INTRODUCTION
Due to some bugs and feedback
from the initial release, Ubi Soft decided to release
a patch for the Raven Shield Multiplayer Demo, bringing
it from 1.0 to 1.1. Included in the patch are several
bug fixes, tweaked player and reticle speeds, a new map
and a new game-mode!
NEW MAP
The new map looks great.
Big - much larger than the other two - plenty of routes,
lots of opportunities for every play style. Sniping? Got
that. Camping? That too. Head-on assault? You betcha.
I like the level interaction ("killing" phones
and puncturing fire extiguishers - pity the latter doesn't
make you cough or anything). My framerates aren't as optimal
as they are on the other two maps, though, and I don't
really want to imagine playing it with tons of AI stuff
eating up my CPU cycles as well..
NEW GAME MODE
I've had limited experience
with the new Pilot game-mode so far. The objective for
Green team is to escort their pilot to one of several
extraction zones marked with green smoke. Red team has
to stop them, and the round ends when Red team is eliminated
or the pilot is either dead or at an extraction zone.
The pilot himself is only equipped with a secondary weapon
and equipment to make things a little more interesting.
MOVEMENT
SPEED
The slightly sped-up movement is great, it feels a lot
smoother now and less 'clunky' than before, yet it's not
too fast either. Allegedly, the speed increase is microscopic,
but it's still significant enough to be noticable.
RETICLE
SPEEDS
To be honest, I haven't noticed much difference. I play
the same way I did before the patch and I get more or
less the same results. They definitely feel more like
they did in Rainbow Six/Rogue Spear - whether that's a
good thing or not depends on your personal preference.
I liked it the way it was, but I don't have any problems
with it now either. After all, the Rainbow Six games are,
without doubt, the games that have been (and still are)
installed on my PC(s) for the longest amount of time.
For me, it's a good change.
This change is also quite small. In fact, it's not the
speed itself that has been increased, they've just reduced
the amount the reticle pips spread. Basically, 1.0 had
five different spots the reticles could be in. Very wide,
wide, tight, tighter, tightest. In 1.1, they've removed
the widest one (which was about at the edge of the screen)
so the pips never expand more than about a screen-lenght
apart. This means that all weapons are more accurate when
on the move (but still no good for shooting on the run
unless in close quarters) and the pips take less time
to return to the tight positions.
In the end, there's not much difference. It's a tad easier
to "run-and-gun" in close-quarter battle now,
but you still have to slow to walking speed (or stop alltogether)
if you want to hit anything at extended ranges.
FRAGS
Fragmentation grenades are finally useful. Not much more
to say about that. They increased the range to approximately
what it is in the previous Rainbow games, so the grenades
are efficient without feeling overpowered.
CONCLUSION
Overall, the game feels
a lot more polished and solid now, much thanks to the
removal of minor annoyances such as floating items. (It
really kills the immersion when you stumble upon a helmet
floating mid-air.) I still have one of the bugs from before
- sometimes I'll start a round with no reticle and no
mouselook. Nothing works apart from the WSAD movement
keys and the movement is choppy. Not sure what causes
it, it appeared seemingly randomly on the Import/Export
map earlier, twice, with two "normal" rounds
in between. After that, I haven't had it happen again.
Did spot a guy stuck on a ladder, though, so there are
still a couple of bugs to iron out, but it's nowhere near
as bad as it used to be - at least not for me.
I'm impressed. The speed changes are all good, in my opinion.
The new map is great. The Pilot mode is fun. Apart from
the few remaining bugs, I have no complaints. All in all
a good job on Ubi Soft's part. There's still a lot of
discussion around the reticle, however, so it's hard to
tell if this will be the final system or if they'll tweak
it yet again. They appear to have based the changes on
the results of the polls in the official forums not long
ago, which were pretty clear as to what most players (voting
players, anyhow) wanted.
I guess time will tell how the final version turns out.
Daywanderer
"Fortune sides with he who dares."
