What was the problem with "Boiling Point"?

[Giles Habibula]

It seems to me I recall way back when, that someone here was taking a lot of heat for enjoying a game called "Boiling Point". A search for Boiling Point on these forums turned up 29 pages of results, some of which I scanned through, the ones I looked at were irrelevant.

After installing and playing "Just Cause" for a while (and enjoying it in spite of the third-person thing), I was reminded of some screenshots of Boiling Point I'd seen on the back cover of the box at Gamestop. I wanted to play another jungle-themed FPS, so I read some reviews on Gamerankings. I was surprised to find overall decent-to-good reviews. So I ran over to Gamestop and picked up a copy for $13.

Installed "Boiling Point" the other day, and have spent maybe six hours with it so far, and damned if I'm not having a blast!

The game seems a little unfinished. But what really surprises me is that the 'unfinished' bits are really minor. Such as the NPCs repeating the same lines ad nauseum when they see you. NPC:"Hold on there, Gringo!" You:"Woah! I'm with you!" NPC:"Oh, the reinforcement again!" Over and over. But I can easily overlook that, and just take it for what it is; A way to determine whether these guys think you're friend or foe. Also, there appears to be some dialog that was never recorded, though the subtitles are there, so I can overlook that. And I do get tired of snakes popping up all over that I have to avoid.

But the game engine is really nice, and the settings are beautiful. I like the limitations the game imposes on you at first: Such as the fact that you are limited to only ONE car for a long time. I didn't know this, so I pretty much trashed it, and ended up with 4 flat tires after a while, which really slows you down. You can put the spare on, however, so I then had one good tire.

Since you must travel great distances, it turns out that car is very very important! After the second mission, I was four-wheeling it through the jungle in an attempt to avoid ambushes (it worked). However, I ended up getting the car stuck in some water, and am now hoofing it, since I did my last quicksave a long time before, and didn't want to go back.

The save system is really nice. You can save anywhere, and the game remembers the last 3 quicksaves you do. All saves on the list are represented with a screenshot and a map location.

The waypoint system is excellent. You'll accumulate missions over time, and can choose any of your unfinished missions to be your next waypoint. Lost your car? Find it on the map and make it a secondary waypoint.

The interface is very intuitive right out of the box. I didn't have to change much at all, other than the mouse reverse axis.

This is an extremely free-roaming game, but the waypoints are all you need to find your way around. And, after I'd lost my car, I was hoofing it the 9 km to my next destination along a road, when a cab stopped and offered me a ride (I declined, since I was saving my money--the cabbie will take you anywhere you want to go BTW).

Helicopters from opposing sides will engage in battles with each other, and sometimes one will hunt you down, and trying to keep out of sight until it gives up the hunt is a real thrill.

I cannot believe I overlooked this game. But at the time of release, I just had the impression it was bloody terrible. Admittedly, I'm playing with the Euro 2.0 patch (which is recommended even for the US release), so I don't know how buggy the original release was, but this version is completely stable, runs smooth, and is very difficult to stop playing. I'm having more fun in this locale than I was in the GTA:SA setting, even though GTA was a much more polished game.

So, I don't get it. What was the problem with this game? Was it that the competition at the time was too great (GTA and FarCry), or did everyone really think it was that bad?

[IceBear]

If it's the same game that I'm thinking of I thought I remembered people saying there were a lot of bugs and to wait for some patches. Also, Kobra was a big fan of it (until he did his usual 180-degree flip and started hating it) which probably turned people off

[ChrisGwinn]

I never played the game, but I laughed hysterically at the patch notes. There was some bug where you could accidentally deflate a building if you shot it with a crossbow? General consensus was that things were terribly broken before they patched it.

[Giles Habibula]

Oddly, I see Deep Shadows is still in business, and working on the follow-up called "White Gold".

edited: To change big pic into link for screenshots for Boiling Point.

[Huw the Poo]

Maybe the patches have done it some good, but BP was, initially, a horrible buggy mess of a game. Absolutely unplayable. It's a shame, or was at the time, because I remember likening it to a present-day Deus Ex.

If it's been patched a lot since release, maybe I'll have another look at it at some point. But it really was awful when I first bought it.

[Dan_Theman]

Also, Kobra was a big fan of it (until he did his usual 180-degree flip and started hating it) which probably turned people off

Yeah, I have to admit that was part of why I never gave Guild Wars much of a shot, lol.

Anyway, if it's all patched up then $13 doesn't seem to much for a fun game. I may give it a go, sometime.

[redman]

From what I remember, if you hit one townsperson they would all come after you but I liked the game. I think they made a huge patch for it , maybe like 175 or 200 meg patch that fixed a bunch of stuff and added a few things. You could run out of gas somewhere and they patched in the abilties to get a can and go for a gas run.

[Turin Turambar]

Boiling Point had a good idea, but poor execution. Let's see:

-Perfomance problems.
-Vehicle control issues.
-Below average artistic work in a good amount of things.
-Bugs bugs bugs!
-Design issues: Example, if you have a huge map, don't make secondary/non-story quests where the player have to cover 70% of the extension two times. And that was something usual.
-And in the end, the combat wasn't very fun, really.

[Eightball]

Boiling point had a lot of promise, but it wears thin quickly.

You'll soon find that the game is quite repetitive. At the exact same point in the road, every time you go there, you will find Faction X fighting Faction Y. At the exact point in the map, you will find Base X, with the same amount of people every time. No matter if you wiped it out or not earlier, everything respawns.

The missions are, on the whole, silly.

It's a good first effort, but like most free-form games from first time developers, it lacks legs.

[JonathanStrange]

Also, Kobra was a big fan of it (until he did his usual 180-degree flip and started hating it) which probably turned people off

Yeah, I have to admit that was part of why I never gave Guild Wars much of a shot, lol.

Anyway, if it's all patched up then $13 doesn't seem to much for a fun game. I may give it a go, sometime.

Circuit City Online has it for $10 now (two weeks ago I saw if for $5 there but it changes). There are a number of CircuitCity prices like $4 for Guild Gold (that 1400 era RPG).

[Giles Habibula]

Boiling point had a lot of promise, but it wears thin quickly.

You'll soon find that the game is quite repetitive. At the exact same point in the road, every time you go there, you will find Faction X fighting Faction Y. At the exact point in the map, you will find Base X, with the same amount of people every time. No matter if you wiped it out or not earlier, everything respawns.

The missions are, on the whole, silly.

It's a good first effort, but like most free-form games from first time developers, it lacks legs.

Maybe so, but for the time being, I've now gotten 10 hours of great fun out of my $13 investment. For instance, I was just now thrilled when I discovered I could shoot the driver of a HumVee and steal the truck! I was just giddy, since I'd been driving my piece of shit Frustrador for 10 hours. So I sold the Frustrador and got a few bucks for it, which I needed. And yeah, I got shot at for a while because I stole the truck, but since it belonged to a Bandit, people seem to have forgotten.

I suppose some of my pleasure could wear off over time, but I haven't noticed it yet.

[Grifman]

I've always been interested in this. Can you describe the RPG elements and how they work?

[Giles Habibula]

I've always been interested in this. Can you describe the RPG elements and how they work?

I've only ever played a few RPGs, but this seems not much different, except that the interface is among the easiest I've seen. Search dead bodies for stuff (similar to Deus Ex), and grab as much as you can carry, like extra guns, even if you're doubling up because you can sell them to arms dealers later, and cash is king in this game.

There's a very clear graph on how you're doing as far as your relationships to the various factions. Also how you're doing physically. And how sleepy you are. Sleep is important, and the easiest way to get your health back, only you can't sleep just anywhere. Only in 'safe' locations, such as your car, a motel, a friendly base, etc. If you get injured, you'll not move very fast, and if one of your legs is injured, you'll notice a distinct limp.

You also have access to various drugs to cure you, but these carry addictive qualities, so it's best not to get your health back that way unless you have no other means.

I'm sure other games have better RPG elements, but these seem appropriate for an action game. Less emphasis on action though, since battles are kind of far apart, though when they occur, they're pretty intense.

[Grifman]

I was thinking more in terms of character/stat development. Sorry I wasn't more specific.

[Eightball]

You also have access to various drugs to cure you, but these carry addictive qualities, so it's best not to get your health back that way unless you have no other means.

IIRC you can use food to heal yourself. Buy a bunch of pineapples, they help.

And you can use your car's trunk to store the extra junk you want to sell.

Junk in the trunk!

[Ibby]

And get the most recent patch; which I want to say was an international or European version but works for the North American install. It was never released for NA and fixes a lot of performance issues.

[Giles Habibula]

I was thinking more in terms of character/stat development. Sorry I wasn't more specific.

I've got very limited experience with RPGs, but as far as stuff like Oblivion, this game doesn't have it. All I can tell you is, there's graph bars for all your stats, no numerical equivalents, except your health. I'll leave any further RPG descriptors to others who know about such things. I know nothing. Sorry.

[Giles Habibula]

And you can use your car's trunk to store the extra junk you want to sell.

Junk in the trunk!

I did not know that. Thanks. I wondered why there was a 'trunk' command in the corner of the screen right beside 'change a tire', since you can change a tire without opening the trunk.

[Gryndyl]

And you can use your car's trunk to store the extra junk you want to sell.

Junk in the trunk!

I did not know that. Thanks. I wondered why there was a 'trunk' command in the corner of the screen right beside 'change a tire', since you can change a tire without opening the trunk.

I also recommend swiping spare tires from other vehicles and storing the extras in your trunk

[Giles Habibula]

And you can use your car's trunk to store the extra junk you want to sell.

Junk in the trunk!

I did not know that. Thanks. I wondered why there was a 'trunk' command in the corner of the screen right beside 'change a tire', since you can change a tire without opening the trunk.

I also recommend swiping spare tires from other vehicles and storing the extras in your trunk

No way! Really?!?
God damn! See? this game is deeper than Oblivion!
I bet you can't swipe spare tires in Oblivion!

[JonathanStrange]

And you can use your car's trunk to store the extra junk you want to sell.

Junk in the trunk!

I did not know that. Thanks. I wondered why there was a 'trunk' command in the corner of the screen right beside 'change a tire', since you can change a tire without opening the trunk.

I also recommend swiping spare tires from other vehicles and storing the extras in your trunk

No way! Really?!?
God damn! See? this game is deeper than Oblivion!
I bet you can't swipe spare tires in Oblivion!

Nor would one need to.