I'm all about this game. I'll answer any questions you have. Here, hope this helps:
- The Death Match is sublime. Already, competition has come to a boil and winning games will require some major brainpower.
- The TDM is a pleasant alternative. Still sublime, but better for the times when your pacemaker can't handle the straight DM.
- CTF, at this point, is a bore. I don't know why. Probably the same thing with vehicle ctf and warfare. Some people seem to be enjoying these very much. The skill of players in these games is noticable shifted towards the goal-oriented side and a player fresh out of dm sticks out like a sore thumb as their aggressivness dominates one on one encounters... but they are running the wrong way with the flag trying to kill everyone. Maybe these get better as the community develops and tweaks them.
- This is a most striking example of a release-it now-patch-it-later on a console I've personally heard of. Be warned.
- There are no shortage of dedicated servers supplied by Midway. What's more, they are well populated. The netcode keeps up great in 16 player games. Now, dedicated are being set up by users as well. And several of those are hosting the mods.
- From an audio-visual standpoint, this is a showcase for you PS3 in the way Gears is for 360. But here the engine really flexes its muscle as you can get blown 70 feet into the air and look at most of the level and the clusterf*ck of players going on below you and UE3 keeps everything in check, doesn't tear and doesnt stutter. Meanwhile everything is just driping with detail at any distance. Sometimes you turn a corner and see low quality stuff being replaced by pin-sharp textures just a second too late. It's a reminder of how hard this engine is working to get this much data into every frame.
At first the graphics didn't really turn me on, but having practically overdosed on the game in the last 4 days, I've grown to appreciate the art direction and notice that this disparate maps are really cohesive in there atmospheres and somehow do feel like part of the same world. The forboding vertical structures of spacestations are echoed in the ornate, sun-drenched pagodas, for example.
-Community here is gelling and looks like it will be strong, thanks to the guiding hand of the core PC users. But keep in mind that community happens OUTSIDE of the game. On forums. This is not XBox Live, that's for sure. In game messaging is crude to put it nicely and voice chat seems broken for the time being. A patch has been promised.
-You certainly don't have to pour time into the game. The best part, the Deathmatching, requires only familiartity with the weapons and a little map knowledge. After that it's just quick thinking. If you are confident you can jump into this deathmatch without alot of prior knowledge and just rely on your wits. Very low-commital.
Overall it's highly reccomended, but I recon if you decided to wait the game will only getting better down the line. This is not a flavor of the month game. It's an establishment.
