Well, I've finished the game...took a week on Normal. Here is what I found good and bad with the game
Graphics- The artwork was outstanding! These guys are good at details. Down to artwork on the wall, the offset scope on the german sniper rifle, the pillboxes, uniforms..the whole thing...The work they did reminded me of the same attention to detail that Sant's Head puts into his work...Some small things that I had a problem with...3D graphics in a 2D monitor...No matter how hard they try, it is still 2D simulating 3D...You don't get the parallax movement of items at a distance that you get in real life. Moving your head side to side in real life to look at an object will allow you to see through an object(like branches of a tree) and see an object beyond it (like a sniper sitting on a roof). In this game you can see through the branches, but since it is still a 2D image you don't get the real feel of "Depth of Image" like you get in reality. Yes I know, I am being anal...but getting drilled by snipers hiding behind a tree or a bush and having to restart and try over again 23 times makes me that way. Also, if you are looking straight on at a machine gun emplacement, the gunner theoretically should be directly in line with said machinegun. There are a couple of places in the game (Normandy Beach being one) where the gunner was completely to the side of the gun. Shooting the machine gun did no good. Shooting where he SHOULD be did no good. Sliding over juuuussstttt enough to get a look at BLAM!...Dammit...start again...You get the drift...After many restarts, I finally hit the guy and made it to the trench. Now mind you it could have been just my game doing it...but it IS a pain in the butt nevertheless.
Gameplay - From a military point of view. Another Hit...Like with the artwork, the game was very well done. Yes it is still a FPS...but it for the most part is a historically accurate FPS. They did alot of research on the game. The weapons available, the load times, firing rates, the way the Thompson Submachinegun was a bitch to hold on target at distance (was a close-up "Room-Broom" type weapon)...They did this great...What could have been better was the AI on both sides...Point in case:
Three bad guys standing within "15 Yards" (game relative distance)of each other in a field, shoot one with silenced pistol. He falls, other two stand there like blind idiots. Shoot next bad guy. he falls, last idiot stands there...shoot last one...all dead...no one runs, shouts out alarm, shoots back. Another Point...
Shoot bad guy officer type with pistol...patrol guard walks around corner and walks OVER dead officer type...shoot guard...No alarms, shouts, etc...
Now, the bad guys are not the only ones that are inept...Your own guys will do stupid things as well...like run around a corner and get blasted when they "know" there is a patrol there...sometimes having guys along helped because of "Murphy's Rules of War" (Always share a foxhole with someone - it gives the enemy someone else to shoot at besides you), but for the most part, I would rather go Rambo and take out the bad guys myself...
General stuff - The game saves very quickly and gets back into the game with zero delay. Some games I have seen will go back to game, and the game will actually run for a second or two before your screen catches up...that can be fatal in some situations. One very BIG GRIPE..what the hell were they thinking about when they programmed in the positions you could use?!? There is Crouched and Standing...In other words LARGE TARGET and FRICKIN' HUGE TARGET! No soldier in the world will stand or crouch when prone is available! Having the ability to go prone would have been great in several places in the game...
Overall, I enjoyed the game...I plan on getting the expansion and playing it as well. Would I recommend it? Yes...Is it for everyone? No...But all in all, it was definately worth the money that I paid for it...
Mc, i know you only played it on normal..but how many times did it take you to finish the last segment (the very end)? Took me what seemed like a million times to finish that bit on hard.
Mc, i know you only played it on normal..but how many times did
it take you to finish the last segment (the very end)? Took me
what seemed like a million times to finish that bit on hard.
Spit
Took me probably 30 tries or so... you have to head shot the one standing against the wall, headshot the one coming in the door (with the thompson or the stg44, all other weapons are too slow or don't carry enough ammo), run out the door under fire (getting hit as you go), slide around the desk and pick up the health shots (100 points worth), reload the MG on the fly, and take out the rest of the idiots shooting at you...I'd do it for 15 minutes or so, get frustrated, stop or put my fist through the monitor, go get a drink, and come back and try again...I was tempted to run it through on hard, but I didn't need the ulcers...I will do the expansion on hard though...Wouldn't be very Plaid if I didn't I guess... ;-)
Took me probably 30 tries or so... you have to head shot the one
standing against the wall, headshot the one coming in the door
(with the thompson or the stg44, all other weapons are too slow
or don't carry enough ammo), run out the door under fire
(getting hit as you go), slide around the desk and pick up the
health shots (100 points worth), reload the MG on the fly, and
take out the rest of the idiots shooting at you...I'd do it for
15 minutes or so, get frustrated, stop or put my fist through
the monitor, go get a drink, and come back and try again...I was
tempted to run it through on hard, but I didn't need the
ulcers...I will do the expansion on hard though...Wouldn't be
very Plaid if I didn't I guess... ;-)
McGyver
Jeez, I quit at the sniper level. Too frustrating. Good game though, and multiplayer was fun for a while.
Comments
Graphics- The artwork was outstanding! These guys are good at details. Down to artwork on the wall, the offset scope on the german sniper rifle, the pillboxes, uniforms..the whole thing...The work they did reminded me of the same attention to detail that Sant's Head puts into his work...Some small things that I had a problem with...3D graphics in a 2D monitor...No matter how hard they try, it is still 2D simulating 3D...You don't get the parallax movement of items at a distance that you get in real life. Moving your head side to side in real life to look at an object will allow you to see through an object(like branches of a tree) and see an object beyond it (like a sniper sitting on a roof). In this game you can see through the branches, but since it is still a 2D image you don't get the real feel of "Depth of Image" like you get in reality. Yes I know, I am being anal...but getting drilled by snipers hiding behind a tree or a bush and having to restart and try over again 23 times makes me that way. Also, if you are looking straight on at a machine gun emplacement, the gunner theoretically should be directly in line with said machinegun. There are a couple of places in the game (Normandy Beach being one) where the gunner was completely to the side of the gun. Shooting the machine gun did no good. Shooting where he SHOULD be did no good. Sliding over juuuussstttt enough to get a look at BLAM!...Dammit...start again...You get the drift...After many restarts, I finally hit the guy and made it to the trench. Now mind you it could have been just my game doing it...but it IS a pain in the butt nevertheless.
Gameplay - From a military point of view. Another Hit...Like with the artwork, the game was very well done. Yes it is still a FPS...but it for the most part is a historically accurate FPS. They did alot of research on the game. The weapons available, the load times, firing rates, the way the Thompson Submachinegun was a bitch to hold on target at distance (was a close-up "Room-Broom" type weapon)...They did this great...What could have been better was the AI on both sides...Point in case:
Three bad guys standing within "15 Yards" (game relative distance)of each other in a field, shoot one with silenced pistol. He falls, other two stand there like blind idiots. Shoot next bad guy. he falls, last idiot stands there...shoot last one...all dead...no one runs, shouts out alarm, shoots back. Another Point...
Shoot bad guy officer type with pistol...patrol guard walks around corner and walks OVER dead officer type...shoot guard...No alarms, shouts, etc...
Now, the bad guys are not the only ones that are inept...Your own guys will do stupid things as well...like run around a corner and get blasted when they "know" there is a patrol there...sometimes having guys along helped because of "Murphy's Rules of War" (Always share a foxhole with someone - it gives the enemy someone else to shoot at besides you), but for the most part, I would rather go Rambo and take out the bad guys myself...
General stuff - The game saves very quickly and gets back into the game with zero delay. Some games I have seen will go back to game, and the game will actually run for a second or two before your screen catches up...that can be fatal in some situations. One very BIG GRIPE..what the hell were they thinking about when they programmed in the positions you could use?!? There is Crouched and Standing...In other words LARGE TARGET and FRICKIN' HUGE TARGET! No soldier in the world will stand or crouch when prone is available! Having the ability to go prone would have been great in several places in the game...
Overall, I enjoyed the game...I plan on getting the expansion and playing it as well. Would I recommend it? Yes...Is it for everyone? No...But all in all, it was definately worth the money that I paid for it...
McGyver
Mc, i know you only played it on normal..but how many times did it take you to finish the last segment (the very end)? Took me what seemed like a million times to finish that bit on hard.
Spit
Took me probably 30 tries or so... you have to head shot the one standing against the wall, headshot the one coming in the door (with the thompson or the stg44, all other weapons are too slow or don't carry enough ammo), run out the door under fire (getting hit as you go), slide around the desk and pick up the health shots (100 points worth), reload the MG on the fly, and take out the rest of the idiots shooting at you...I'd do it for 15 minutes or so, get frustrated, stop or put my fist through the monitor, go get a drink, and come back and try again...I was tempted to run it through on hard, but I didn't need the ulcers...I will do the expansion on hard though...Wouldn't be very Plaid if I didn't I guess... ;-)
McGyver
Jeez, I quit at the sniper level. Too frustrating. Good game though, and multiplayer was fun for a while.