Interstellar Marines

[eyebiter]

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[Jarhead0331]

Has Interstellar Marines improved in the last six months?

Most definitely. Still has a long way to go though.

[Huw the Poo]

Apparently this game is really shaping up now and it does look amazingly good.  I prefer the tactical pace of games like these compared to the super-fast shootouts in games like CS:GO, and the sci-fi setting really is the icing on the cake.

Any updated impressions from anyone?

[Huw the Poo]

Oh well - I bought it anyway. :P

First quick impressions are that it's clearly unfinished but does show incredible potential.  I love everything about the aesthetic of this game.  The environmental effects are really immersive with night time bringing its own tactical challenges (do you use your laser sight for from-the-hip shooting at the risk of exposing your position?), rain obscuring the view from your helmet (which you can raise but you lose your HUD), sirens and lovely intercom voices announcing the action etc.

The multiplayer is faster than you'd think for a tactical game.  As observed by Toonces matches only take a few minutes because you're unlikely to respawn if you're killed.  You're no superhuman either...only a few shots required, although you do appear to regenerate health if your opponent can't finish the job.

Multiplayer matches are conceived as "training missions" and as such the environments are essentially huge domes which simulate real-world scenarios, so the weather changes a lot and the environment itself sometimes shifts about, with platforms raising and lowering for example.  It's really cool.  Oh, and there's now a crouch stance with a cover system; you can get up against waist-high cover and peek above it, with or without your iron sight.  There are now also two guns in the game.  The default gun is a SMG which I find is better for close quarters because its iron sight doesn't zoom and it holds 30 rounds in its magazine.  The assault rifle holds 20 rounds and has a decent scope which is obviously much better for longer-range shooting.

Still no grenades but there's in-game VOIP now.

With the latest update a single-player campaign was released which can also be played cooperatively with up to three other players.  I've barely looked at it yet but apparently it's quite good.  I'm hoping to play this with Geek soon so I'll report back when we've seen it in action.

The developers seem to be quite active and engage with the community a lot, so I'm hopeful for more updates soon.  Actually, I just saw this on the dev blog:

    October - Content Update (2 current maps retro-fitted for co-op and SP + other features) - estimated release Oct 22nd.
    November - Content Update (2 current maps retro-fitted for co-op and SP) - estimated release 2nd half Nov.
    December - Content Update (2 current maps retro-fitted for co-op and SP) + Major Update (to be decided, Kim is drawing up the design doc now) - estimated release mid-Dec.

Nice!

[Father Ted]

Just picked this up and have to say I'm quite impressed.  My impressions are in line with Huw's. The graphics and sound are great and it all works well.  Although my outing in MP reminded me strongly of CS (and why I'm no good at that) I had enough success to fancy another try.  Co-op sounds like it could be a little less frenetic.  For £6.99 (on sale at the mo) I'd recommend it.

[LongBlade]

The steam release is admittedly underwhelming.  The unity powered web based game had a lot more content, including two SP modes called Running Man and Bullseye.  I'm sort of at a loss as to why those modes, which are pretty engaging are not included with the steam product.

My Steam description still calls this an "early access game." At $10, given the praise JH has for it, I think I'm in.