It's been a long while since I've played GE:S. A few months back, I saw the new mine models by Luchador, and read a bit about an upcoming version, but completely forgot about it.
When the 5.0 trailer came out, I watched it and got the pre-load as soon as the trailer ended. The release day came, I booted it up, and it's pretty much the only thing I've played for the past week.
Was a bit of a rough start, but after remembering to cycle armor spawns, I've been doing consistently well and having a lot of fun. To go over what I've liked:
The invulnerability re-work.
The damage capping is fantastic. Automatics, even guns in general, have never felt better. It actually feels worthwhile to switch up weapons rather than constantly roll with a handgun, and I know there's some dislike for the re-work, but it feels like a great compromise between getting mowed down instantly like Perfect Dark, or taking forever to die outside of semi-auto headshots like GoldenEye.
The new maps.
Specifically, Dam. The layout works incredibly well and the sewers/interiors not only prevent it from being an annoying point-to-point but they're also fun to fight in. The other new maps are great (even Caverns, which I never liked playing in the original GE), but Dam is the standout for me.
Strafe-running.
With the invulnerability changing up, even if it's a change I really like, it's still a massive change. Having an old feature/ability like strafe-running coming with it feels like a nice balance to the scales. Still trying to get used to changing angles while keeping my speed going, but it's great.
General weapon re-balancing.
Proximity mines being passable with walking/crouching is fantastic for traps, or avoiding them without alerting the map. The Silver and Gold PP7 requiring specific ammunition (magnum bullets and golden bullets, respectively) is also nice, since it makes the ammo scarce and caps it to something much, much smaller than 800 rounds.
The soundtrack.
Because Short on Time and Laser Watch are stuck in my damn head.
Even with all the fun, I've got a few issues with GE:S.
Client-mistaken blood.
Something that drove me insane in games like Garry's Mod popping up here. Granted, it's nowhere near as bad as it was back in the older releases, or even GMod, but it still tends to frustrate me from time to time. I've been using the hit sounds as notifications, and I know when it's a fake hit (no sound) and when it's the damage cap (the whizzing). It's a common complaint I hear while playing, but at least it's better than it was before.
Missing the death animations.
As great as I used to find ragdolls, I've gotten tired of them. I miss the old death animations where people would spin around, fly backward, or even just drop to their knees. It's a lot of effort and work for coding and animating, though, especially since the default Source engine action is to just go into ragdoll.
Lack of milestone achievements for other weapons.
It's fun going for the milestone weapon achievements, but with how often I've used it and how effective it is, I'm kind of sad that the ZMG doesn't have a milestone set associated with it. Neither do the Cougar Magnum or the D5K, if I'm remembering right, but at least the Magnum has various achievements associated with it.
But there's one thing that's bothered me since I started playing. Noticed it right in my first match.
No Siberian Special Forces.
The greatest character of GoldenEye, nowhere to be found. Disgraceful.
Nah, I'm fucking around. I do wish Natalya and Xenia were in, though.
Jokes aside, and my negatives aside; it's an awesome release. Thanks much for all the work you folks have put in, and for a great mix of classic and modern gameplay.
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Topic: 5.0, after a couple years away from GE:S. (Read 10637 times)