[Hollywood Duo]

I still haven't been able to log in. This is really disappointing. I want to play this game already!

[BruiserBear]

That's what I've been thinking. Games come out nearly every week with multiplayer online, and while there are certainly issues once in a while, it's strange to see such a major fuck-up on a relatively prominent Summer of Arcade title.

ESPECIALLY one that had a beta a couple months ago. You'd think that would have found any little flaws in the game/server setup.

[TouchMyBox]

What was the reason for using Source?

Because it's the Sauce engine?

[electricpirate]

ESPECIALLY one that had a beta a couple months ago. You'd think that would have found any little flaws in the game/server setup.

It seems like they did a ton of work under the hood in their matchmaking between now and the beta, and the W@W stuff works better. I imagine that introduced a fair number of issues into the game.

Also, I get the impression that the full release is seeing a lot more players than the beta.

[Family Fry]

Wasn't the beta invite only and US only? Wonder how many people where on it compared to now? If a free demo gives you one hour of play its easy to see that the servers could be taking a hit.

[electricpirate]

According to a dev, servers should be ok now, http://www.whatishybrid.com/forums/s...-Issues/page13

[Sklorenz]

Woo hoo, hope they got it. Sadly, last night was my day for really putting several hours into it until Sunday rolls around, so It stinks that everything was so slow. I'll probably try to squeeze a few rounds in now actually...

[electricpirate]

Woo hoo, hope they got it. Sadly, last night was my day for really putting several hours into it until Sunday rolls around, so It stinks that everything was so slow. I'll probably try to squeeze a few rounds in now actually...

Matchmaking was a bit slow but working while I was playing.

I'm learning how awesome the trident is...

[electricpirate]

PA report has an article about map design in Hybrid,

http://penny-arcade.com/report/edito...cle/hybrid-map

Those are some amazing numbers, 3600 man hours to put together what might be the simplest map in the game.

[Sklorenz]

Matchmaking was a bit slow but working while I was playing. I'm learning how awesome the trident is...

Man I tried it once in the beta and got like one kill lol. Haven't used it again, but I will soon. I spent about three hours experimenting with new guns and abilities last night which dropped my k/d ratio by a decent little chunk ... so I'm holding off until I bring it back up :p I've seen it put to great use two times on Skyline. Since people tend to clump up and there all walls angling inward next to each cover, you can kind of aim at the walls and the splash damage will take them down swarm-style, but faster.

I personally love playing the auto-shotty + grenades + armor up on Skyline. SO many multi-kills with grenades. I'll always rush them just before the grenade lands to get in there and pick off anybody who survived. Also, people are often focused on the cover to their left or right, and if you're on their blind side you can swoop in and get the jump on them with the shotgun. I usually have my best matches there.

And that PA article was interesting. I still love dry dock. It's my favorite my level for the teleport ability. Instantly teleport to the middle island at the start of the match, and wait as they rush towards it unaware of you :p

[Samus4145]

Woo hoo, hope they got it. Sadly, last night was my day for really putting several hours into it until Sunday rolls around, so It stinks that everything was so slow. I'll probably try to squeeze a few rounds in now actually...

Same, and now I got Dust on my plate so Hybrid will be pushed to someone else.

[Stripper13]

I don't want to sound too negative, because I really wanted to like this game (and I think 5th Cell are great developers)... and I'll admit I haven't used my full 60 minutes yet (I think I have about 20-30 minutes of the trial left).

But the game feels like shit. I understand the concept well enough, and in theory, I love the design/mechanics of the gameplay systems. Actually playing it however is a whole different story. The guns sound and look like shit (the ones I have used anyway), the movement is fast but feels janky, and the killstreak system is, in my opinion, awful.

I want to like the game... I'll keep trying it. But I'm having trouble recommending this to anyone I know, because it just isn't very fun so far.

[Family Fry]

Try and get a couple of your friend to try the demo together, really excels when you have a 3 person team working together.
Got two people on my friends list to buy it for a cool 3 man experience, still enjoying it.
Went to play Halo Reach afterwards and frame rate felt so slow, was trying to get my eyes to re-adjust.

[Sklorenz]

I don't want to sound too negative, because I really wanted to like this game (and I think 5th Cell are great developers)... and I'll admit I haven't used my full 60 minutes yet (I think I have about 20-30 minutes of the trial left). But the game feels like shit. I understand the concept well enough, and in theory, I love the design/mechanics of the gameplay systems. Actually playing it however is a whole different story. The guns sound and look like shit (the ones I have used anyway), the movement is fast but feels janky, and the killstreak system is, in my opinion, awful. I want to like the game... I'll keep trying it. But I'm having trouble recommending this to anyone I know, because it just isn't very fun so far.

Yeah I just saw that the games reviews are popping up slowly.. Two so far from major names. I'll get around to posting them when I'm back home, but one of the cons in OXM was that the game takes at least about an hour for it to "click" despite an adequate tutorial, and I'm inclined to agree (though it won't be the case for all).

[Meatvillain]

Got around to playing this again after not playing yesterday. It already appears impossible to enjoy the game unless you enjoy spawning and then being killed by someone 10 times your level every 5 seconds. No way am I going to be able to get better and enjoy the game at all. Glad I didn't purchase it.

[SapientWolf]

Got around to playing this again after not playing yesterday. It already appears impossible to enjoy the game unless you enjoy spawning and then being killed by someone 10 times your level every 5 seconds. No way am I going to be able to get better and enjoy the game at all. Glad I didn't purchase it.

Didn't seem to hurt CoD much.

Having sucky teammates would be pretty terrible though, because there's only two of them. Having two useless muppets on your side would be like being outnumbered 3 to 1.

[Meatvillain]

I'm not blaming my teammates, I fucking suck as well. :P It just doesnt seem like there's much opportunity to get better. Seems you really need to be rolling with friends, I guess.

[Sklorenz]

First three reviews from the major outlets that I've seen, just added them to the OP:

• Gamespot - 8/10

  This is crucial because Hybrid is online multiplayer only. It does only one thing, but it does that thing really well. Hybrid subverts one of the core mechanics of this popular genre, while skillfully implementing many of the elements that have made its predecessors so addictive and successful. The result is an enjoyable blend of the new and the familiar that makes Hybrid something special on the shooter scene.

• OXM UK - 7/10

  Pros: -Loud weapons with satisfying feedback, -Refreshingly snappy and exciting matches, -Intriguing meta-game adds longevity. Cons: -First hour will put off many, -Repetitive and fairly shallow.

• Eurogamer - 7/10

  Hybrid still justifies its asking price in the moment, with crisp 60-frames-per-second action and satisfying feedback. It's a solid, enjoyable shooter, but one that ultimately fails to leverage its strange control decisions into a truly unique experience. It should be different yet, for all its bold ideas about movement, it ends up feeling strangely generic over the long haul. Recommended, then, but far from essential.

[electricpirate]

Interesting reviews, I don't agree with the Eurogame review about movement, I think it's a change that promotes signifigant and positive differences.

I do agree generally about the maps, most are pretty similar. drydock, Finance, and generator airport all have similar layouts with two paths on the sides and varying angles to the center. Paload, Defense array (what is it called now?) are both about center choke points (also the two worst maps in the game IMO, payload is like a frontal assault cluster fuck every time :( ). Charge and Warhead are both about circular flow.

A bit more variety in terms of visual setting and gameplay elements could have gone a long way here.

Refinery and drydock are my favorite maps at the moment, For refinery I love the use of verticality (Go under then up and around to get to the center) and "Shoot only" areas in Refinery, you can pull some really interesting flanking manuevers there. Drydock is just superbly balanced with lots of routes going everywhere.

I just got better at the game, I didn't realize aim/snipe/camera sensitivity were all seperate. I cranked my aim sensitivity down, and now i can actually hit dudes flying at me, I even took down 3 pryons in an hour and a half of play this morning. LOL that's what I get for not reading all the options. Then I got a string of terrible team mates I was 14-9 and they were 2-8 and 0-12. If even one of them was decent we could have held the line and I wouldn't have felt like I was getting flanked from all angles :(.

[Coconut]

Euro gamer is a major outlet?

[Neuromancer]

Euro gamer is a major outlet?

I consider it to be one, yes.

[Sklorenz]

Haha I haven't really played with the options too much. I think I'll mess with that today. My sniping game is pretty sketchy, so I'm sure that'll help. Glad theres an option just for sniping. As far as the reviews ago, they are about what I was expecting, 7 to 9 range, with everybody complaining about the generic look.

[Meisadragon]

Euro gamer is a major outlet?

Yep, and very reliable too. Most of the times.

[Mechazawa]

I can't be the only one experiencing these insane ass wait times for matchmaking, right? It's been more or less the same since launch.

I thought I heard that they were supposed to be better from Beta.

[VexationStation]

I can't be the only one experiencing these insane ass wait times for matchmaking, right? It's been more or less the same since launch. I thought I heard that they were supposed to be better from Beta.

No, I'm having the same problem. After only 4 games in nearly an hour, I'm almost ready to write the whole thing off as a loss. I tried switching to Paladin thinking maybe that would help and nothing. I was going to try putting my Xbox in my routers DMZ as a last-ditch hope.

[Samus4145]

I can't be the only one experiencing these insane ass wait times for matchmaking, right? It's been more or less the same since launch. I thought I heard that they were supposed to be better from Beta.

Both of us here at Selectbutton having the same issue. 3 minute Tactics match and 15 minutes to get into that match. Checking for available lobbies... Populating lobbies... Rinse and repeat. Ugh, brings down the entire experience.

[Samus4145]

Double post

[Mechazawa]

I figured as much.

I otherwise love the base game, but whether I'm alone, with another person or in a full squad, it doesn't matter. I'm stuck waiting almost as long as a match would take just to get into one. And yeah, it's really souring the game for me. :/

[Sklorenz]

I figured as much. I otherwise love the base game, but whether I'm alone, with another person or in a full squad, it doesn't matter. I'm stuck waiting almost as long as a match would take just to get into one. And yeah, it's really souring the game for me. :/

Yeah. I have matches that take 15 seconds or less or several minutes. It was the same in the beta but I had hoped it was due to fewer people playing. Biggest draw back to the game for me since I love everything else.

[NemesisPrime]

Euro gamer is a major outlet?

Errrt... Yes.

One of the biggest gaming sites.

[Deputy Dangle]

I'm really surprised at how much I have turned around on this game considering how indifferent I was with the first 30 minutes of the demo. It's certainly very different than most shooters that I have ever played. Once I got an idea of when to use killstreaks, how to use abilities, and getting a hang of the map layouts, it just all clicked for me. I love that there really is a flow to this game, and it's definitely a shooter where you have to play cautiously.

I have been sticking with the MR19 Battle Rifle and flipping between the Frag and Drone Hack Grenades. It's hard to go back to anything else. I usually end up doing around 10+ kills with less than 5 deaths a match, and it feels great!

Sadly, I don't have anyone on my friends list that owns this so I usually go solo, but I am having fun nonetheless!

[Sklorenz]

I'm really surprised at how much I have turned around on this game considering how indifferent I was with the first 30 minutes of the demo. It's certainly very different than most shooters that I have ever played. Once I got an idea of when to use killstreaks, how to use abilities, and getting a hang of the map layouts, it just all clicked for me. I love that there really is a flow to this game, and it's definitely a shooter where you have to play cautiously. I have been sticking with the MR19 Battle Rifle and flipping between the Frag and Drone Hack Grenades. It's hard to go back to anything else. I usually end up doing around 10+ kills with less than 5 deaths a match, and it feels great! Sadly, I don't have anyone on my friends list that owns this so I usually go solo, but I am having fun nonetheless!

This is a pretty accurate description of how I felt playing in the beta too. It definitely grew on me after I put a little bit of time in. Killstreaks are really misleading... people tend to kick them out whenever, but they're extremely useful in the right situations as distractions or offensively (rushing a player and spawning your Warbringer just as you approach the cover).

I loved the Battle Rifle in the beta, but I haven't played many of the rifles this time around. I've actually been learning to love the SMGs and LMGs for the last couple hours of playtime, and I had hated those at first. I only play them on certain maps right now, but it's been really fresh. Shotgun/grenade/armor still brings in the best k/d for me by a long shot though. I still like to have fun with shotgun/teleport/spec ops, but they did a really good job balancing that combo after the beta I felt. That's another one I only run on certain maps or when the enemy is running a particular loadout since it's rather difficult to pull off. You could just slaughter everybody in the beta with it, though... I always felt bad doing it, but there was no reason to go with anything else except to mix it up :p I'm not sure what tweaks they made, but I see way more variance among high level players now than I did in the beta, which is great.

[electricpirate]

I'm really surprised at how much I have turned around on this game considering how indifferent I was with the first 30 minutes of the demo. It's certainly very different than most shooters that I have ever played. Once I got an idea of when to use killstreaks, how to use abilities, and getting a hang of the map layouts, it just all clicked for me. I love that there really is a flow to this game, and it's definitely a shooter where you have to play cautiously. I have been sticking with the MR19 Battle Rifle and flipping between the Frag and Drone Hack Grenades. It's hard to go back to anything else. I usually end up doing around 10+ kills with less than 5 deaths a match, and it feels great! Sadly, I don't have anyone on my friends list that owns this so I usually go solo, but I am having fun nonetheless!

Have you managed to send back a preyon yet?

I'm not sure if it's balance changes, or feedback changes ( I lean towards the latter), but using the rifles is so much more satisfying than in the beta. Yea, the BR is really nice, it takes a lot of skill to use, but a headshot nearly one shots guys. Only issue is that it' hard to storm a position with it, I guess that's why you roll grenades also, heh.

Learning how to use kill streaks is pretty important. I used to just pop out a warbringer as soon as I had it, but that's kind of a recipe to get it shot down from long range. Instead, now I like to spawn one as I assault a position, or when a single guy is about to charge me.

[Zeouterlimits]

Based on the trial, and as I guessed from the Giantbomb Quick Look, it's a fun game, and I appreciate how smooth it was in game.

Matchmaking left a bit to be desired. Ultimately it's only a game I could play with friends, far too solitary playing it on my own.

[Zen_Arcade]

So is there anywhere in the menus where it tracks how many kills you get with the Warbringers and Preyons?

[Parallax Scroll]

So there's guns and helmets and XP boosts that all cost microsoft points on top of the 15 bucks for the game?

[equil]

So there's guns and helmets and XP boosts that all cost microsoft points on top of the 15 bucks for the game?

Everything is unlockable by playing the game other than the extra XP boost.

[Parallax Scroll]

Everything is unlockable by playing the game other than the extra XP boost.

OK, it wasn't really clear when I played the demo how you earn "gold."

[Sklorenz]

Have you managed to send back a preyon yet? I'm not sure if it's balance changes, or feedback changes ( I lean towards the latter), but using the rifles is so much more satisfying than in the beta. Yea, the BR is really nice, it takes a lot of skill to use, but a headshot nearly one shots guys. Only issue is that it' hard to storm a position with it, I guess that's why you roll grenades also, heh. Learning how to use kill streaks is pretty important. I used to just pop out a warbringer as soon as I had it, but that's kind of a recipe to get it shot down from long range. Instead, now I like to spawn one as I assault a position, or when a single guy is about to charge me.

Yeah rifles feel WAY better. Headshots are easier and taking down preyons seem seems easier. I tend to use warbringers in the same way as well. In the beta I used to mess with the BR a little bit, but I'm really enjoying the rifles and machine guns a lot more now. It may not all be due to tweaks that were made, but I think that could be part of it.

So there's guns and helmets and XP boosts that all cost microsoft points on top of the 15 bucks for the game?

Yeah, every few levels you are able to unlock a new type of gun, ability, or a helmet. So you might get a new shotgun on a level up, and you can go to the armory and pick which shotgun you want to unlock. This is really nice for abilities since there are some less useful ones in there, but almost all the guns are pretty good.

[electricpirate]

Hey Jackson, would it be possible to get a chart of the stats of all weapons and guns? Ie, rof, damage per shot, headshot multiplier, Max bloom accuracy and specifics on the various powers, ie % of damage reduction by Meta shield etc. Thanks!

[Bamelin]

Do you guys think the mp community will stick it out/around?

I'm wary of XBLA titles when it comes to sustainable mp communities.

[Gez]

Do you guys think the mp community will stick it out/around?

100% no.

[Warm Machine]

Do you guys think the mp community will stick it out/around? I'm wary of XBLA titles when it comes to sustainable mp communities.

It is a self fulfilling prophecy if no one buys the game. Section 8 Prejudice was awesome in the first 3 months with full servers. Best time to get into a game like this is at the start. Never wait to play an online only MP game.


The gameplay reminds me of the boosting and boost cancel gameplay of Virtual On.

[Sklorenz]

It is a self fulfilling prophecy if no one buys the game. Section 8 Prejudice was awesome in the first 3 months with full servers. Best time to get into a game like this is at the start. Never wait to play an online only MP game.

Yup, I fully intend to get money's worth of play in the first month or two, and then just go back to it for bursts of play when I'm in the mood, so long as the community holds up. I've enjoyed firing it up for just three or four rounds a couple times over the last few days when I just need to kill thirty minutes, and I can see myself doing that for quite some time even as I move onto other games.

The gameplay reminds me of the boosting and boost cancel gameplay of Virtual On.

Ah man I hadn't really noticed that. I haven't played Virtual On since the Dreamcast days either... that's a game I'd really like to see come back again.

[Deputy Dangle]

Have you managed to send back a preyon yet? I'm not sure if it's balance changes, or feedback changes ( I lean towards the latter), but using the rifles is so much more satisfying than in the beta. Yea, the BR is really nice, it takes a lot of skill to use, but a headshot nearly one shots guys. Only issue is that it' hard to storm a position with it, I guess that's why you roll grenades also, heh. Learning how to use kill streaks is pretty important. I used to just pop out a warbringer as soon as I had it, but that's kind of a recipe to get it shot down from long range. Instead, now I like to spawn one as I assault a position, or when a single guy is about to charge me.

Sending back a Preyon was actually my original intention for using the Drone Hack grenades since I wanted to try to get the achievement. I've been close a few times, but I have either thrown it out too soon or too late. Fortunately, I realized that those types of grenades are really useful in general against people that like to crowd Warbringers and those tiny support drones around their teammates. One quick throw provides so much extra support that it can really turn the tides of the match.

It's little things like that that make me see the amount of thought that went into crafting the killstreaks and abilities. It's all very good.

[Jackson]

Hey Jackson, would it be possible to get a chart of the stats of all weapons and guns? Ie, rof, damage per shot, headshot multiplier, Max bloom accuracy and specifics on the various powers, ie % of damage reduction by Meta shield etc. Thanks!

Does MS/ATVI release those for Halo/CoD? I've seen them on wikis, but I thought it was always unofficial.

BTW -- Matchmaking servers are getting some updates tomorrow, so hopefully things will be better.

Going from single player games to dedicated mp games has been a very... enlightening and humbling experience I must say.

[Sklorenz]

Does MS/ATVI release those for Halo/CoD? I've seen them on wikis, but I thought it was always unofficial. BTW -- Matchmaking servers are getting some updates tomorrow, so hopefully things will be better. Going from single player games to dedicated mp games has been a very... enlightening and humbling experience I must say.

I'm pumped about the update, that's great to hear.

LMG/grenade/assassin might seriously be my favorite set up now. Not my best set up, but my favorite to run... Funny, as I hated LMG in the beta and rarely specialized in anything other than spec ops. Finally almost have everything unlocked as far as what I've been wanting goes ... One or two things left

[wsoxfan1214]

100% no.

What the fuck is your problem? Do you just stick around threads to constantly shit on the game and provide nothing constructive to the conversation? If so, go find another thread to troll. Thanks.

[Sklorenz]

Hahah, if you and an enemy send out a Preyon at the same time and they meet then they'll duke it out with their blades. Never seen that before, but I just had it happen two games in a row :P

Also, am I the only one on GAF playing Paladin? Meant to mention earlier that my tag is Sklorenz as well if anybody wants to get in a squad together. But I'm off to bed for now, so it'll have to be another time though

[Stripper13]

Played some more of the game (I think I've just about used all of my play time).

Game has definitely grown on me. There is some clear, unique, positive design decisions in the game that start to show through the more you play (and I'm sure I haven't seen it all yet). The movement is surprisingly versatile and 'free' compared to most games in the shooter genre... which is peculiar given that at a fundamental level, the game controls are limited. It took a little while for the movement decisions to pay off for me, and while I definitely don't want to see it in every game - it's clearly a good way to create fast, versatile movement without making the game insanely hard for newcomers to pick up.

The map design is another stand out for me. Generic aesthetically - but many of the maps feel very unique in how you should approach them. I tend to enjoy maps that allow me to circle and weave - as opposed to the few chokepoint maps I've endured. There's some clear thought behind the maps and it shows - well done 5th Cell.

Despite this, I have no intention of buying the game. Not for any assholish reason. If I had 1200 points sitting in my account, I would. However, as an Australian, the matchmaking has been nothing short of awful. I can forgive the matchmaking/loading times, particularly after Jackson mentioned an update. However I don't think I've had one 'good' match in terms of latency. There have been some passable matches, where I don't feel like I'm shooting popcorn. And I'm certainly playing well enough... but some teleporting here and there (not the ability), some super-fast players, ridiculous weapon damage etc. It's not unique to Hybrid - I've experienced it in COD plenty, and Halo even more... but it's frustrating and creates some type of metagame where I have to decide very early on in a match, how to play, to counter some of the lag. (In a bad match, I have to play far more defensively and rely on my Drones a lot more - In a passable match, I can be quite aggressive and go for jump-jet kills and start achieving Preyons).

The weapons are very bland. While I definitely have some favourites (Tri-shot SMG is my go-to at this point), none of them sound or look good at all. I don't feel any impact, nor threat. I simply see hit markers or damage indicators, and unless I get shotgunned over cover or sniped from a distance, I feel no need to see what weapon the enemy was using.

Killstreak system turned out pretty well after I spent some time with it. I particularly enjoy the Stalker/Warbringer roles. Preyon is a bonus I guess... but ultimately isn't very satisfying. Having a 'free-kill' killstreak feels a little empty despite having some counters. I get zero satisfaction sending it off to attack someone.

I enjoy the war-scenario. I'm actually looking for hot-spots and pushing for my team to win... at least for a little while. Then I just start chasing experience.

For 5th Cell... and I'm sure you have a million suggestions at this point. I'd recommend opening up the trial time a little. I still have some left, and will use it soon enough... however the game only started becoming engaging at the tail end of the 60 minutes. I'm not sure your average gamer that has never heard of 5th Cell - is going to give a shit about the game after their 60 minutes (or perhaps after the first 5 for some).

Also, the 'purchase credits for MS Points' felt so out of place and tacky that it actually left a sour taste in my mouth about the game. I'm not sure why you needed to go for a 'Freemium'-esque money grab on a full-priced Arcade game, and I'm sure everything unlocks via natural progression... but it's ugly and out of place. Game basically went from 'hey this is pretty cool'... to 'What the shit were they thinking?' when I saw the option to purchase credits. I'm sure most people won't care though.

I hope the game is a success for 5th Cell. I'd love to see a Hybrid 2 or spiritual successor.