I think that's exactly it! Paired up with matey this evening (firmware 2.20 has broken my bluetooth comms
) and played a couple of one-on-ones, and this proved a fundamental point - don't use motion controls! It's fine for flying, but for hovering it's a dog, which is where I was going wrong. Using normal controls for hovering makes straffing actually possible. We tried out some radar test, and I was surprised to find running with any weapon doesn't blip the radar. I thought you needed the knife equipped but running around with a sniper rifle or automatic still left you invisible - it's only using the weapon where the knife doesn't show.
The server situation is utter tripe though! We were getting different lists of servers (he lives five miles away) and the same server showing up with different stats. We both joined the server called 'Beginner' and ended up playing totally different games. Filtering by rank does nothing, and most servers are uncapped anyway so there's nothing to stop some scallywags dominating.
And speaking of scallywags, playing CTF they had a damned cheat! A red guy grabbed the flag and wouldn't land it. He hid in a shed. For a while I was wondering what he was doing and thought it was just an idiot who didn't know they had to get the flag to the drop-off point, but the way he ran and hid in a corner gave him away. Off course being on your side you can't kill him and get the flag back - I did try! Grenades and everything else. This was the second time in maybe 4 CTF games where a guy on my team has deliberately not dropped the flag off. What $@#%&*! wants to play a game where their entire input is to scupper a team from scoring? And this is a pretty cheat-reduced game isn't it? Online gaming has a pretty bad rap with those on the outside, and I can see why!
There's also serious issues with dominance. One game I joined, waiting for matey to sort out his network troubles (have you noticed
every error on the PS3 is a 80010009?) was zones on a tiddly map, I think 12 or 16 players. When the reds controlled 3 of 4 bases, it was impossible to do anything. They drove a tank into HQ and I was getting shot before I could ever get to weapons to defend myself with. They had two planes buzzing and a sniper on the hillside. Those situations are unrecoverable and a couple of those could easily turn a fella off the game.
I think a lot comes down to servers, and picking a game that works. The game itself doesn't really support that to a proper extent. It's more a case of try your luck and see what you end up with. It also doesn't support clan/buddy match-up. We had to find a server and both log on, rather than log on as a team on the same side. As a final point, PS3's comms sucks! Lack of XB360 style in-game messaging and cross game chat is a chronic oversight. I can appreciate Sony not wanting to roll it out until they've got their amazing uber network virtual life going, but online gamers really need that stuff straight away. Having to request a chat in XMB, and them to know to check their messages to join it, is cumbersome, and that the conversation doesn't roll over into gaming etc. is just plain dumb! Sure, it's fine for video-chatting with relatives, but it's way short of what gamers want.
