, as soon as I finish 2033. I’m excited about this one. 2033 absolutely nailed tone, but needed some gameplay improvements, and I’ve heard good things about both in this.
This release prompted me to install the original 2033 and play through it. I got stuck somewhere near the beginning and never got back to it.
If anyone is looking for a wet blanket for the hype machine to help you keep your wallet in your pocket for ye olde pre-order:
I thought 2033 was solid but it never grabbed me. Tom’s review and gameplay videos seem to indicate it’s a refinement of that formula. I’ll definitely play through it eventually. Just not on day one.
If 2033 worked for you, then go for it!
If you’re really looking for a wet blanket to the hype machine, go read Eurogamer’s review.
Hey, it can’t be that bad. It got a 7 out of 10!
Last Light’s primary method of narrative delivery is eavesdropping. When entering a town, I stop and listen to the first conversation. I walk a few steps forward and do the next, then the next, and so on. I’m not saying this is necessarily bad. But it is definitely watching rather than playing and, agonised by the possibility of missing key dialogue, I sit there twiddling my thumbs.
There’s no other choice, because this is where Last Light’s best stories are - from the widow being told her husband was lost on a patrol, to parents reassuring their children with little lies.
I think storytelling by eavesdropping is the next wide-corridor linear shooter mechanic that we need to get rid of, after audio diaries. I think the entire design collapsed when when Bioware brazenly split the stories across multiple visits to the Citadel in Mass Effect 3. Figure out another way to deliver this content that doesn’t make me check my watch or feel like I’m at Disney World.
That EG article did get me excited about the stealth and lighting and graphics. Those parts should be a treat.
I love that someone brought this up. I can’t stand dialogue trees. To me, they’re such a terrible approximation how people communicate. They add busywork to exposition, or they add guesswork to gameplay. If you’re going to do a dialogue tree, do it like Alpha Protocol where the gameplay is as clear as day and I don’t have to guess at what’s going to happen. Audio logs are slightly better as monologues, but I agree with Tim that they’re played out, largely because they’re often done poorly. Irrational has pretty much pushed them as far as they can go. Unless your audio logs are as good as System Shock 2 or either of the first two Bioshocks, don’t bother.
So I liked the conversations in Last Light – 2033 did it this way, too, I think – because they’re all optional, you can stop and listen if you want, there’s no silly attempt at player agency, and they’re laid out in a straight line in each settlement. Just run past them, or sample them at your whim, or go down the line in order. Each is just two or more people talking to each other, acting out little vignettes with each other instead of speaking into a mic to record an audiolog and shuffling their lines around whatever responses you pick. It’s a bit like the amusement park/museum levels in the Bioshock games: Look at this. Now look at this. Now look at this. There. You have been edified with backstory. If you didn’t care, you would have just strolled on by.
Not that all the Last Light vignettes are great. I even skipped a bunch of them. And not to say dialogue trees don’t have a place. But Last Light definitely isn’t that place.
-TomIs this on sale anywhere? We’re trying to close on buying a house and I’m kind of broke…
Best you are gonna do is $40 @ Greenmangaming , with the voucher : GMG20-GGN5D-FC3NA
lordkosc, you are the man. (or woman, but lord and all…) I have $13 GMG credit so that knocks it to $27.
Apparently, the boobies are gratuitous and out of place.
For those of you who hate the voice acting as much as I did, you might want to know that the game actually features a russian voice over option. I turned it on after I first heard that horrible sniper lady and it improved the atmosphere incredibly.
I think Newegg is trying to screw me on my pre-order. Still hasn’t shipped and in my order history the listing shows it as discontinued. Customer service said everything was fine. I usually like Newegg, but the last couple pre-orders I had with them sucked and were shipped way late.
Placed an order on Amazon, $10 more, but I’ll get it tomorrow hopefully.
First impressions
Great graphics. Technically not that different from the first game, but that was because the first game was a beast. I would say the key here is the higher budget that allows for higher density of detail, it’s all so detailed, so thick of atmosphere and more polished.
Great atmosphere, as before. The start of the story is interesting, a straight sequel of the first game, with the main character being a new commando from the order (after all he did in the first game, he was promoted fast!) and enjoying their new shiny D6 base.
start of the story
So shiny the two big groups, commies and nazies, want it, heating up the war status between them and the neutral stance of the order being in danger. Complicating things, you are searching the last Dark One survivor.
. I enjoy it’s all a logical continuation of the plot of the first game, as I played it three or four weeks ago.
Good combat, slightly more faster/lethal than the one in the first game, I think, but I’m still not sure.
It also seems a bit easier than the first game, but I’m still at the beginning.
Stealth is much better, more forgiving and more complete in options, so it’s a viable choice. Though maybe a bit “too viable” if you get my meaning, it’s very easy, typical stealth in AAA game.
The looting is also more casualized, before you had to scan a bit more carefully the bodies of the enemies, and click in the specific parts where there was ammo or something else, search the corners of the furniture, etc, it was something I enojyed. Now a big UI icon appears in the middle of the screen if the crosshair get somewhat close to something to take, and you don’t have to search bodies in the same way.