I'll play either side and command either side. I'm not a great marine comm (preferring to shoot things), I do pretty well with aliens. Mostly it's mood dependent for me, as the two sides handle so differently.
<!--quoteo(post=1910843:date=Mar 7 2012, 04:31 AM:name=peregrinus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (peregrinus @ Mar 7 2012, 04:31 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1910843"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->More people would play aliens if their attacks didn't feel so pathetic. You don't have a feeling of being a deadly beast that can rip a marine to shreds. It's more like a game of tag. You tag a marine by clicking your mouse when you're next to him, then if you timed it right a wiggly ragdoll will fall down with no signs of injuries, then it will vanish into thin air in seconds. There's no pay off.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I find it vastly preferable to the marine approach of millions of bullets and blood effects but zero effect. The payoff is not dying to everything and being able to have an effect on the game. Honestly all the marine guns feel incredibly dinky no matter how nice their effects are, simply because they don't work. I get far more of a feeling of power from my skulk bite taking a few percent off the extractor every time I use it than I do for all the fire and blood and noise of a rifle, or grenade explosion.
It just leads to entirely distrust effects because they have no connection to how good a weapon actually is.
I used to stack marines when they were underpowered.. nowadays I usually random.. but after 4th game of alien in a row, i might go line up in the marine queue again ~~
Soul_RiderMod BeanJoin Date: 2004-06-19Member: 29388Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
I always random, and have found different servers force me to always play different teams!!
For example, some of the servers I play on, regularly are stacked on aliens, whereas the more random servers, like the 32 player test one that pops up with each new build, tends to have more marine stacking, as it seems to attract less regular players.
<!--quoteo(post=1910720:date=Mar 7 2012, 12:50 AM:name=Argathor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Argathor @ Mar 7 2012, 12:50 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1910720"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I personally prefer playing alien (and never evolving, or gorging to dump res then back to skulk). I find many newer players stick to marines for a while as they learn the game.
Overall though, there are many things that decide what team people pick, for instance I choose by:
1) If lots of good players go one team, I go the other (I love killing Treffnix, Skie, swalk, <b>Argathor</b>etc). 2) I choose the opposite team to annoying people (Who spend the game telling others what to do on voice chat, hi MPaC) as it is fun killing them. 3) If one team has lost a lot recently, I try and help the others win. I dislike seeing aliens, or marines, winning every game. 4) If one side is obviously underpowered in a patch, I will play that more (As it will be the most difficult to win in clan matches).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
^--This. And if I am Onos or Fade I sometimes let some players, that I know that they are new, kill me or leaving them alone. And generally I try to pick up the black armors only and troll the green ones :-P.
swalkSay hello to my little friend.Join Date: 2011-01-20Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
<!--quoteo(post=1910910:date=Mar 7 2012, 12:20 PM:name=Floodinator)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Floodinator @ Mar 7 2012, 12:20 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1910910"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->^--This. And if I am Onos or Fade I sometimes let some players, that I know that they are new, kill me or leaving them alone. And generally I try to pick up the black armors only and troll the green ones :-P.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Arga is green armor, troll him more plx
ArgathorJoin Date: 2011-07-18Member: 110942Members, Squad Five Blue
<!--quoteo(post=1910953:date=Mar 7 2012, 02:13 PM:name=swalk)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (swalk @ Mar 7 2012, 02:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1910953"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Arga is green armor, troll him more plx<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Jealously doesn't suit you swalk. Just because I look unique in our PcWs! :-P
It's probabally easier to join aliens right now, but I always thought that was due to new players starting with what they know. I'm the opposite of the OP, i rarely played aliens in NS1 but they are my preffered choice in ns2.
Even with alien commander the aliens tend to have less coherent direction than the marines, but that works out O.K. with skulks doing there own thing harassing around the map.
<!--quoteo(post=1910843:date=Mar 6 2012, 11:31 PM:name=peregrinus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (peregrinus @ Mar 6 2012, 11:31 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1910843"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Random most of the time.
I like to play both, and enjoy feeling the difference between the sides.
What I like about Marines is they usually have a commander with voice comm, and they work together. It's fun as a marine to use all the different weapons and gadgets.
With aliens it's hit or miss. You might get a comm as active as the marine one, or you might just as often have to debate with the team who will comm. Most players do not want to play alien comm there's not much interesting to do as the alien comm, none of the structures are fun to use, in fact they feel useless, and infestation is tedious. Usually only half the alien team listens to the commander.
Aliens also lack lots of fun gadgets. You basically have one attack, which can make the classes feel repetitive especially when you're trying to destroy a structure. The onos is really enjoyable because it has 3 quite different attacks. I really enjoyed the gorge when hydras were useful. I find the lerk nice to fly around but spikes are boring, you can hardly even see them.
More people would play aliens if their attacks didn't feel so pathetic. You don't have a feeling of being a deadly beast that can rip a marine to shreds. It's more like a game of tag. You tag a marine by clicking your mouse when you're next to him, then if you timed it right a wiggly ragdoll will fall down with no signs of injuries, then it will vanish into thin air in seconds. There's no pay off.
I remember Charlie says he doesn't want gore and dismemberment but UWE need to make the aliens feel more potent. Only the Onos has that feeling with his awesome stomping sounds, the momentum, the brilliant attack animations and his sheer size.
UWE need to work more on making the aliens weird, creepy and violent, a counterpoint to the sleek, cool and polished marine side. As a lerk I wanna be able to fly into marines and mess them up Hitchcock's Birds style. I want the skulk to bite off marine armour, leave deep wounds, and chew their corpses for hp. I want the Fade to slice and dice them, send limbs flying before disappearing away.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=1910865:date=Mar 7 2012, 01:25 AM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Mar 7 2012, 01:25 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1910865"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I find it vastly preferable to the marine approach of millions of bullets and blood effects but zero effect. The payoff is not dying to everything and being able to have an effect on the game. Honestly all the marine guns feel incredibly dinky no matter how nice their effects are, simply because they don't work. I get far more of a feeling of power from my skulk bite taking a few percent off the extractor every time I use it than I do for all the fire and blood and noise of a rifle, or grenade explosion.
It just leads to entirely distrust effects because they have no connection to how good a weapon actually is.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thank you both for posting.For the kind of game this is we should all expect gore/violence/ambiance etc that pertains to each side respectively. I want the aliens to be visceral, cold and calculating and just down right brutal, the marines to feel terror but be brave in the face of unspeakable horrors they much face to protect the rest of humanity from them with their boom sticks and super tech that can blow a hole clean through a hive like a hot knife through butter.
That is how we should see "Natural Selection" just like the real thing :) , right now the game lacks that kind of immersion/depth and the game suffers for it. I hope to see this change in the future.
It's mostly noobs stacking marines, because its easier to learn the game. You simply know how most of it works from other shooters. So thats also the cause, aliens tend to win more matches. But this was a non-problem in NS1 too. Just adapt and try out aliens more.
<!--quoteo(post=1910865:date=Mar 7 2012, 07:25 AM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Mar 7 2012, 07:25 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1910865"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Honestly all the marine guns feel incredibly dinky no matter how nice their effects are, simply because they don't work. I get far more of a feeling of power from my skulk bite taking a few percent off the extractor every time I use it than I do for all the fire and blood and noise of a rifle, or grenade explosion.
It just leads to entirely distrust effects because they have no connection to how good a weapon actually is.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't know what it is about the marine weapons...the sounds don't have much contrast perhaps. Too quiet? Is it that there's zero recoil?
They need to do more than make aliens stop moving and flop to the ground. A shotgun at close range to a skulk should send it flying.
These are the kind of things done extremely well in the source engine, sorry UWE :P
I remember way back watching the Half Life 2 tech demos and being blown away by the way everything interacted realistically. The player needs to feel control...if I hit something with this big gun it should have a big effect. Without that feeling of control you're less involved in the game.
If someone made an NS2 single player horror mod, would anyone feel scared playing it? I wouldn't because there's little feeling of being a living thing. It's more like a floating gun or some teeth that stop working sometimes (when you're 'killed') and you have to start again.
NS2 does lighting better than any game I've played and that makes the game feel much more immersive than it otherwise would. The physics aspect on the other hand is weak and I really hope that it's going to be improved.
Well I think I misjudged this matter a little bit, obviously many ppl like to play aliens a lot. Of course the ppl in this forum are a little bit more "hardcore" than ppl on the servers and therefore more likely to go alien by definition, but I guess (and hope) this will balance itself out in the future. (less new players to the game, better performance etc...)
Marines are easy to learn as a new player- but aliens can be a hell of a lot of fun. Once you figure out how to play a skulk and ambush players, it's goddamn addictive.
I fall in the majority of those with a marine bias, for several reasons:
- I have been playing on and off since around beta build 140-ish. Ever since, I haven't seen a build when aliens didn't dominate most matches from my pub games perspective, which seems to be backed by statistics flying around that credited aliens a winrate of around 60%. Only with the latest few builds do I feel that the sides are pretty even in pub games, and only now am I sometimes seeing marine teams come back from a 2-hive alien team with even player count. Since I typically root for the underdogs, I have a tendency to join marines.
- I enjoy marines more in pubs because it lends much more to my teamplay willingness than aliens. Coordination or even communication is much less used and much less needed on the alien side. (Cue people wanting to correct me on this, but my pub experience is pretty clear here: A marine team without communication is doomed, while an alien team can still handily win without anyone ever saying or typing a word.) I'll also be comm for marines, not so much for aliens, as it seems nobody really wants to be commanded around on the alien side. xD
- I enjoy marines more from an atmospheric point of view.
- I am utterly BAD as a skulk, which severely reduces the fun in playing alien. Fade on the other hand is stupidly easy (although nowadays you at least have to be a little careful and not be TOO brash). I want to and eventually will be an ok player on both sides, but I guess it's human nature to have more fun doing what you're good at.
Unless I'm trying to work on a specific life form I generally go to the team that lost the last round. Usually this results in swapping back and forth each game.
Marines (besides the commander) in NS/NS2 seem very vanilla to me -- on par with some FPS games, but lagging behind the better ones. Consequently, I find playing as a kharra to be very refreshing. I almost never play as marine.
I force myself to go Marines if the previous game I played Kharaa and won - so as not to be accused of win-stacking.
But I do find Marine gameplay OH SO BORING, in NS1 it was alright 'cause my aim was better and alot of skulks didn't even bunnyhop, so I soloed half the kingdom. But in NS2 my survival ratio vs. skulks is around 60% (I can't even hear the ######s run! Is it just me?) and well, dying just isn't fun. So when I do force myself to go Marines, I usually go comm - it's a taxing job and I suck at multitasking, but I'm fast and have decent strategy.
<!--quoteo(post=1911058:date=Mar 7 2012, 03:46 PM:name=Mestaritonttu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Mestaritonttu @ Mar 7 2012, 03:46 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1911058"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->BRING PERSONAL RES FROM FRAGS BACK. You REALLY, REALLY need to be rewarded if you're doing good.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
At first I thought that taking RFK away was a bad idea, but it is definitely better for the health of the game. It was a well thought out decision on the part of the devs, so I would advise giving it some time with an open mind before you ask them to return to RFK. If you've already done so, then we'll just have to agree to disagree.
I like both but i prefer. aliens because its new, in like every game you play as humans. There not much games where you can play "creative" aliens like in ns. So i love aliens but i also like playing marines. Both teams feels very diffrent in gameplay.
And i guess, the marine team is always full because people like it simple, aliens gameplay is much harder, you have to be more tactical. So in my mind, playing marines is more for "casual" players and aliens more for "hardcore" players. If one team win, the most people join the same team next round ^^ Aliens win...next round most people join aliens. Also with marines.
I by far enjoy the aliens the most. They have more variety overall and can react to situations on the fly, compared to the marines which seem more "locked-in" with whatever they are doing at the moment. The fact that the aliens also have a dedicated builder class is also something that appeals to me, sometimes you just want to hang back out of the action and build instead being in combat all the time.
That's not to say Marines aren't fun as well though. I just enjoy the alien gameplay more.
<!--quoteo(post=1911013:date=Mar 7 2012, 05:39 PM:name=peregrinus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (peregrinus @ Mar 7 2012, 05:39 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1911013"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't know what it is about the marine weapons...the sounds don't have much contrast perhaps. Too quiet? Is it that there's zero recoil?
They need to do more than make aliens stop moving and flop to the ground. A shotgun at close range to a skulk should send it flying.
These are the kind of things done extremely well in the source engine, sorry UWE :P
I remember way back watching the Half Life 2 tech demos and being blown away by the way everything interacted realistically. The player needs to feel control...if I hit something with this big gun it should have a big effect. Without that feeling of control you're less involved in the game.
If someone made an NS2 single player horror mod, would anyone feel scared playing it? I wouldn't because there's little feeling of being a living thing. It's more like a floating gun or some teeth that stop working sometimes (when you're 'killed') and you have to start again.
NS2 does lighting better than any game I've played and that makes the game feel much more immersive than it otherwise would. The physics aspect on the other hand is weak and I really hope that it's going to be improved.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
HL2 actually has very lackluster effects, the only thing it does have is that combine tend to die quite easily and in droves, whereas by neccesity, in NS2 a single marine cannot beat a single alien, if they could they'd be unstoppable in groups. This means all guns are pretty ineffective, and it shows. I can't really fault the effects, I could probably improve on them if they were in source because I am good with the source particle editor, but as a compromise between visuals and performance and not getting in the way, they're certainly good, it's just that they have to be attached to kind of crappy guns.
Comments
That is typically how I tend to play. Unless I want to grind it out on one side.
I find it vastly preferable to the marine approach of millions of bullets and blood effects but zero effect. The payoff is not dying to everything and being able to have an effect on the game. Honestly all the marine guns feel incredibly dinky no matter how nice their effects are, simply because they don't work. I get far more of a feeling of power from my skulk bite taking a few percent off the extractor every time I use it than I do for all the fire and blood and noise of a rifle, or grenade explosion.
It just leads to entirely distrust effects because they have no connection to how good a weapon actually is.
For example, some of the servers I play on, regularly are stacked on aliens, whereas the more random servers, like the 32 player test one that pops up with each new build, tends to have more marine stacking, as it seems to attract less regular players.
Overall though, there are many things that decide what team people pick, for instance I choose by:
1) If lots of good players go one team, I go the other (I love killing Treffnix, Skie, swalk, <b>Argathor</b>etc).
2) I choose the opposite team to annoying people (Who spend the game telling others what to do on voice chat, hi MPaC) as it is fun killing them.
3) If one team has lost a lot recently, I try and help the others win. I dislike seeing aliens, or marines, winning every game.
4) If one side is obviously underpowered in a patch, I will play that more (As it will be the most difficult to win in clan matches).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
^--This.
And if I am Onos or Fade I sometimes let some players, that I know that they are new, kill me or leaving them alone. And generally I try to pick up the black armors only and troll the green ones :-P.
And if I am Onos or Fade I sometimes let some players, that I know that they are new, kill me or leaving them alone. And generally I try to pick up the black armors only and troll the green ones :-P.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Arga is green armor, troll him more plx
Jealously doesn't suit you swalk. Just because I look unique in our PcWs! :-P
Even with alien commander the aliens tend to have less coherent direction than the marines, but that works out O.K. with skulks doing there own thing harassing around the map.
But I do try to play both sides
...if random keeps chucking me to aliens I will explicitly go marines next round.
Playing both sides was always important to knowing the strengths and weaknesses in NS1 an the same goes for NS2.
I like to play both, and enjoy feeling the difference between the sides.
What I like about Marines is they usually have a commander with voice comm, and they work together. It's fun as a marine to use all the different weapons and gadgets.
With aliens it's hit or miss. You might get a comm as active as the marine one, or you might just as often have to debate with the team who will comm. Most players do not want to play alien comm there's not much interesting to do as the alien comm, none of the structures are fun to use, in fact they feel useless, and infestation is tedious. Usually only half the alien team listens to the commander.
Aliens also lack lots of fun gadgets. You basically have one attack, which can make the classes feel repetitive especially when you're trying to destroy a structure. The onos is really enjoyable because it has 3 quite different attacks. I really enjoyed the gorge when hydras were useful. I find the lerk nice to fly around but spikes are boring, you can hardly even see them.
More people would play aliens if their attacks didn't feel so pathetic. You don't have a feeling of being a deadly beast that can rip a marine to shreds. It's more like a game of tag. You tag a marine by clicking your mouse when you're next to him, then if you timed it right a wiggly ragdoll will fall down with no signs of injuries, then it will vanish into thin air in seconds. There's no pay off.
I remember Charlie says he doesn't want gore and dismemberment but UWE need to make the aliens feel more potent. Only the Onos has that feeling with his awesome stomping sounds, the momentum, the brilliant attack animations and his sheer size.
UWE need to work more on making the aliens weird, creepy and violent, a counterpoint to the sleek, cool and polished marine side. As a lerk I wanna be able to fly into marines and mess them up Hitchcock's Birds style. I want the skulk to bite off marine armour, leave deep wounds, and chew their corpses for hp. I want the Fade to slice and dice them, send limbs flying before disappearing away.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=1910865:date=Mar 7 2012, 01:25 AM:name=Chris0132)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Mar 7 2012, 01:25 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1910865"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I find it vastly preferable to the marine approach of millions of bullets and blood effects but zero effect. The payoff is not dying to everything and being able to have an effect on the game. Honestly all the marine guns feel incredibly dinky no matter how nice their effects are, simply because they don't work. I get far more of a feeling of power from my skulk bite taking a few percent off the extractor every time I use it than I do for all the fire and blood and noise of a rifle, or grenade explosion.
It just leads to entirely distrust effects because they have no connection to how good a weapon actually is.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thank you both for posting.For the kind of game this is we should all expect gore/violence/ambiance etc that pertains to each side respectively. I want the aliens to be visceral, cold and calculating and just down right brutal, the marines to feel terror but be brave in the face of unspeakable horrors they much face to protect the rest of humanity from them with their boom sticks and super tech that can blow a hole clean through a hive like a hot knife through butter.
That is how we should see "Natural Selection" just like the real thing :) , right now the game lacks that kind of immersion/depth and the game suffers for it. I hope to see this change in the future.
So thats also the cause, aliens tend to win more matches. But this was a non-problem in NS1 too. Just adapt and try out aliens more.
It just leads to entirely distrust effects because they have no connection to how good a weapon actually is.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't know what it is about the marine weapons...the sounds don't have much contrast perhaps. Too quiet? Is it that there's zero recoil?
They need to do more than make aliens stop moving and flop to the ground. A shotgun at close range to a skulk should send it flying.
These are the kind of things done extremely well in the source engine, sorry UWE :P
I remember way back watching the Half Life 2 tech demos and being blown away by the way everything interacted realistically. The player needs to feel control...if I hit something with this big gun it should have a big effect. Without that feeling of control you're less involved in the game.
If someone made an NS2 single player horror mod, would anyone feel scared playing it? I wouldn't because there's little feeling of being a living thing. It's more like a floating gun or some teeth that stop working sometimes (when you're 'killed') and you have to start again.
NS2 does lighting better than any game I've played and that makes the game feel much more immersive than it otherwise would. The physics aspect on the other hand is weak and I really hope that it's going to be improved.
Of course the ppl in this forum are a little bit more "hardcore" than ppl on the servers and therefore more likely to go alien by definition, but I guess (and hope) this will balance itself out in the future. (less new players to the game, better performance etc...)
- I have been playing on and off since around beta build 140-ish. Ever since, I haven't seen a build when aliens didn't dominate most matches from my pub games perspective, which seems to be backed by statistics flying around that credited aliens a winrate of around 60%. Only with the latest few builds do I feel that the sides are pretty even in pub games, and only now am I sometimes seeing marine teams come back from a 2-hive alien team with even player count. Since I typically root for the underdogs, I have a tendency to join marines.
- I enjoy marines more in pubs because it lends much more to my teamplay willingness than aliens. Coordination or even communication is much less used and much less needed on the alien side. (Cue people wanting to correct me on this, but my pub experience is pretty clear here: A marine team without communication is doomed, while an alien team can still handily win without anyone ever saying or typing a word.) I'll also be comm for marines, not so much for aliens, as it seems nobody really wants to be commanded around on the alien side. xD
- I enjoy marines more from an atmospheric point of view.
- I am utterly BAD as a skulk, which severely reduces the fun in playing alien. Fade on the other hand is stupidly easy (although nowadays you at least have to be a little careful and not be TOO brash). I want to and eventually will be an ok player on both sides, but I guess it's human nature to have more fun doing what you're good at.
But I do find Marine gameplay OH SO BORING, in NS1 it was alright 'cause my aim was better and alot of skulks didn't even bunnyhop, so I soloed half the kingdom. But in NS2 my survival ratio vs. skulks is around 60% (I can't even hear the ######s run! Is it just me?) and well, dying just isn't fun. So when I do force myself to go Marines, I usually go comm - it's a taxing job and I suck at multitasking, but I'm fast and have decent strategy.
lé story taim ovah. :3
lé afterthought: I seriously think Marines could use one more thing to do in the game. I have no clue what, but yeah. Also super cereal: BRING PERSONAL RES FROM FRAGS BACK. You REALLY, REALLY need to be rewarded if you're doing good.
At first I thought that taking RFK away was a bad idea, but it is definitely better for the health of the game. It was a well thought out decision on the part of the devs, so I would advise giving it some time with an open mind before you ask them to return to RFK. If you've already done so, then we'll just have to agree to disagree.
There not much games where you can play "creative" aliens like in ns.
So i love aliens but i also like playing marines.
Both teams feels very diffrent in gameplay.
And i guess, the marine team is always full because people like it simple, aliens gameplay is much harder, you have to be more tactical.
So in my mind, playing marines is more for "casual" players and aliens more for "hardcore" players.
If one team win, the most people join the same team next round ^^
Aliens win...next round most people join aliens.
Also with marines.
That's not to say Marines aren't fun as well though. I just enjoy the alien gameplay more.
They need to do more than make aliens stop moving and flop to the ground. A shotgun at close range to a skulk should send it flying.
These are the kind of things done extremely well in the source engine, sorry UWE :P
I remember way back watching the Half Life 2 tech demos and being blown away by the way everything interacted realistically. The player needs to feel control...if I hit something with this big gun it should have a big effect. Without that feeling of control you're less involved in the game.
If someone made an NS2 single player horror mod, would anyone feel scared playing it? I wouldn't because there's little feeling of being a living thing. It's more like a floating gun or some teeth that stop working sometimes (when you're 'killed') and you have to start again.
NS2 does lighting better than any game I've played and that makes the game feel much more immersive than it otherwise would. The physics aspect on the other hand is weak and I really hope that it's going to be improved.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
HL2 actually has very lackluster effects, the only thing it does have is that combine tend to die quite easily and in droves, whereas by neccesity, in NS2 a single marine cannot beat a single alien, if they could they'd be unstoppable in groups. This means all guns are pretty ineffective, and it shows. I can't really fault the effects, I could probably improve on them if they were in source because I am good with the source particle editor, but as a compromise between visuals and performance and not getting in the way, they're certainly good, it's just that they have to be attached to kind of crappy guns.