Gameplay:
The enemy hit and dying animations pose a real issue. It seems like either there's a hitbox detection issue or they're temporarily invincible during some of these animations after they get hit because you simply can't hit them during! If you don't get a headshot, hit once, wait till their animation is done, hit again and so forth. Otherwise you'll waste a bit of ammo. Speaking, of when did AK's become so weak? The camera freaks out at times. I was running around zig zagging trying to melee a bunch of them and often you'd get close to something the camera would take a mind of it's own. Not subtle movements but dramatic ones which throw you off. The melee combat is a novelty item. This is a shooter at heart. The left/right switch is a nice touch and I used it a fair bit. Adding a bit more recoil would be good.
Hmm... I can zip past the level pretty quickly now on Hard. Didn't notice any hitbox detection issues. The pirates will even stagger, hold their limbs or stomach depending on where I hit. Each pirate takes 1-5 pistol rounds to kill.
As for animation posting hit detection issues, I think you're refering exclusively to AK47 ? It takes quite a spray of bullets to kill a pirate, that's all. Due to slower rate of fire, each pistol hit tend to generate a more elaborate and satisfying animation. In comparison, the pirates may not react visibly to each and every rapid firing AK47 bullet (Just like other games).
In fact, it is possible to disrupt a grenade throwing pirate. I was able to force them to drop their grenades twice. It exploded right at their feet
Melee is important when out of ammo, or when pirates suddenly appear beside Nathan (jumped from above, or previously hidden). The player will need to remember the combo sequence. I am still not too good at it yet.
Sounds:
Worst sounding guns in quite some time! The rest was good.
The pistol is pretty well done. The AK47 sounds a little on the light side. But they all sounds just like gunfights on TV rather than in movies.
AI:
Some people are really exaggerating this. 2 play throughs on normal and one on hard. I didn't see anything where I went "wow!" It's not dumb AI but certainly not anything spectacular. It's good enough to keep you immersed and that's fine by me!
Not sure why they need to exaggerate. The AI is pretty solid. While they are not as aggressive as Resistance's Chimera, they do offer a tight combat experience.
* They can zig-zag while charging towards the player
* The can spread out to flank the player (so it's harder for me to hit both at the same time). Like Resistance, one charged all the way through the choke point and try to hit me from behind, while someone lobed a grenade near the door.
* When they emerge from cover, they may do it differently each time (either rise vertically, or slide out side ways at different level) -- so it's slightly harder to anticipate headshots.
* They also throw grenade to flush the player out of cover
I think the pirate's animation makes them more lifelike.
Overall: 8.5/10. It's a well done presentation but the shooter aspects need to be worked out. Unless you get a headshot, it's frustrating due to the misses while they do the dance of death.
The full game will have much more elements. Does it mean it will score higher than 8.5 for sure ?
Not all. The grenade explosions in jungle and in the ruins are quite different. I honestly don't understand some of the inconsistent design decisions. Of course I may be missing something.
Explosion with fireball involves burning fuel (like the exploding barrel). Otherwise, it's just grenade blast kicking up dirt. They are consistent with "real life"
