I’ve been playing ET since 2003 and continue to play it several times a week. I also tested ET:Quakewars and played Brink for several months. My initial thoughts about this game are all positive: The graphics, the movement and the shooting are all great and have some of that old ET feel. However, that is where the comparison ends.
This game, on these maps, is too fast, and too overwhelming for strategy, team play or anything other than run fast, shoot fast, die fast. I suspect that this game will appeal to a fairly small group of methed-up teenage boys but will not replicate the success of ET, not unless fundamental changes are made to this game. The game needs to be slowed down (not too much but enough to allow for thought and not just reflexive action.) The average life span for a player seems to be less than 30 seconds. It should be closer to 2-3 minutes to allow players to really get involved in the drama of the battle.
The maps need to be made much larger with more open spaces. There are too many hiding places and not a wide enough field of view. I found it very difficult in a close encounter with another player to determine who is on my side and who is the enemy, and with only a split-second to decide, I died because I am used to playing ET on servers with friendly fire on. I don’t just shoot at everything that crosses my path.
In ET, I have a fairly consistent accuracy rate that nears 50%, which I think is one of the reasons I was asked to test this game. My accuracy in DB seems to be less than 20% and my K/D ratio seems to be about 1:10. Getting my ass kicked like that is no fun and really turns me off almost immediately. This game NEEDs to be popular and that means that all sorts of people can play it and, in their own way, excel at it. This game, in its current iteration, will only appeal to the fastest of fraggers - the rambo medics.
I hope someone reads this - I really want this game to be as good for me as ET has been.