I’ve done beta testing before in the past.  I’ve beta’s games like The Matrix: Online, Axis and Allies RTS, Horizons Online and Planetside.  I’ve done beta testing for Atari and currently have 66 testing points (the highest to date is 132 points).  I’ve studied programming in college, designed my own board and role-playing games and I consider myself an avid gamer.  I’m willing to try any game once, give it more credit than it’s due and look for ways to improve any gaming experience.

My only suggestion to the developers of Face of Mankind is to stop now before you release this atrocity onto the world.  The open beta is bad enough, don’t pull the same stunt that the developers of Horizons did and push a steaming pile of crap out on the public.

What makes this game so bad?  Let me count the ways:

Graphics

There’s no reason for the graphics in FoM to look this bad.  Half-Life 1 had better character models and graphics than FoM.  It’s as if the developers grabbed an alien from another planet that doesn’t understand the human body, gave him a computer and tried to describe how to render and animate the characters.  Movement is unrealistic and jerky with characters twitching at the slightest movement.

There are TONS of mods out for various FPS games with graphics, models and in game animations that make FoM look like a sad joke.  The mods I’m talking about were made by developers that weren’t getting paid for their time and work, that weren’t expecting to even get a “Thank you” from the folks that played their games.  They did some outstanding graphics just for the love of the game.  If the developers have come up with what they’ve got while actually being paid for their work, then someone is getting ripped off.

Game play

Generally, when someone sits down to play a game, they expect to have some fun.  They expect to be introduced to a new world where the rules and laws of everyday life don’t apply.  Basically, they expect to be entertained.  After five hours of continuous playing, you know what I achieved?  I was able to do some mining.  Wait, that’s misleading.  I was able to tell a terminal to do some mining for me.  During five hours of game play, not a damn thing happened.  There were no missions for me to run, there were no intuitive aspects of the game for new players to work with.

Other players run everything in the game.  Missions are set up by other players, all purchasable items are made by other players, the economy is run by other players.  What this means to starting gamers is that, unless there’s someone online to custom tailor a mission for that player, there’s very little for a first time gamer to do.  With nothing to do comes a sense of boredom and the game turns into nothing other than a “running simulator” as players go from one place to another with no point or purpose.

Economy

I’ve played other games where the players solely ran the economy.  In one game with a player run economy, there were no inherent money-sinks to pull excess cash out of the game.  Because of this, money built up in the accounts of players.  Soon, everyone had a million credits, then ten million, and then fifty million.  Inflation was rampant to where new players had to rely on older players just to be able to afford basic equipment.

Another game that had the economy based on the actions of the players didn’t fare much better.  Instead of everyone having all the money, a small select group of players had 90% of the money in the game.  Those players ran around the game with impunity because they controlled the economy.  They could buy what they wanted, when they wanted, and no one could stop them.  Until the developers put in a better economic system, those players controlled the game and thus, the enjoyment of other players.

FoM is destined for one of these outcomes because there is no inherent control of the economy.  Slowly but surely, the economy will break down and either everyone will be rich or only a small part of the population will have the funs in game to enjoy themselves.

Crafting

What’s there to say about crafting?  Everything (yes, I mean everything) is completely controlled by terminals.  If you want to mine, you run up to a terminal, tell it what to mine from the available resources listed and wait.  If you want to refine raw materials, you run up to a terminal, tell it what to make from available raw materials and wait.  If you want to produce specific items, well, I don’t know.  I never got that far.  But I bet it involves running up to a terminal and telling it what to make from processed materials and then waiting.

Basically, crafting isn’t crafting.  It’s telling the game system to make something from nothing.  There’s no skill, ingenuity, or even effort involved in crafting.  It’s all handed to you in a nice, futuristic wrapped terminal.  Whee!  Now that’s entertainment!

Basically, this game offers nothing new.  A MMOFPS?  Yep, that’s been done before.  Crafting?  Nothing new there (or even interesting).  Combat?  Dunno, never got to see any, but based on the way my character moved and the paltry list of missions available, it’s probably not much better than stubbing your toe on the dresser in the dark.  Overall, this game isn’t new, it isn’t impressive and by the time the average gamer has played for a little while, they’re bored and wanting to do something fun.

Now, there are a few people here that will say this game is great!  It’s fantastic!  It’s the best thing since sliced bread!  To those people, I have to say, “Get real.”  With sub-par graphics, a clumsy interface, boring game play and practically non-existent crafting, how can you say this game is great?  Those people that do honestly believe that FoM is the best MMORPG/FSP in the world need to go out, buy a top rated MMORPG and try playing that.  I’m sure that once the fanboys see even a mediocre game in action, they’ll realize just how inferior FoM really is.

If you mess around reading guides and god knows what else before you play it then it is marginally better however the whole player run aspect of FoMk destroys all gameplay. Player run missions and player run politics????  Why are Duplex surprised that doesn't work??

As for graphics............well they are just the icing on any cake and the ones in FoMk would be adequate were the actual gameplay and setting better.

About the graphics
Everything is going to be redone, character models etc etc
This will happen before release, so speak after that

---

Originally posted by Tryon

I’ve done beta testing before in the past.  I’ve beta’s games like The Matrix: Online, Axis and Allies RTS, Horizons Online and Planetside.  I’ve done beta testing for Atari and currently have 66 testing points (the highest to date is 132 points).  I’ve studied programming in college, designed my own board and role-playing games and I consider myself an avid gamer.  I’m willing to try any game once, give it more credit than it’s due and look for ways to improve any gaming experience.

 

My only suggestion to the developers of Face of Mankind is to stop now before you release this atrocity onto the world.  The open beta is bad enough, don’t pull the same stunt that the developers of Horizons did and push a steaming pile of crap out on the public.

 

What makes this game so bad?  Let me count the ways:

 

Graphics

There’s no reason for the graphics in FoM to look this bad.  Half-Life 1 had better character models and graphics than FoM.  It’s as if the developers grabbed an alien from another planet that doesn’t understand the human body, gave him a computer and tried to describe how to render and animate the characters.  Movement is unrealistic and jerky with characters twitching at the slightest movement.

 

There are TONS of mods out for various FPS games with graphics, models and in game animations that make FoM look like a sad joke.  The mods I’m talking about were made by developers that weren’t getting paid for their time and work, that weren’t expecting to even get a “Thank you” from the folks that played their games.  They did some outstanding graphics just for the love of the game.  If the developers have come up with what they’ve got while actually being paid for their work, then someone is getting ripped off.

 

Game play

Generally, when someone sits down to play a game, they expect to have some fun.  They expect to be introduced to a new world where the rules and laws of everyday life don’t apply.  Basically, they expect to be entertained.  After five hours of continuous playing, you know what I achieved?  I was able to do some mining.  Wait, that’s misleading.  I was able to tell a terminal to do some mining for me.  During five hours of game play, not a damn thing happened.  There were no missions for me to run, there were no intuitive aspects of the game for new players to work with.

 

Other players run everything in the game.  Missions are set up by other players, all purchasable items are made by other players, the economy is run by other players.  What this means to starting gamers is that, unless there’s someone online to custom tailor a mission for that player, there’s very little for a first time gamer to do.  With nothing to do comes a sense of boredom and the game turns into nothing other than a “running simulator” as players go from one place to another with no point or purpose.

 

Economy

I’ve played other games where the players solely ran the economy.  In one game with a player run economy, there were no inherent money-sinks to pull excess cash out of the game.  Because of this, money built up in the accounts of players.  Soon, everyone had a million credits, then ten million, and then fifty million.  Inflation was rampant to where new players had to rely on older players just to be able to afford basic equipment.

 

Another game that had the economy based on the actions of the players didn’t fare much better.  Instead of everyone having all the money, a small select group of players had 90% of the money in the game.  Those players ran around the game with impunity because they controlled the economy.  They could buy what they wanted, when they wanted, and no one could stop them.  Until the developers put in a better economic system, those players controlled the game and thus, the enjoyment of other players.

 

FoM is destined for one of these outcomes because there is no inherent control of the economy.  Slowly but surely, the economy will break down and either everyone will be rich or only a small part of the population will have the funs in game to enjoy themselves.

 

Crafting

What’s there to say about crafting?  Everything (yes, I mean everything) is completely controlled by terminals.  If you want to mine, you run up to a terminal, tell it what to mine from the available resources listed and wait.  If you want to refine raw materials, you run up to a terminal, tell it what to make from available raw materials and wait.  If you want to produce specific items, well, I don’t know.  I never got that far.  But I bet it involves running up to a terminal and telling it what to make from processed materials and then waiting.

 

Basically, crafting isn’t crafting.  It’s telling the game system to make something from nothing.  There’s no skill, ingenuity, or even effort involved in crafting.  It’s all handed to you in a nice, futuristic wrapped terminal.  Whee!  Now that’s entertainment!

 

Basically, this game offers nothing new.  A MMOFPS?  Yep, that’s been done before.  Crafting?  Nothing new there (or even interesting).  Combat?  Dunno, never got to see any, but based on the way my character moved and the paltry list of missions available, it’s probably not much better than stubbing your toe on the dresser in the dark.  Overall, this game isn’t new, it isn’t impressive and by the time the average gamer has played for a little while, they’re bored and wanting to do something fun.

 

Now, there are a few people here that will say this game is great!  It’s fantastic!  It’s the best thing since sliced bread!  To those people, I have to say, “Get real.”  With sub-par graphics, a clumsy interface, boring game play and practically non-existent crafting, how can you say this game is great?  Those people that do honestly believe that FoM is the best MMORPG/FSP in the world need to go out, buy a top rated MMORPG and try playing that.  I’m sure that once the fanboys see even a mediocre game in action, they’ll realize just how inferior FoM really is.

---

this game is awesome, what are you talking about. If you want to control the Economy, you join a corporation ( EuroCore (EC), American Enterprises (AE), Asian Coalition (AC), Colonizaton and Mining Guild(CMG).

I didn't like the game but if your bored and want to try it go ahead.  Its free why not.

well, one thing that makes the game really fun is if you are in a friendly faction, lets say GoM, EC. Mercenaries is fun but theres alot of people that you just can't stand.

if you think this is fun you need to go BACK to preschool because you got the brain of a freaking rock

i played the game for 2 days and all i could do is stand there and do NOTHING! besides getting ganked by pkers and going on missions just to stand there for a time perid just to earn some cash to buy a weapon THAT YOU CANT USE untell you do about 100 boreing missions otherwise you get attacked by a turret not only that once i am able to find somewhere i can SHOOT it at people not only do the people aparently are very bullet resistant but i get ganked by a pvp and lose my stuff again so in conclusion this game SUCCCCCKKKKSSSS!!!!!!!

well, that's a noobs life. y don't u do some fun missions? join misions where u actually kill people. go ask ur mission members to give u stuff and say u are noob. that's what i did and i've been playing for 10 months now. making lots and lots of money

---

Originally posted by DaDragon
if you think this is fun you need to go BACK to preschool because you got the brain of a freaking rock
i played the game for 2 days and all i could do is stand there and do NOTHING! besides getting ganked by pkers and going on missions just to stand there for a time perid just to earn some cash to buy a weapon THAT YOU CANT USE untell you do about 100 boreing missions otherwise you get attacked by a turret not only that once i am able to find somewhere i can SHOOT it at people not only do the people aparently are very bullet resistant but i get ganked by a pvp and lose my stuff again so in conclusion this game SUCCCCCKKKKSSSS!!!!!!!

---

If you judge a game on that way, you need to figure out yourself
You cant just come in a game and expect to be elite and win over everyone.
Its like a grinding game without grinding, experience will reward
Hard working people will get themselves a good life and a name
I can walk wherever I want, and come out alive. People dont pk me anymore, unless they are newbs thinking they can own. Well too bad for them, ofcourse they lose their stuff

But as you said, you have a gun you cant do shit with. So you want to fight but get mad because you get killed over and over. You want to fight like them, stand up and stand strong

i was trying to grind to get good but every mission i went on i could only stand around and wait to get ganked while the only guy who can use a weapon without getting shot at by a turret is afk

after getting pked every 5 mins i got sick and tired of the game and stoped before i went insane on my computer

if you are not organized with your faction, you can't do anything. Make some friends, then go do missions together. That's what i did. Back then, i was a rank 6 mercenary. everyday, people would say Hi, and start friendly conversations. i got demoted cuz some new rank 7 came on and demoted me since he hates me...=(. anyways, make friends and do good stuff.

p.s. being a high rank gets the ganker a bit shaky.

This game made me feel like shit, its not noob friendly ,doesnt look good, plays terribly, is outrageously tough, dumbass power trips peolpe get when they captain a mish they yell if you dont say "sir" this game is destined to die

---

Originally posted by homer4000
this game is awesome, what are you talking about. If you want to control the Economy, you join a corporation ( EuroCore (EC), American Enterprises (AE), Asian Coalition (AC), Colonizaton and Mining Guild(CMG).

---

Umm, Asian Coalition and American Enterprises are actually defunct, the developers announced they'd be erasing those factions within a few weeks, many months ago, and though they have failed to do so when they said, the old guard flipped out and there's nothing more to those factions.

Seriously though, FoM is about the politics of the gameworld, if you can't get immersed in it you'll hate it. One hour patrols where nothing actually happens? Yes, but when you know WHY someone wanted you to patrol that base, and you've got buddies along with you, it actually is very interesting. The player-run system does allow for pointless missions, but it also allows missions that actually matter.

I got killed four times my first day in FoM, thankfully I bought clone insurance. If absolutely nothing happened to you I'm frankly surprised, perhaps that's why you found it so boring. Until you really get in touch with your faction nothing happens either, it's all about getting together with your faction and getting into the flow of things. I took weeks trying to figure out who was our friend, who was our enemy, and I'd still get surprised by all the twists and turns.

Also it's not sub-HalfLife graphics, they just upgraded the engine but even in the old ones the models were AS GOOD as Half-Life 1. Get your facts straight! ;)

I do believe that FoM is one of the best roleplaying MMOGs out there, it doesn't mean there aren't leetspeakers it means the world as defined by the factions and politics becomes lively and immersive. If you just log in, run around a bit, interact with some terminals, yes then it sucks.. I think it's incredible for all the things that happen around and between the game mechanics themselves, the reasons and consequences of combat. Once I'd had some combat training and some suiting up care of my faction, I found combat to be truly exhilerating... until you get used to it feels counterintuitive, too hard.

I don't remember my heart beating so fast in an MMOG before, as coming back to Shibuya after a patrol and being fired upon by an unknown assailant. I grabbed my rifle and began to fire back, dodging and weaving, much like fencing in this dark backstreet.. oh yes, I did eventually die, I was still inexperienced, but I realized how much fun I was having in the afterglow. That "counterintuitive" combat makes violence a more scary beast, in a way it makes me feel more like a real human being locked in a struggle to the death, it makes it worth it spending days in mock and full-force drills with my friends to develop my style.

Sh*t, I gotta get back into that game one of these days.. after the player-wipe, I keep telling myself, since I'm stuck in a defunct faction until I kill off my character and I don't want to do that. ;)

I enjoyed this game for a while even though i lagged i managed to get a cop to rank2 and i liked dmc however when i was giving away my stuff (was bored and quitting) i saw some one doing something wrong in the mall (main area) so i went to stun them i was lagging so bad i couldnt hit them WHEN THEY WERE WALKING i even missed a few times when they decided to stand still to mock me, now that just pissed me off lol as for crafting i made a AC mined 8k worth of chemicals (hardly anything) and then was shot for no apparent reason. Also the players making missions 1hr rl time sucks walking around for and hour aka "patroling" is not fun

---

Originally posted by JigsawJesus
This game made me feel like shit, its not noob friendly ,doesnt look good, plays terribly, is outrageously tough, dumbass power trips peolpe get when they captain a mish they yell if you dont say "sir" this game is destined to die

---

not my fault u joined FDC. Go join mercenaries if you want to run free.

i joined mercs with an alt, got killed 2x for fun by crowds of other mercs while i was waiting for mission then killed once trying to help some1 who stood up for me, from what i heared from a friend in dmc whose old char was r6 merc r1s are killed for fun really often

Mercs tend to think that when they gank someone, they think the victim takes it as joke when they actually don't.. Just like when i was a merc, i would just stun people and nade them to death. Its hilarious, but i only do that to friends since they are not tight about going to cloning. But if they don't get their loot back...bad things will happen.