Figured there might've been a thread for this already, but did a search and found nothing so guess I'll go ahead and get this started.

So even though August already has a great line-up in terms of releases and beta's (Guild Wars 2, Planetside 2 beta starting on Monday, End of Nations beta running now) I recently came across Natural Selection 2 via Totalbiscuit. Regardless of whether you're a fan of him or not, I loved his coverage of NS2.

It was a game that slid under the radar, and out of curiosity I watched his videos, instantly pre-purchased it and have played a solid 7 hours straight today. So what is NS2? NS2 is a mixture of FPS and RTS on the PC, made by Unknown World studios, basically a team of 6 or 7 guys crammed into an office in San Fran. 2 Teams exist, the Kraah (Aliens) and the Marines (I forget the name and youtube is bugging out for me currently) whose objective is to destroy all the opponents command structures (Hive and Command Center respectively). Each team has 1 guy enter their respective commander role and the rest go off, and, well you'll see in the videos hopefully.

Currently it's in beta so game crashes, bugs and so on are rather common at times (I had maybe 3 crashes today) and the asking price seems a little steep ($35) but pre-purchasing gets you instant beta access, the game in full on steam on release and it's updated every fortnight or so. The playerbase has exploded since TBs videos and the servers are often crammed, though you can get into anything from a 6 vs 6 to a 9 vs 9 currently. I have seen a 16 vs 16 match, but it was a server test and rather hectic.

I can't really think of anything else to say so I'll just link the videos and let you guys decide for yourselves. Well, I guess games can end rather quickly (marine and skulk rushes respectively) but I've seen only 2 in roughly 25 games so, not too bad.

Totalbiscuit - Marine video

Totalbiscuit - Alien video

Totalbiscuit - Commander video (Marine PoV)

NS2's Youtube channel - Over 400 videos, a lot of competitive matches of various builds between active skilled players/teams - E-Sports potential.

 

NS2 looks cool as shit, but there's no way I'm laying out $35 for a beta. It'd just leave me with a bad taste in my mouth when release rolls around as I'd have long since quit playing it.

That said I do want to play the shit out of this when it's fully polished and ready to go. Had my eye on it for a while.

 

Yeah, thats my main issue as well. $35 really does seem a bit steep. :/

Otherwise, it really does look cool as hell.

I do think that the commander thing is a bit gimmicky as well. What if no one wants to be a commander? Or what if everyone wants to be a commander? I think that'll be an issue.

I probably will try this game out though, looks pretty awesome. Be cool if there was a demo or something.

 

The price is steep but after watching some other stuff on it, reading other peoples thoughts and my own enthusiasm for it, I decided why not. I thankfully didn't spend all the money I put aside for the Steam sale so I figured it wouldn't hurt too much. You do get the full game on release but I can see why people don't want to pay that much for a beta.

Still, it shouldn't be that long off release, as they were saying back in late May/early June it'll be a summer release, so fingers crossed.

As for the commander worries, I've never really had that issue, from what I've seen most people don't[/i[ want to be the commander as it can get rather stressful in the late game or if you have a team of Rambo wannabes who aren't all that great. That said, Voice communication helps a lot when you're the commander; the few times the commander on my team hasn't had VC has led to pretty quick defeats whilst people learn the game.

 

For those of you who are slightly confused:

Immediate beta access on Steam
Full version when done (via Steam)
Our eternal gratitude

Is what you get for $35, not just beta access.

Looking at this game very closely, i've always been a sucker or anything that evolved.

Bought it, atm would not recommend. Learning curve is intense, and the game is paced too fast. Half the time, i'm dead before i know there's an enemy (as marine) or before i've gotten my third bite off on the target (alien) not to mention the difficulties in aiming in general. 2 hours played so far, will probably tough it out a while longer.

 

Oops, my bad. Just realised I hadn't clarified the immediate access, thanks for that Wild.

 

So ummm... now that the game is released, any one playing this?

Its really really fun. They did a good job with it.

 

Game needs some way to make the learning curve less steep. The targetting system is what ruined the game for me, since I couldn't hit other players for like, weeks as an alien. Maybe they fixed it since I stopped playing, but it was no fun to feed AND not be able to take any objectives for the team.

Even as a gorge your ability to help the team was very limited.

 

NS is Counterstrike + Alien, the learning curve is supposed to be steep.

 

I'm necroing this thread because I purchase the NS2 during the summer sale. Anyone from DLP still playing it? I've been playing mostly on the alien side so far. While the targeting system was a pain in the ass to get through, I think I'm getting there after 5+ hours of gameplay.

I've wanted to try my hand at the RTS element through command, but it's pretty hard to experiment when you have 15 other people yelling at you to do this and that.

Either way, pretty happy with the purchase so far.

(PS. They've patch a few stuff since the initial release and overall the game feels more balanced from what I've heard and felt)

 

Join a rookier server with 14 players or so, let them know you are a new commander.

 

So NS2 is on sale this weekend at 75% off plus Unknown Worlds is rolling out their big reinforcement update as well. Free update with new levels, skins, tutorials and quality of life upgrades all for free.

I love these guys.

 

I love those guys so much I gave them 75 bloody dollars.

 

In that case I have to ask... just what is Unknown World's secret project?

 

Need to wait till the 15th of November... or was it September? I dunno.

 

Is anybody who plays on European servers playing NS2 this weekend?