My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: Doesn't exist yet, and might not ever. 
Single-segment run as Thumper normal difficulty
Here is what I told the runner and his response.
I agree with your reasoning. I don't have any such video because I decided while planning that this was the way to go.
That's my normal strategy for NY. It's a much more reliable strategy for getting good times and it also has the potential to be very quick if you get the right luck. You can't say either of those things about going after the enemies in this stage. Plus, you don't have to go around collecting weapons.
I don't think it was that slow though (2:35). I have gotten under 2 minutes twice in runs, but most of time I'm around 2:20 or so. My last five record breaking runs before this had NY times of 2:20, 2:26, 2:30, 2:19, and 2:21.
There was a little bad luck, especially having to wait for Roadkill. But I feel that any bad luck in this stage was more than made up for in Antarctica, where I employed the same strategy and had my 2nd best time ever there.
This is what the rejecting verifiers shot back.
Decision: Reject
Reason: Because of two doodyheads who want better luck
I'm sorry IMW.
P.S. I hate not abusing my authority.
Run available upon request until May 20th, pm me.
Single-segment run as Thumper normal difficulty
Quote:
On the Twisted Metal 2 Thumper run
Audio/Video Quality are good
No Cheating
The Runners decision to run with Thumper has been a debated one for awhile now; Axel would of probably been the faster option but with Twisted Metal 2 each car is too different to create a "median" time.(Individual table please? lol) Despite this the runners time with Thumper is nonetheless impressive.
So level by level:
Los Angeles-Warthog,Grimm,Outlaw 2,Grasshopper were all good; Axel got a special off but the time lost was minimal;Twister went a lil awry. Only real mistake was that remote bomb miss but was pretty little.
Moscow-Roadkill,Sweet Tooth,Outlaw 2 were all good; Warthog got away but was a quick kill at the end; Shadow was sloppy but ended up being a quick kill. Overall the level went well
Paris-I'll point out the big mistake first, Using the Eifel tower strategy backfired bigtime whereas Mr Grimm took too long to port up. Its somewhat redeemed when Shadow ports up and the runner got him but overall Grimm got away in the end. I think it would of been much fast and better to just head down and pick Grimm,Shadow and Axel off; Big stinkeroo here. Twister starting(and getting stuck) on a rooftop didnt do any justice but Paris always has 1 enemy that starts up there. Spectre,Hammerhead,Shadow,Axel,Twister were all good, Grimm see above. Easily the worst part of the run here.
Amazonia-Roadkill,Axel,Outlaw 2 were all good; Warthog glitched in the water there and managed to get away; Spectre didnt go so well; and Twister nailed him pretty bad. Minion was OK, However the runners weapon accuracy was a lil poor.
New York-The runner employed the best strategy here, he just didnt have any luck with it, With all those enemies on 1 side it might of been faster to push them off the building they jump off after destroying Outlaw 2. Outlaw 2,Grimm,Warthog,Road Kill,Sweet Tooth and Grasshopper were all good. The level could of gone quicker.
Antartica-Mr. Slam; The runner had a golden oppourtunity to tear him up when Slam caught Twister however he didnt take it; a remote bomb,special or even a napalm followed by a quick finish of Slam would of been the best thing to do here instead he almost manhandled him when he tried to get away. Spectre,Road Kill,Shadow,Axel were all good;The runner kills Hammerhead instead of bombarding him off,this saved time;Twister manhandled him a lil bit;Slam see above.
Holland-Slam,Hammerhead,Grasshopper,Shadow,Spectre,Twister,Outlaw 2 were all good. Sweet Tooth manhandled the runner a lil bit but good recovery. Who knows what happened to Grimm but he died lol.
Hong Kong-Grimm,Spectre,Outlaw 2,Road Kill,Warthog,Axel,Sweet Tooth all were good. Not finishing Hammerhead off would of been a mistake but the runner got him in a good spot when he met up again so ill let that slide lol. Dark Tooth went well considering the death, he got a good respawn; Dieing here actually saved him time rather then running and reloading. Dark Tooth 2 was fast.
Overall the run was well done, few mistakes cost him some precious time but its a Thumper run and a good 1 at that. I'd like to see it improved a bit though but overall accept and hope we get an IL of cars going lol.
Audio/Video Quality are good
No Cheating
The Runners decision to run with Thumper has been a debated one for awhile now; Axel would of probably been the faster option but with Twisted Metal 2 each car is too different to create a "median" time.(Individual table please? lol) Despite this the runners time with Thumper is nonetheless impressive.
So level by level:
Los Angeles-Warthog,Grimm,Outlaw 2,Grasshopper were all good; Axel got a special off but the time lost was minimal;Twister went a lil awry. Only real mistake was that remote bomb miss but was pretty little.
Moscow-Roadkill,Sweet Tooth,Outlaw 2 were all good; Warthog got away but was a quick kill at the end; Shadow was sloppy but ended up being a quick kill. Overall the level went well
Paris-I'll point out the big mistake first, Using the Eifel tower strategy backfired bigtime whereas Mr Grimm took too long to port up. Its somewhat redeemed when Shadow ports up and the runner got him but overall Grimm got away in the end. I think it would of been much fast and better to just head down and pick Grimm,Shadow and Axel off; Big stinkeroo here. Twister starting(and getting stuck) on a rooftop didnt do any justice but Paris always has 1 enemy that starts up there. Spectre,Hammerhead,Shadow,Axel,Twister were all good, Grimm see above. Easily the worst part of the run here.
Amazonia-Roadkill,Axel,Outlaw 2 were all good; Warthog glitched in the water there and managed to get away; Spectre didnt go so well; and Twister nailed him pretty bad. Minion was OK, However the runners weapon accuracy was a lil poor.
New York-The runner employed the best strategy here, he just didnt have any luck with it, With all those enemies on 1 side it might of been faster to push them off the building they jump off after destroying Outlaw 2. Outlaw 2,Grimm,Warthog,Road Kill,Sweet Tooth and Grasshopper were all good. The level could of gone quicker.
Antartica-Mr. Slam; The runner had a golden oppourtunity to tear him up when Slam caught Twister however he didnt take it; a remote bomb,special or even a napalm followed by a quick finish of Slam would of been the best thing to do here instead he almost manhandled him when he tried to get away. Spectre,Road Kill,Shadow,Axel were all good;The runner kills Hammerhead instead of bombarding him off,this saved time;Twister manhandled him a lil bit;Slam see above.
Holland-Slam,Hammerhead,Grasshopper,Shadow,Spectre,Twister,Outlaw 2 were all good. Sweet Tooth manhandled the runner a lil bit but good recovery. Who knows what happened to Grimm but he died lol.
Hong Kong-Grimm,Spectre,Outlaw 2,Road Kill,Warthog,Axel,Sweet Tooth all were good. Not finishing Hammerhead off would of been a mistake but the runner got him in a good spot when he met up again so ill let that slide lol. Dark Tooth went well considering the death, he got a good respawn; Dieing here actually saved him time rather then running and reloading. Dark Tooth 2 was fast.
Overall the run was well done, few mistakes cost him some precious time but its a Thumper run and a good 1 at that. I'd like to see it improved a bit though but overall accept and hope we get an IL of cars going lol.
Quote:
Well I'm saying this after the fact, but I thought this run was really good, despite some shitty luck. The play was solid - the runner knew where the good item pickups were and destroyed the rival cars quickly. There were a couple of crummy moments, like hanging out in the Eiffel Tower for too long (not sure if that was a good idea in the first place) bad luck in New York, and missing a prime opportunity to rape Mr. Slam and Twister in Antarctica. Most of the bad moments were due to luck and not the runner's fault, which is naturally going to happen in such a random game. Also, I'm not sure the Antarctica incident matters that much since the runner got insane luck bumping off everyone.
Aside from those moments, the run was quite good. New York and Moscow went smoothly, and Holland was especially :o, considering the runner DIDN'T DIE IN A TINY STAGE WITH NINE CARS. The Dark Tooth battle was especially impressive. So yeah, I would pass this except it doesn't pass.
Aside from those moments, the run was quite good. New York and Moscow went smoothly, and Holland was especially :o, considering the runner DIDN'T DIE IN A TINY STAGE WITH NINE CARS. The Dark Tooth battle was especially impressive. So yeah, I would pass this except it doesn't pass.
Quote:
Ahhh...fond memories of me and a buddy playing co-op on this way back when. We actually used to use a Thumper (me) and Shadow (him) combo that worked nicely.
But enough reminiscing.
Audio/Video were both fine.
No cheating detected.
Choice of Character: Excellent (not being biased either). Thumper's special is ridiculously powerful if you can keep them in the flames the whole time.
--Stage by Stage--
Los Angeles: It felt a little slow, but he was spending quite a bit of time picking up weapons, which is acceptable since you don't start with much.
Moscow: This one was fast. He made quick work of the enemies, even with the couple of problems he claimed he had.
Paris: I didn't like this one. I really feel he could have been much more aggresive. Waiting in the Tower is a gamble, which I believe cost him overall. After picking up the items up there, he waited almost 25 seconds for anyone to actually appear. 2 came up, and he only killed one, and that one almost escaped as well. I think for a speed run, unless someone follows you up into the tower (we're talking like within 5 or so seconds), then it's not worth the time to wait for them. The damage he did to both was high, I'll admit, but it could have been done on the ground as well, and the time he spent waiting I just don't think was worth the damage done.
Amazonia: Despite the fact that he was happy with this one, I thought it wasn't half bad. He made quick work of most enemies. Getting caught by Twister almost cost him a death, but she was in an awkward position, and he managed to recover.
Minion: Another he wasn't happy with that I didn't think was that bad. Minion's a bitch, hands down. While he almost die trying to kill him, the fact remains - he went down. I think he would have been better off not repositioning after the initial attack until his Flamethrower finished. He would have eaten a little damage for it, but it may have given him a better chance to get a second freeze off.
New York: Worst stage in the run. Entirely not aggressive enough. The stage has many places where a Ricochet can knock an enemy off, but he chose to wait in one spot for them to come to him. 30 seconds for Mr. Grimm, then another 15 or so for Warthog, then almost 35 for Road Kill to come up from the bottom platform, followed by almost 15 of waiting for Grasshopper, who didn't come up. Sweet Tooth went down in about 5 seconds flat when he did finally come out and play. Realistically, I think a lot of time could be shaved by actively hunting them down, and knocking them off if they happen to be close enough to an edge. Heck, just going down to the lower platform to deal with Road Kill instead of waiting would have helped.
Antarctica: Another game of wait for it. The enemies came to him a bit quicker than they did in New York, but I still feel that he could have been a bit more aggressive. There quite a few places to knock people off on this one as well, just a bit farther apart than New York. I'd say try and find people near the edge and go after them. He spent about 1 full minute on the island for 3 kills, with the last one being lucky. If he had only went with 2 and then went back some time could have been shaved I think. He also should have picked up all the items on the island when he first teleported there rather than waiting.
Holland: This one was good compared to the last 2. My only gripe is he didn't have enough focus fire on any one person early on, which could have resulted in a reduction of the damage he was taking. This stage is probably the hardest, and I would have allowed a death here due to the fact it would have given him another special to work with and a full health bar...though he didn't need it.
Hong Kong: Aggressive early, then timid for the latter half. I think he would have been better off only hitting the harbor when the weapons in the streets weren't there. He stayed in the Harbor too long and wound up with very little ammo for Dark Tooth because of it. He probably should have gone back for ammo when he was getting health.
Dark Tooth: Went as well as it could have with what he had for ammo. The death actually helped him here since it gave him more specials to work with.
Dark Tooth Head: Why this is the final boss, I don't know. The head is easier than the truck by a wide margin, and a much lower defense, which is evident from how much damage his special does. I don't think any time could be shaved here except for possibly a better start location.
OK, so, a few stages seemed a little slow, and there were 3 I outright didn't like.
At the risk of seeming overly harsh, I'm actually rejecting this based on New York, Antarctica, and Paris. I really feel being more aggressive would have been faster on those 3 stages, rather than sitting and waiting for them to come to him. If he really insists on waiting, he needs to be more critical of how long he's willing to wait for them to come to him. For a run that's only about 25 minutes long, waiting as long as he did was outright unacceptable.
But enough reminiscing.
Audio/Video were both fine.
No cheating detected.
Choice of Character: Excellent (not being biased either). Thumper's special is ridiculously powerful if you can keep them in the flames the whole time.
--Stage by Stage--
Los Angeles: It felt a little slow, but he was spending quite a bit of time picking up weapons, which is acceptable since you don't start with much.
Moscow: This one was fast. He made quick work of the enemies, even with the couple of problems he claimed he had.
Paris: I didn't like this one. I really feel he could have been much more aggresive. Waiting in the Tower is a gamble, which I believe cost him overall. After picking up the items up there, he waited almost 25 seconds for anyone to actually appear. 2 came up, and he only killed one, and that one almost escaped as well. I think for a speed run, unless someone follows you up into the tower (we're talking like within 5 or so seconds), then it's not worth the time to wait for them. The damage he did to both was high, I'll admit, but it could have been done on the ground as well, and the time he spent waiting I just don't think was worth the damage done.
Amazonia: Despite the fact that he was happy with this one, I thought it wasn't half bad. He made quick work of most enemies. Getting caught by Twister almost cost him a death, but she was in an awkward position, and he managed to recover.
Minion: Another he wasn't happy with that I didn't think was that bad. Minion's a bitch, hands down. While he almost die trying to kill him, the fact remains - he went down. I think he would have been better off not repositioning after the initial attack until his Flamethrower finished. He would have eaten a little damage for it, but it may have given him a better chance to get a second freeze off.
New York: Worst stage in the run. Entirely not aggressive enough. The stage has many places where a Ricochet can knock an enemy off, but he chose to wait in one spot for them to come to him. 30 seconds for Mr. Grimm, then another 15 or so for Warthog, then almost 35 for Road Kill to come up from the bottom platform, followed by almost 15 of waiting for Grasshopper, who didn't come up. Sweet Tooth went down in about 5 seconds flat when he did finally come out and play. Realistically, I think a lot of time could be shaved by actively hunting them down, and knocking them off if they happen to be close enough to an edge. Heck, just going down to the lower platform to deal with Road Kill instead of waiting would have helped.
Antarctica: Another game of wait for it. The enemies came to him a bit quicker than they did in New York, but I still feel that he could have been a bit more aggressive. There quite a few places to knock people off on this one as well, just a bit farther apart than New York. I'd say try and find people near the edge and go after them. He spent about 1 full minute on the island for 3 kills, with the last one being lucky. If he had only went with 2 and then went back some time could have been shaved I think. He also should have picked up all the items on the island when he first teleported there rather than waiting.
Holland: This one was good compared to the last 2. My only gripe is he didn't have enough focus fire on any one person early on, which could have resulted in a reduction of the damage he was taking. This stage is probably the hardest, and I would have allowed a death here due to the fact it would have given him another special to work with and a full health bar...though he didn't need it.
Hong Kong: Aggressive early, then timid for the latter half. I think he would have been better off only hitting the harbor when the weapons in the streets weren't there. He stayed in the Harbor too long and wound up with very little ammo for Dark Tooth because of it. He probably should have gone back for ammo when he was getting health.
Dark Tooth: Went as well as it could have with what he had for ammo. The death actually helped him here since it gave him more specials to work with.
Dark Tooth Head: Why this is the final boss, I don't know. The head is easier than the truck by a wide margin, and a much lower defense, which is evident from how much damage his special does. I don't think any time could be shaved here except for possibly a better start location.
OK, so, a few stages seemed a little slow, and there were 3 I outright didn't like.
At the risk of seeming overly harsh, I'm actually rejecting this based on New York, Antarctica, and Paris. I really feel being more aggressive would have been faster on those 3 stages, rather than sitting and waiting for them to come to him. If he really insists on waiting, he needs to be more critical of how long he's willing to wait for them to come to him. For a run that's only about 25 minutes long, waiting as long as he did was outright unacceptable.
Quote:
*Edit on video quality* While the quality is fine to watch the run, verifying the ammo counts is hard because of the blocking from the encode (not sure if this can be cleaned up, but it would be helpful)
There's no cheating in the run, and all ammo matches up from previous levels. The only request for future runs would be to have runners change the ammo on the side to the listbox instead of the standard icons (the list shows all ammo/weapons instead of just what's selected, should be select + right while playing IIRC).
***WARNING FOR MIKE: There is an intentional death while fighting the last boss, this is to refill ammo and is the fastest way to fight Dark Tooth that I know of.***
From the start it's apparent that the runner has practiced this game a lot. Aside from the few random snags, the run maintains a high quality for the majority of the levels. My biggest complaints would be with Paris and New York, since in both of those levels the runner waits for the enemies to find him (for people who haven't played the game before, those spots will seem really off), and the Minion fight.
Level 1: Los Angeles
Right off the bat the run starts out great, with Warthog and Mr. Grimm going down without much of a fight. His next victims are Axel and Outlaw, who also go down pretty easily. For Twister, he decides to show off with some impressive backwards driving + shooting, then finishes off Grasshopper when she stops to say "Hi."
Level 2: Moscow
He took a few shots in this level, but nobody put up a fight at all. I was even shocked that Sweet Tooth was taken out so quickly since he's always a pain. Starting with Roadkill, he systematically wipes them all out in record time. I've now decided that he didn't choose Thumper to play the game, but his alter ego "Humper" (just watch his play style, you'll get it).
Level 3: Paris
Specter apparently didn't know what hit him, since he didn't even scream when he died. I had to double check to make sure, but he actually did get turned to kibble. Right after Hammerhead bites the big one is the first "meh" moment for me. He grabs some ammo, then waits on the second level of the Eiffel tower for a few victims, who take their sweet time showing up to the party. They get corralled into the corner with a few bombs, but he fails to use a remote mine to take them both out in one shot. I understand why he didn't want to tempt fate by taking down the tower (since the AI likes to get lost on the rooftops), but overall it probably would've saved him time since two enemies would've been wasted. He does recover since Mr. Grimm doesn't go very far and Shadow didn't get to touch the ground before he was taken out, but it's disappointing to watch him wait for two victims then pass up the opportunity to waste em both. The rest of the level goes very well.
Level 4: Amazonia
The start of the level was very well executed. Not only did he take out Roadkill quickly, but he was able to take Axel down to critical health and then finish him off immediately afterwards. The glitching through Warthog was pretty funny in itself, even if it did cost him a few more seconds. Too bad the shot of the century with the napalm missed. The only enemy to give any trouble was twister, but it didn't waste more than maybe 5 seconds since she went down quickly to the humping prowess.
The Minion fight is where I have a bit of a problem with the run. I am impressed that he went down that easily, but after reviewing it again and reading the runner's comments, it's easy to tell how much faster the fight could have been.
Level 5: New York
This is the second "meh" moment for me. The strategy was to gather some ricochet bombs and blast people off the rooftops for a quick kill. Since he already grabbed two pickups for the bombs on the previous level he didn't have to get many here. Unfortunately luck wasn't on his side and it took a long time before anybody walked into his trap. First it was Mr. Grimm, then Warthog. For Roadkill, he had to move to the right side and wait some more. The only one he went after was Sweet Tooth (Outlaw was taken out on route to setting up the trap so she doesn't count heh), and then got lucky with Grasshopper showing up to say "Hi" before getting blown off the edge. Overall, the level was a snooze since it was nothing but waiting. The strategy is fine, but I'm wondering how much time would've been saved by going after a few of them instead of just waiting.
Level 6: Antarctica
He starts off a little rough, but manages to take out Twister without much of a struggle. Getting away from Mr. Slam was rocky, but overall not a bad decision. There is another waiting section, but this one I have no major complaints about since it pays off big-time: 4 enemies (Mr. Slam, Specter, Roadkill, and Shadow) all decide to show up to the party in almost record time (Shadow was slightly late, but ya can't win em all). He does hesitate for a few seconds in case someone else comes through, but it doesn't cost him much time. The graphics glitch out when fighting Axel and Hammerhead, but it's clear to see how he takes them down.
Level 7: Holland
A rough estimate puts the time for this level at about 3:25, which is really impressive considering the amount of enemies and how little you get from the ammo pickups. The start is nothin but drive-by's to weaken everybody, then after he stocks up on some missiles, it's back to his Humpin ways. There were a few really close calls (I thought he was dead when I heard Specter's missiles) but he managed the health pickups nicely (and got lucky that the one tower wasn't taken out). Sweet Tooth shows why he's so (^&$#^%$#$# annoying, but was still taken out without much of a problem.
Level 8: Hong Kong
He starts off with a lot of luck having so many enemies around him, then runs out of ammo, which forces him to scurry around the map looking for more pickups. It only gets worse once he runs out of Turbo. While it's not as bad as his New York segment, it still burns up a lot of time trying to get enough ammo. Eventually it semi-pays off since he's able to take down 3 enemies fairly quickly, but an intentional death right there might have saved the time it took to hunt down weapons and health. The level ends on a funny note: Dark Tooth screaming "You killed my son!!!" right after he takes out Sweet Tooth. Nice timing there.
Dark Tooth:
Wow..........that's all I have to say about this fight. I've never seen Dark Tooth taken down that fast. The death abuse was a nice touch too. Anyone who's played this game knows this level flat out sucks when you run out of ammo in the last fight. He even takes down the clown face in the second fight without breaking a sweat. I had to rewind and watch the fight again because I blinked the first time.
Decision: Reject
Overall I am impressed with the progress the runner has made with this game, however the "meh" moment in New York alone, along with knowing how much faster the Minion fight can be are enough for me to hold off on accepting this. It is a shame though since a lot of the run is very impressive, and I do understand how much of this game relies heavily on luck (along with the AI playing friendly) but I don't want to let a run through that can be improved so much.
There's no cheating in the run, and all ammo matches up from previous levels. The only request for future runs would be to have runners change the ammo on the side to the listbox instead of the standard icons (the list shows all ammo/weapons instead of just what's selected, should be select + right while playing IIRC).
***WARNING FOR MIKE: There is an intentional death while fighting the last boss, this is to refill ammo and is the fastest way to fight Dark Tooth that I know of.***
From the start it's apparent that the runner has practiced this game a lot. Aside from the few random snags, the run maintains a high quality for the majority of the levels. My biggest complaints would be with Paris and New York, since in both of those levels the runner waits for the enemies to find him (for people who haven't played the game before, those spots will seem really off), and the Minion fight.
Level 1: Los Angeles
Right off the bat the run starts out great, with Warthog and Mr. Grimm going down without much of a fight. His next victims are Axel and Outlaw, who also go down pretty easily. For Twister, he decides to show off with some impressive backwards driving + shooting, then finishes off Grasshopper when she stops to say "Hi."
Level 2: Moscow
He took a few shots in this level, but nobody put up a fight at all. I was even shocked that Sweet Tooth was taken out so quickly since he's always a pain. Starting with Roadkill, he systematically wipes them all out in record time. I've now decided that he didn't choose Thumper to play the game, but his alter ego "Humper" (just watch his play style, you'll get it).
Level 3: Paris
Specter apparently didn't know what hit him, since he didn't even scream when he died. I had to double check to make sure, but he actually did get turned to kibble. Right after Hammerhead bites the big one is the first "meh" moment for me. He grabs some ammo, then waits on the second level of the Eiffel tower for a few victims, who take their sweet time showing up to the party. They get corralled into the corner with a few bombs, but he fails to use a remote mine to take them both out in one shot. I understand why he didn't want to tempt fate by taking down the tower (since the AI likes to get lost on the rooftops), but overall it probably would've saved him time since two enemies would've been wasted. He does recover since Mr. Grimm doesn't go very far and Shadow didn't get to touch the ground before he was taken out, but it's disappointing to watch him wait for two victims then pass up the opportunity to waste em both. The rest of the level goes very well.
Level 4: Amazonia
The start of the level was very well executed. Not only did he take out Roadkill quickly, but he was able to take Axel down to critical health and then finish him off immediately afterwards. The glitching through Warthog was pretty funny in itself, even if it did cost him a few more seconds. Too bad the shot of the century with the napalm missed. The only enemy to give any trouble was twister, but it didn't waste more than maybe 5 seconds since she went down quickly to the humping prowess.
The Minion fight is where I have a bit of a problem with the run. I am impressed that he went down that easily, but after reviewing it again and reading the runner's comments, it's easy to tell how much faster the fight could have been.
Level 5: New York
This is the second "meh" moment for me. The strategy was to gather some ricochet bombs and blast people off the rooftops for a quick kill. Since he already grabbed two pickups for the bombs on the previous level he didn't have to get many here. Unfortunately luck wasn't on his side and it took a long time before anybody walked into his trap. First it was Mr. Grimm, then Warthog. For Roadkill, he had to move to the right side and wait some more. The only one he went after was Sweet Tooth (Outlaw was taken out on route to setting up the trap so she doesn't count heh), and then got lucky with Grasshopper showing up to say "Hi" before getting blown off the edge. Overall, the level was a snooze since it was nothing but waiting. The strategy is fine, but I'm wondering how much time would've been saved by going after a few of them instead of just waiting.
Level 6: Antarctica
He starts off a little rough, but manages to take out Twister without much of a struggle. Getting away from Mr. Slam was rocky, but overall not a bad decision. There is another waiting section, but this one I have no major complaints about since it pays off big-time: 4 enemies (Mr. Slam, Specter, Roadkill, and Shadow) all decide to show up to the party in almost record time (Shadow was slightly late, but ya can't win em all). He does hesitate for a few seconds in case someone else comes through, but it doesn't cost him much time. The graphics glitch out when fighting Axel and Hammerhead, but it's clear to see how he takes them down.
Level 7: Holland
A rough estimate puts the time for this level at about 3:25, which is really impressive considering the amount of enemies and how little you get from the ammo pickups. The start is nothin but drive-by's to weaken everybody, then after he stocks up on some missiles, it's back to his Humpin ways. There were a few really close calls (I thought he was dead when I heard Specter's missiles) but he managed the health pickups nicely (and got lucky that the one tower wasn't taken out). Sweet Tooth shows why he's so (^&$#^%$#$# annoying, but was still taken out without much of a problem.
Level 8: Hong Kong
He starts off with a lot of luck having so many enemies around him, then runs out of ammo, which forces him to scurry around the map looking for more pickups. It only gets worse once he runs out of Turbo. While it's not as bad as his New York segment, it still burns up a lot of time trying to get enough ammo. Eventually it semi-pays off since he's able to take down 3 enemies fairly quickly, but an intentional death right there might have saved the time it took to hunt down weapons and health. The level ends on a funny note: Dark Tooth screaming "You killed my son!!!" right after he takes out Sweet Tooth. Nice timing there.
Dark Tooth:
Wow..........that's all I have to say about this fight. I've never seen Dark Tooth taken down that fast. The death abuse was a nice touch too. Anyone who's played this game knows this level flat out sucks when you run out of ammo in the last fight. He even takes down the clown face in the second fight without breaking a sweat. I had to rewind and watch the fight again because I blinked the first time.
Decision: Reject
Overall I am impressed with the progress the runner has made with this game, however the "meh" moment in New York alone, along with knowing how much faster the Minion fight can be are enough for me to hold off on accepting this. It is a shame though since a lot of the run is very impressive, and I do understand how much of this game relies heavily on luck (along with the AI playing friendly) but I don't want to let a run through that can be improved so much.
Here is what I told the runner and his response.
Quote:
Quote from mikwuyma:
There are some verifiers who want to reject your run based on what happened in New York. These verifiers think that it would have been faster to chase down some of the enemies.
You didn't explain why you didn't chase down enemies, but I think it's because the stage is stupid big and chasing down enemies might waste just as much time, if not more. If my reasoning is wrong, please correct me.
P.S. If you could provide a video where you do chase down the enemies in New York, that would be great. Or I can ask the verifiers to try chasing down the enemies themselves.
You didn't explain why you didn't chase down enemies, but I think it's because the stage is stupid big and chasing down enemies might waste just as much time, if not more. If my reasoning is wrong, please correct me.
P.S. If you could provide a video where you do chase down the enemies in New York, that would be great. Or I can ask the verifiers to try chasing down the enemies themselves.
I agree with your reasoning. I don't have any such video because I decided while planning that this was the way to go.
That's my normal strategy for NY. It's a much more reliable strategy for getting good times and it also has the potential to be very quick if you get the right luck. You can't say either of those things about going after the enemies in this stage. Plus, you don't have to go around collecting weapons.
I don't think it was that slow though (2:35). I have gotten under 2 minutes twice in runs, but most of time I'm around 2:20 or so. My last five record breaking runs before this had NY times of 2:20, 2:26, 2:30, 2:19, and 2:21.
There was a little bad luck, especially having to wait for Roadkill. But I feel that any bad luck in this stage was more than made up for in Antarctica, where I employed the same strategy and had my 2nd best time ever there.
This is what the rejecting verifiers shot back.
Quote:
As I mentioned in my comments, if he really wants to stick to that strat, he needs to be more willing to restart if luck isn't on his side. New York Starts about 11 minutes into the video or so, which to me, isn't that long a period and certainly within the "restart if something isn't going my way" bounds. We're not talking having bad luck at like 1-2+ hours or something, where I would be much more lenient.
Aside, I also rejected based on Paris/Antarctica, however I'll retract the Antarctica point since he at least decent luck with the first 2 appearing back to back. I still feel he should have left after the second one though.
Paris, however, I also stand by, since he waited for about 25 seconds for them to show up, and still had to chase one down.
As for how much of a bitch it can be to chase the computer players down: Yes, I know it can be bad. But we're talking about a 22ish minute run here. If things aren't going his way, he needs to be more willing to restart. Luck manipulation is an integral part of speed running, and while getting 22 minutes of perfect luck would be something reserved for a TAS, having a least no bad luck is something within our bounds.
At the risk of (still) sounding overly harsh, I'm going to stand by the rejection.
Aside, I also rejected based on Paris/Antarctica, however I'll retract the Antarctica point since he at least decent luck with the first 2 appearing back to back. I still feel he should have left after the second one though.
Paris, however, I also stand by, since he waited for about 25 seconds for them to show up, and still had to chase one down.
As for how much of a bitch it can be to chase the computer players down: Yes, I know it can be bad. But we're talking about a 22ish minute run here. If things aren't going his way, he needs to be more willing to restart. Luck manipulation is an integral part of speed running, and while getting 22 minutes of perfect luck would be something reserved for a TAS, having a least no bad luck is something within our bounds.
At the risk of (still) sounding overly harsh, I'm going to stand by the rejection.
Quote:
Verifier: when it comes to the new york segment in the twisted metal 2 run, it's not that I don't like his strategy, it's a viable one and definitely the quickest
Verifier: but my problem with it comes from the fact that he waited for about 30 seconds before anybody came after him instead of trying to bait them at all
Verifier: and roadkill he could've easily gone after to bait him instead of waiting another 10-ish seconds
Verifier: unfortunately I can't even make it back up to new york, I'm too rusty
Verifier: I also based my verdict on the fact that the runner himself wasn't really happy with that segment, and he also said he wasn't too happy with the way Paris went either, along with him saying that his fight against Minion wasn't the greatest
Verifier: the other thing that got me from his amazonia segment was that he wasted two ricochet bombs on spectre when he knew he needed them for the next level and getting the two pickups after minion wasn't even planned
me: okay that's fine
me: I guess the run is rejected then
Verifier: don't get me wrong, I really love the run, but those few segments just need to have the kinks ironed out
Verifier: they just seemed really sloppy compared to the rest
me: btw
me: you know the run was single-segment right?
Verifier: yes
Verifier: okay
Verifier: just when you say segments
me: it sounds kind of funny
Verifier: hahaha, well I mean levels, I'm pretty sure you get that though
Verifier: but my problem with it comes from the fact that he waited for about 30 seconds before anybody came after him instead of trying to bait them at all
Verifier: and roadkill he could've easily gone after to bait him instead of waiting another 10-ish seconds
Verifier: unfortunately I can't even make it back up to new york, I'm too rusty
Verifier: I also based my verdict on the fact that the runner himself wasn't really happy with that segment, and he also said he wasn't too happy with the way Paris went either, along with him saying that his fight against Minion wasn't the greatest
Verifier: the other thing that got me from his amazonia segment was that he wasted two ricochet bombs on spectre when he knew he needed them for the next level and getting the two pickups after minion wasn't even planned
me: okay that's fine
me: I guess the run is rejected then
Verifier: don't get me wrong, I really love the run, but those few segments just need to have the kinks ironed out
Verifier: they just seemed really sloppy compared to the rest
me: btw
me: you know the run was single-segment right?
Verifier: yes
Verifier: okay
Verifier: just when you say segments
me: it sounds kind of funny
Verifier: hahaha, well I mean levels, I'm pretty sure you get that though
Decision: Reject
Reason: Because of two doodyheads who want better luck
I'm sorry IMW.
P.S. I hate not abusing my authority.
Run available upon request until May 20th, pm me.
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