True, I meant that its more straightforward to make a game look amazing than to come up with innovative gameplay. You probably know before you start whether or not you have the resources to make a game that looks like Crysis, but not just anyone can poop golden eggs all day long like they're Will Wright. Its safer to go with a sure bet that will attract consumers than take a chance on a new formula. Hold the door for the next derivative shooter.

"Hey, but it has pixel shader 3.0, HDR, soft shadows and ..."

*Smacks fanboy upside the head*

Very true, but I could at the very least run BF2 DECENTLY. Of course, BF2 had completely different set of problems with how weapon accuracy was designed which, when combined with the buggy online hit detection, just made the game infuriating after so many hours of gameplay.

BF2142, however, was just so horrible that the beta / demo would only run on my X800XL vid card at 800x600. Meanwhile, the Orange Box games all run at 1280x960 with all the bells and whistles with no problems; hell, the I can even play the original HL2, which came out 8 months before BF2 at 1600x1200 at a steady 40 FPS.


Mad Cat

Ya, there's definitely no comparison when it comes to the optimization between BF2 and HL2. I can run BF2 almost entirely with full details on 1280x800 or 960 i think? on 3850 AGP but still, crazy aiming problems(that somehow the hardcore BF2'ers don't understand how bad it is compared to other games) and the crazy slowdown upon first load. HL2 is definitely a smoother play. I can play CS:S @ 1680x1050 with full details and AA @ 2 and AF @ 2. What a difference.

So I guess 2142 isn't worth picking up then? I had already picked up the 'Booster Pack' with Armored Fury and Euro Force, but it seems not many people play them which makes them useless.