how can nobody on here be talking about this incredible MP demo... I have been playing it non stop since Thursday.
Most god Damned fun I have had playing a MP game in years. Not so much an online shooter but an online "game".
here's some of my findings:
This may be a tough sell for the CoD/Halo crowd as it is a much different feeling with the 3rd person perspective and the vertical nature of the game play. It appears to me as if you can get past the fact that it's not a fast twitch shooter but instead a fast twitch game, you may enjoy this.
there is only one (of 6 in retail) game types and 2 (of 21) maps to play. It has 15 unlockables out of 120? (skins and cosmetics mostly right now) that save in the demo for the TWO WEEKS that this will be available. the MP demo will be pulled around retail release day (June 2).
there is so much variety in how you can attack each problem or enemy in front of you that the fast twitch game play presents itself as INSTANT decisions that you need to make in choosing to use one of the many backpacks available to escape, evade or attack an enemy. You want to decide quickly whether to close the distance for an instant kill melee attempt with the hammer or fire one of the many weapons available or combine the backpack use with the weapons. the quick weapon switching allowed me to use many different types of attacks and or weapons in each single engagement with an enemy. You can also decide whether to destroy or rebuild the objective before during or after an enemy engagement. the one game type available is like a "King of the Hill" mode for which you earn XP points for assisting with destroying, rebuilding or holding the objective. In combat, you can instantly chose (depending on which backpack you have on at the moment) to go high above and evade, go forward and attack, blast through or close the distance and close attack... etc, etc. The learning curve was minor based on me using the SP demo as a practice ground for the controls (although backpacks are not in the SP demo) and the games are frantic yet you have enough time to consider your options.
the menus, matchmaking and reports are fast, complete and well executed IMO. I moved quickly into my games and connected instantly and had no lag. This appears to be a complete MP experience and is very polished. The Matchmaking modes and games are derived by the server, settings adjusted according to play lists (ala Bungie) and according to Volition will be well supported with multiple game variants presented in matchmaking as gamers report their likes/dislikes. there is also a veto option in the menu and an auto-start but no join in progress. For example in one match the starting weapons varied slightly as did the speed was increased to 110%. There are also private matches (not in the demo) where many variants can be adjusted. There is party support in the demo and retail. The beta last year allowed them to make a lot of corrections to the MP and it shows in this release. It will be in my library as a different type of MP game rather than just a death match shooter.
I'm sure I may find things that I am not thrilled with and it's certainly not for everyone but it seems to offer as rich a MP experience as there is out there for those that it appeals to.
<hr style="color: rgb(226, 226, 226);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> couple other things I noticed are host switching in case of a host drop, pretty seamless excepts it resets your location to a spawn point but all other things are intact. Also a nice switch in the times of day for each map (2 in demo) 21 in full game plus a time of day change or two is nice.
there is so much diversity there in the way you want to play the game. I love the Rhino pack to run through walls people but I totally dig the jet pack and remote charges and raining bombs from the sky. On certain maps (or in certain situations) stealth pack and a hammer is a melee players dream.

Kind of cool too that you can rebuild the walls around the checkpoints after securing it just to give a couple of more seconds to defend an attack.
I am having a blast. Turn the speed up and adjust the controls to alt 1 (left trigger zoom). the game moves smooth as butter too without any hiccups no matter what happens.
***PS3 was having connection issues and in fact I believe volition pulled the demo until they figure out how to fix.
360 I have had a few times where I canceled and restarted but n the whole I have never played an online game where I connected so quickly and easily from game to game (CoD WaW is close)
couple other observations:
there is a "Party up" button at the end of each match if you want to stay with some of the current team. Also, evidently the retail game includes a spectator mode and in "Detonator game mode (VIP) you can pass the Vip off to a team mate if you just want to protect or kill.
this game is a blast when working as a team each with different packs (abilities). The most fun I see depends on them mixing up game variants or customs matches. So many creative possibilities
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