I don't play FPS that much, a little Quake back in the day, quite a bit of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, a little BF3 and some other titles. I tend more to the MMORPG PvP side of things. But from what I can see, the mechanic in PS2 where your choice in infantry weapon actually dictates how you play is unique. To be fair, other games do have different weapons, but the degree of variation in PS2 and its effect just seems without precedent. A true observation?
I'd say to an extent, yes. However, there are some audio/model overhauls that are still needed for NC and TR, imo.
Implying Battlefield is balanced. Heh. Heheheh. HEHEHEHEHEHE. @OP true, PS2 allows a nice variety in weapons and playstyles, but it is not entirely unprecedented. Like the poster above said, Battlefield also has a large variety of weaponry, in fact, has more of it, and overall is a better-made game, but for some reason, I got bored of BF3 pretty fast. I still play PS2 after hundreds of hours.
Not only is it not unprecedented, but it was done better by its predecessor. PS1 had way, WAY more weapon variety. There were fewer actual weapons, because you didn't have 200 variations on a rifle. PS1 affected the way you play dramatically based on a weapon. If you were NC and used heavy assault, you used the Jackhammer, which was a beast in close quarters and had a humungous clip (could kill 5 enemies in a clip). If you played TR you had the minigun, which was king in the 15-40m range and required a lot of COF management, and then you had the Lasher, which didn't splash the ground, but instead could lash enemies as the orbs flew past them, providing unique tactical properties (plus you had to lead your target even from just 10m away). So very different from the vanilla versions of those weapons we have now. PS1 had the Scorpion, a weapon designed to flush out snipers in cover. You pointed it at a hilltop to "dial in" the range, then you aimed above the hilltop, fired out a rocket, which when it reached the designated range, exploded and dropped a fan of bomblets downward on the enemy. Very hard to get kills with, but powerful once learned. You had the Radiator, an area denial weapon that created radiation bubbles that worked through walls and floors (sounds annoying but it did low damage so didn't feel cheap). All kinds of creative sci-fi weapons in PS1. In PS2 we get rifles and shotguns.
Most FPS games I've played have had comparable gun variation or better. PS2 is not bad, but not really a standout. There are only a few genuinely funky weapons and they're not the best choices. For the most part the arsenal consists of fairly standard weapons with a sci-fi look, and many of them aren't really dictating much in terms of playstyle other than what range you excel at dealing death from. Honestly I wish they had gone further and made it more sci-fi with weirder and more interesting to use weapons. Making them both diverse/unique and faction specific would be a nightmare to balance though. Would be hard to see through the walls of tears to what's genuinely problematic.
honestly if most or all of the guns (excluding S variants) looked different or had different models, the game would actually be more fun, guns would all look unique and interesting, if they all had better audio and flashes it would also be better too, if tanks were better designed or more refined and their turrets looked better, that would be cool too
Yeah I do agree we need far more unique weapons like in PS1. I'd say that the only truely unique weapons we currently have right now are the Lasher, Chaingun(which needs some work still), and the Lancer. NC's Jackhammer in this game is basically a high capacity shotgun with a burst mode and with slightly less drop off over range. I'd personally like to see a return of the Punisher from PS1. Underbarrel rocket launcher please.
Isn't this game supposed to take place in the far future on an alien planet? Why don't we see more sci-fi-esque weapons outside the vanu? Even then, it's just cosmetic. I'd like to see it live up to the time period it takes place in.
Yup, we need more weapons that REALLY fit each faction. The Lasher is a perfect example of what I mean. We need weapons that unique, for every faction.
Degree of variation? What? Do you even play the game? Weapons hardly have any difference. Its +-15% of its stats and the same model and sounds.
There's plenty of variation in the weapons. Different rifles look different, do different things. That they may not do the things some may wish they did, or look as different as they could....well, that actually fits in with the lore. After all, we're all humans who came from the same people. We're going to use basically the same weapons. The Vanu being the exception to some extent. Frankly, I'd be disapointed if the TR and NC weapons were completely exotic to one another; there'd be no reason for it, lore wise. Now, if they were to introduce an alien race, THEN I'd think more exotic weapons would be called for.
