I was just watching those clips. It looks to me like Too Human is the game that I wanted Hellgate London to be. I'm seriously debating preordering it... just seems like something I could come back to again and again for some Diablo-esque ass kicking.

I did notice two things in the Gametrailer vids that worried me... There's a quick clip of the hero firing at some enemies while strafing around a pit. The enemies sort of kept running into the edge of the pit as the hero blocked their direct path to himself with the pit so that definately seems like a significant pathfinding AI issue. My second gripe is that there's also only a really brief clip of two hero characters working together. The multiplayer aspect could definately make or break this title and other than marketing bravado they haven't shown anything of substance how multiplayer is being handled.

I want so badly for this game to be awesome. If they do a good job with the camera, I can see myself spending a stupid amount of hours playing this on Live.

Man, I love Silicon Knights and so badly want to be excited for this game, but these trailers just do nothing for me. Eternal Darkness was filled to the brim with genius ideas that I can't believe haven't been copied more. Where's the inspiration here? I really want them to sell this to me, but I simply don't get why they think I should be excited for this. All I'm seeing is uninteresting combat with substandard animations in enormous bland environments. The few brief menu shots hinted at some depth there, and frankly got me more excited than all the combat shots combined. If it's got this amazing story and interesting RPG elements, why do all the trailers try to sell it as the poor man's Devil May Cry (which is already the poor man's God of War)?

I hope it's just a case of a good game with poor marketing.

Looking much better. I have to admit, I'm looking forward to the finished product.

So, uh, are we allowed to criticize it this time? Or is this another practice swing?

Arial used in the inventory/stat menus? Let's hope they change that. It's just so so dull. I hate seeing it show up in games. I cringed when I first saw it in Command & Conquer: Generals.

Lord, the art direction is crap, so is the animation. I didn't think you could make humans look any uglier than Shadowrun. Shouldn't matter since the camera is pulled so far back, but it doesn't help sell the game. Dyack did a poor job describing the character classes, too.

I'm still giving the demo a good, long chance. These videos don't say much about how the game controls or feels. The concept is compelling (Diablo meets God of War, basically a console version of World of Warcraft) and Silicon Knights has a great track record.

Let's pray for an awesome demo.

To me, this will always be the game that's endlessly delaying Eternal Darkness 2.

OK, I took a look at one of the new trailers and I've got to say that while it definitely looks better than last time, the gunplay looks immensely unsatisfying. It looks like it suffers from the same thing as Hellgate London where you're pewpewpewing away and your enemies don't even seem to notice until they suddenly fall over dead. I like my firearms to have a little power behind them, or at least more effect than a BB gun.

I think the technical term for that is a "coprolite."

Joystiq's impressions, also not great.

Xbox 360 Fanboy's impressions, which are more positive but also very apologetic about the combat.

I need some time with a demo.

LM, as an FYI, it's Denis Dyack.

No PA, the man showed something that sucked and then refused to live up to it, blaming everyone but himself and his team. If it wasn't ready to show he could've put together some concept art or a pre-rendered video (*cough* Killzone 2 *cough*). Even if Microsoft told him he had to show something I'm pretty sure they didn't say, "you need to show something even if it sucks."

Anything above and beyond that is just funny.

Yeah, cause publishers never push crap out before its ready. And in the very EGM podcast that's gotten Dyack so much undeserved vitriol, he said himself that the game wasn't ready, they all knew it wasn't ready and he begged Microsoft not to make them show it. They said too bad, he had to do it. Oh and by the way, what was the reaction to the first Killzone 2 video? The community got up in arms and said "All they showed was pre-rendered cutscenes! The game must be in trouble!" Dyack didn't mind that the press wrote about what they saw. What bothered him was that they wrote about what they saw and acted as if this is what you'd be playing at retail. Which brings me to...

Agreed. But whose fault is that? Not Silicon Knights. That's why I didn't get so harsh on him when he went off on the EGM podcast because most of what he said was true. Previews are broken but the press have none but themselves to blame for that.

Fair points all. In terms of his response, I agree that he didn't come off well and I think that if he'd kept his composure better, he could have better conveyed the point he was trying to make. Brian Intahar (sp?) from EGM didn't make it any easier though because all he kept spouting was "Oh so you're saying I shouldn't have a job?" He still makes that childish defensive stab on a regular basis. I think that situation overheated because several people didn't handle it well. That said, most of the guys involved in that discussion (Intahar excepted) say they have no problem with Dyack and still have a good relationship with Silicon Knights. Some have said they aren't even sure why people still take offense to it.

As for the lawsuit, I don't like frivolous lawsuits either but there is a lot of anecdotal evidence out there right now backing SK's claim as anything but frivolous. And filing a lawsuit usually only happens after numerous attempts have been made to try to resolve the situation first. My girlfriend's a lawyer and she said that any responsible corporate attorney would never proceed with filing unless they had piles of documentation showing attempts to resolve the issue that had failed. I seriously doubt SK wanted to absorb the tens of thousands of dollars in legal costs they are currently incurring to fight this thing. They also had UE3 licensed for I believe it was 3 different titles on two different platforms so they are much more heavily invested in it than other developers were. You have to remember that if the secret project they are doing for Sega on the PS3 got delayed because of Epic's failure to deliver a working engine, it isn't Epic that's held in breach of contract with Sega, it's SK. The lawsuit isn't about Dyack being mad at Epic, it's about business. That said, I think he and Mark Rein both need to keep their big mouths shut until this is over with.

I have no idea what you're talking about. Denis's nickname is "Mightier." Everyone knows that. *whistles innocently*

PA, I understand where you're coming from, even if you do sound like a hopeless apologist. The fact of the matter is, even if he was forced, even if someone from MS put a gun against his head and told him to show whatever he had, or else... them's the breaks. Business is for making money and sometimes that's not fair. Reporters can only report on what's true at the moment. Speculation on what might happen with something in the future is just that: speculation. He shouldn't fault reporters for reporting what they see and not going out of their way to defend his product. Maybe the reporters should've made it more clear that it's a work in progress... or maybe it should be up to the reader to realize that a game that's still 2+ years away from release is going to have a little more work done on it.