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Well, first impressions anyone?

I started the campaign part of the demo. I like it a lot. It feels big, looks great, runs well and I got smoked quick. Looks like lots of weapons options. The friendly AI don't run out into bullet traffic and the enemy ai don't charge. It's definitely different from either of the console versions - almost wouldn't recognize it. I liked the grenade launcher "sight" ... the iron sight for the rifle is a nice touch. Haven't tried any of the scoped weapons or grenades. Haven't looked at the MP yet either -- is it included in the demo?

Initial impressions are: the download is huge @ over 500MB.
Looks like I need a bigger pipeline, this is supposed to be a 2Mb connection, but am only able to pull 57.5KB/sec.

It does include MP Coop in the demo, however, it's lan only as far as I can tell. I'm assuming that's a "feature" of the demo. For MP COOP, looks like a max of 4 players on the team, Which makes sense, since you wouldn't want to overpower the ai. I'll also assume that there are terrorist hunt type mp modes that aren't in the demo that will support more folks.

To me, that doesn't sound too good! Only 4 persons supported by MP? Unless, like you say, it has other modes which allow a greater number of personnel. In games such as SC:CT, I can understand there being a limit on numbers playing due to the nature of the game, it's about stealth & intrusion. GRAW on the other hand is supposed to be a section/steam based idea.IMHO, you would generally be talking of at least two teams of four personnel making up your section.

well, not sure... but Gator did say 4 persons per team...so it might be 8.

your download speed is from a server on the west coats usa - remember that is halfway around the world.

in the links posted there are some uk or euro servers i think. might be faster.

Total crap. I played the demo and it had "consolitis" written all over it. It's funny, the demo has these high hardware requirements but the game looks like crap. I played the demo on 1280x1024 with 4x FSAA on an ATI X800 Pro. I'm very glad a demo came out becaue it saved me spending $50 for the full game. Check out these screenshots and tell me if the graphics look bad to you. They sure did to me. But beyond the console graphics, the gameplay was just too frantic and arcadish for my tastes and the in-game "briefing/news" video clips are cheesy. This game is geared towards 15 year olds and it shows.


http://home.comcast.net/~panzermeyer/GR ... -39-07.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~panzermeyer/GR ... -07-17.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~panzermeyer/GR ... -33-10.jpg

well, that's 4 people on THE team for cooperative mission play (campaign/storyline). I don't know what the other MP modes are. I'm sure there's the standard deathmatch that we don't ever play, but I'm also assuming there's some kind of "clear the map of baddies" type that is configurable.

panzer, you're crazy. Please resize those down to a reasonable forum post.

Didn't you see that some of the graphics options are not avail in the demo? The max texture setting available was MEDIUM.

Also, there's nothing consolized about it. Different game, different engine, different developer.

Save your money, but leave the vitriol out of it. Some of us will enjoy this game even if you don't.

Gator wrote: Save your money, but leave the vitriol out of it. Some of us will enjoy this game even if you don't.

I was simply expressing my opinion just like everyone else is free to express theirs. It's not any sort of vitriol thank you very much. :roll:

gotta say Panzer it sure is taken that way. maybe start out with a "my opinion..."

time will tell as each of us try the demo and some of us get the real game. i just installed on my machine here at home, will perhaps try it tonight. i will say one thing - i have NEVER played a console fps, so will not at all be able to determine if a game has consolitis.

Steel wrote:gotta say Panzer it sure is taken that way. maybe start out with a "my opinion..."

Well, I assume no one here thinks I'm a demi-god so I would think it would be common sense that my post simply reflects my opinion and nothing else. Did I ever tell anyone here to not bother installing the demo? Did I say that no one here should waste their time? Did I say that my analysis of the demo was dogma? Did I ever say that I was right and everyone else was wrong? No.

must have been the first two words: "total crap."

Gator wrote:must have been the first two words: "total crap."

Yet again, that's just my opinion of the demo. I never said anyone else had to think it was total crap. Would you be offended if you read a movie review from a film critic and they said they thought the movie was total crap? Probably not. It's just their opinion and nothing more.

perception is about, say, 90% of communication... a lot of implications are assumed in a forceful statement.

if one does not care about the perception others have, well then no big deal. if one does, then one should take that perception into account.

just some feedback. take it or leave it - any and all.

Panzer,
are your screenshpts still there? i can't get to them - could be my end though.

http://www.hamachi.cc/download

in case we want to try the coop in the demo. Hamachi allows you to simulate a LAN.

Steel wrote: Panzer,
are your screenshpts still there? i can't get to them - could be my end though.

I just tried the links and they work. I just removed the images displaying on the page and just converted them back to regular links.

the links worked for me.

Just finished playing coop with Steel, Softball and Buff. Works pretty well so far. Buff had a crash and some lag issues, but I don't think anyone else did. Not sure what his connection was. We were as yet unable to survive the mission. More later I'm sure.

I'm not sure what Panzer's definition of "total crap" is, but I don't think the demo is giving us the full potential of the product. For example, the Max WS resolution the GRAW demo supports is 1440x900. For me, anything below 1680x1050 looks subpar(some jaggies, stretched out look) on my 24" WS monitor. The game did run a little sluggish for me, I was getting 10-15 FPS during the mission Gator, Steel, Buffalo Six, and myself played. (I currently have a 9800 Pro video card, 1GB DDR RAM, P4 3.0G CPU). It was playable, but not satisfactory. I will run further tests using non WS resolutions to see if that makes a difference. I am just about done with my system upgrade(I have to install the sound card, DVD burner, HDs, and hook up the case wiring), so I'm guessing that GRAW will run like a champ when the new computer (AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (Dual Core), NVidia 7900 GTX, 4GB DDR RAM) is finished.

I would not say it's total crap, but I would not say it's the best either, and it's only a DEMO. I would hope, that with such a huge following of GR fans, they will fix any issues or complaints that us the the customers have to get us to buy the full game. This is just a DEMO, to give us a small taste of what GRAW is going to be like. I will wait for the full version (Yes, I will be getting the full version) to render my judgement on GRAW.

However, I do think that anyone with an older system will have a real hard time running GRAW the way it is supposed to be played. This is a "Next Gen" game, you will have to have the minimum specs to run it, period.

Guys, we're all friends here, let's not let our opinions of a video game get under our skins. We know what we like, and what we don't like. If someone doesn't like a game for whatever reason (Features, graphics, price), that's their opinion and their choice. Panzer's "total crap" comment may have been perceived in a negative tone, because we all enjoy playing games together and value each other's advise, comments, and opinions. I like to think we value each other's opinions, as to not waste our time and hard earned money on a game, piece of hardware, or whatever.

I have been following GRAW since it was announced, and if anyone is skeptical about it, it should be me. I was burned with the GR2 release, I bought the Xbox version of GR2 and was really looking forward to the PC version, which we all know never happened. I did not want to make the same mistake, so I am glad they released a demo.

Let's give try and give GRAW a chance, and see if it can be tweaked or whatever to play and look better than what the demo gives us. Did I mention this is just a DEMO?

EDIT: I played a little bit longer after everyone logged off for the night and I found a very decent playable setting. I am running 1024x768x70Hz @ 4xFSAA, and I am getting 25-30 FPS on average. I setup my WS monitor to fill the screen, as to not have the bars on each side, and there is really no difference in visual quality, just that some objects that are round are stretched a TINY bit. Something I can deal with. I am just happy that I can get 25+ FPS. Oh, and I turned dynamic shadows off completely, made a big difference in my case.

I noticed my system having a difficult time to be honest:
ASUS A8 mobo, AMD Athlon XP2500+, Gainward AGP 6800 Ultra (clocked), 1GB DDRAM.
Getting used to the controls will have it's moments I guess. :lol:

Good post Softball. My intention was not to ruffle any feathers. I guess I'm just passionate about the Ghost Recon franchise that I love so much. Here is my problem with the demo. It has these really high hardware requirements but yet many of the graphics features are left out and the maximum texture resolution is Medium. If a demo is going to have such high hardware requirements then it should deliver the goods on the graphics. But my complaint goes beyond just the graphics. I just didn't like the gameplay and "feel" of the game.