Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising

[Mackie]

Originally Posted by Erkki

ARMA II was nice in some ways, but I hate the damned grass, and the cursed made up language.... let them speak Russian for heavens sake!

It was Czech but with the Cyrillic alphabet.

Lets see if OFP-2 can bet the best game ever made: Operation flashpoint recistence

Well, if you are looking for the successor to OFP CMs DR isn't it. It doesn't surpass OFP in any way, in spirit, story and functionality. In fact it feels like it should have been a predecessor.

- The editor has so many limitations it's pointless bothering with it.

- Campaign has little story and pretty much no character development

- AI has trouble reacting from longer engagement distances.

- AI just pops out of the same cover all the time.

- Driving is plain awful.

- Physics aren't up to much.

- Flying is plain awful.

- Horrible LOD switching - the detail of a model as you go further away changes drastically.

- Vegetation looks horrible

- No information on mod support

- Much touted vehicle damage system is non-existent and is worse than ArmA

- Awful control system that was clearly designed for a console

- Multiplayer is horrible. No join in progress at all so you have to have a few friends or join a group to get a decent sized game going.

- No dedicated servers for MP

A whole load of other stuff.

DR is a big let down. The realism that they touted in 07/08 is nowhere to be seen. It seems they started out with that intention at least but switched to a cross between BF and Ghost Recon, probably for financial and engine issues.

DR is an average game, nothing special and is certainly not a successor to OFP. Saying that it is an OK console game, no surprise there as you clearly see it was developed for the console by looking at the control system.

If you want to buy it get it on console.

[panther3485]

... which if true, for me, would just about clinch it. I won't be wasting my money on DR.

[Golani]

Oh, finally a word from our dedicated OFP fellow supporter, I was starting to wonder where you were snafu....

Can someone educated me on what is this "Project reality"?

[Erkki]

Hmm yes and maybe someone her know more about VBS 2? I have only played VBS 1

[TactiKill J.]

Project Reality is a mod for BF2.

[Nokturnal]

Originally Posted by -snafu-

DR is a big let down. The realism that they touted in 07/08 is nowhere to be seen. It seems they started out with that intention at least but switched to a cross between BF and Ghost Recon, probably for financial and engine issues.

DR is an average game, nothing special and is certainly not a successor to OFP. Saying that it is an OK console game, no surprise there as you clearly see it was developed for the console by looking at the control system.

If you want to buy it get it on console.

Well i'm glad i didn't bother giving it another go. Sounds like i would of just became more frustrated.

I think you just about covered all of the problems i had with it too, though i would say the "whole load of other stuff" could go on for another page or so .

Snafu, have you got any opinions regarding ArmA 2? As you can see from previous pages, we're trying to decide whether that or DR is the game to buy - It seems that DR is deffinately out of the running.

I've played the Arma 2 demo for a bit and it's good so far, a few noticeable issues (mostly with AI units or triggers not..triggering) but i'm having much more fun.
Just still not sure whether i should spend my money on a game that even the fans will say is "unfinished".

Originally Posted by Golani

Can someone educated me on what is this "Project reality"?

As TactiKill J. said, it's a mod for BF2 - From what i can tell, it's main attraction is being a much more realistic approach to the game. Therefore, the community are (usually) more mature and tend to work as a team more often than you'd see in the normal BF2 games.

[Golani]

So I guess it's a multiplayer oriented game huh?

It's ashame no one cares so much for singleplayer anymore...

[panther3485]

Originally Posted by Golani

So I guess it's a multiplayer oriented game huh?

It's ashame no one cares so much for singleplayer anymore...

I care a lot because I almost always play single player. Trouble is, I have no influence (or next to none) over the software producers.

[Nokturnal]

Originally Posted by Golani

So I guess it's a multiplayer oriented game huh?

Actually, being Battlefield, you can probably set up a match against bots. Though i would say the AI doesn't act as they are intended. (but does any AI do what they are meant to these days?.. )

Originally Posted by Golani

It's ashame no one cares so much for singleplayer anymore...

Originally Posted by panther3485

I care a lot because I almost always play single player. Trouble is, I have no influence (or next to none) over the software producers.

Yes it is becoming increasingly annoying to see developers put multiplayer at the top of their priorities. Sadly, it's where the money is...
It's actually rare to find a "PC only" title these days. We are slowly being forgotten.

I still partially blame console gaming for becoming such a big thing in the last few years.
This attracted the attention of developers and now they just decide to go "multi-platorm" and more often than not, ruin the PC version(port..). Or they ignore PC entirely and make the game mostly MP to reap the rewards from all those XBOX/PS3 live players.

Modern Warfare 2 is a good example of this.
You can already tell from the trailers/gameplay clips that they spent most their time on Multiplayer. The majority of the new weaposn are for MP only, and of course they'd require hours/days of playing to unlock.
Sure we will still get a SP campaign, but i'm willing to wager it will only be as long (maybe shorter..) than the first MW game.

[Mackie]

Originally Posted by Golani

Oh, finally a word from our dedicated OFP fellow supporter, I was starting to wonder where you were snafu....

I had to say what CM did to my beloved OFP!

DR caught my eye from across the room and promised me the world, even though deep down I knew it was too good to be true, I let it take me walks on the promenade, spoil me with candle lit dinners and holidays on foreign sun soaked beaches...

Well, not really, but you get the point.

Can someone educated me on what is this "Project reality"?

PR is a mod for BF2 that makes the game more realistic and very team oriented, the emphasis is on team work, some things aren't realistic. It also adds lots of new maps, armies (ie UK, IDF, RF etc. is being added), pushes the engine to its limits with bigger view distance and so forth. It's pretty good and the first time I played it in 07 I was surprised to see people playing as a team, using comms, following orders and stuff. Although there is an SP mod the AI is dumb, so it's really MP only.

Official site:

http://www.realitymod.com/

PR Operation Archer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS85eX7Aijk

Which is a lot better than the original

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGqy-1cfqeI

[Mackie]

Originally Posted by Nokturnal

Snafu, have you got any opinions regarding ArmA 2? As you can see from previous pages, we're trying to decide whether that or DR is the game to buy - It seems that DR is deffinately out of the running.

I've played the Arma 2 demo for a bit and it's good so far, a few noticeable issues (mostly with AI units or triggers not..triggering) but i'm having much more fun.
Just still not sure whether i should spend my money on a game that even the fans will say is "unfinished".

No doubt about it, ArmA 2 is better than DR and a far more worthy successor to OFP.

When ArmA 1 was released I was disappointed as the game felt 'lifeless'. The campaign had an OK story to start off with which took a weird turn as BI ran out of time and had to send it off to the publisher. The campaign had no character development although the campaign in the QG expansion did introduce a better campaign I was never really a fan of it. The extra content it included was nice though.

ArmA was very buggy on release and the engine was not optimised.

However, it had a major improvement in graphics, it could be modded far more effectively and the scripting commands for missions and mods allowed users to do far more. As each patch was released the game got better and better, so it eventually grew on me.

With ArmA 2 BIS did learn from a lot of their mistakes. The campaign for ArmA 2 is far better (good story, character development etc.), the island gives the good old 'OFP feeling' - no half tropical paradise half Eastern Europe island like ArmA, the engine was more optimised (to some extent), MP net code improvements, modules for the editor that add so much and graphic improvements to name a few.

However, BIS did not learn from all their mistakes! The campaign, while great, had numerous bugs (most have been fixed by now), and they put in the Warfare mode in the two last missions which killed the immersion set up by the campaign. The bugs weren't surprising given the complexity of it. Actually, most bugs ArmA 2 had were in the campaign.

The engine, while more optimised than ArmA, still performs badly on some PC configurations, not mine thankfully!

I mentioned the modules for the editor earlier. These are a set of game logics you place in the editor (you have to sync some of them to units). These allow you to dynamically populate Chernarus with civilians, animals, enemy and friendly units, random missions given by HQ, weather effects, use the in-game artillery, first aid, damage system etc. Since I use the editor a lot the modules were like a God send.

If you are thinking about getting ArmA 2 I think you would be safe enough to get it now seeing as a lot of the issues have been ironed out. If you are not sure wait a couple months till the next patch has come out and see the community reaction.

Plus, BIS are releasing a standalone expansion in Q1 next year. So far it sounds quite good, set in an Afghan style location with US Army, Czech Army and various local forces. It will run on an improved engine and from what they say it seems the aircraft will have a far more realistic set up than now. They are also introducing VBS2 FLIR into the expansion (Operation Arrowhead) which is the most realistic FLIR on the market. There are some other things such as lasers and torches for the rifles and a rucksack system which will hopefully include fatigue with heavier loads.

[Golani]

I heard enough.

1. I'm waiting for an ARMAII patch/update.

2.I'll go bang my head on the wall for being so gelable and pre-ordering DR.

Whens the angry mob gathering outside codemasters' offices?
Give me the location, I'll send some air strikes

[panther3485]

That's comprehensive enough for me too. If I buy either one of these now it's gonna be Arma II. DR is definitely off the radar.

[Nokturnal]

Thanks for the informative review

Good to hear that most the bugs from the campaign are no longer present. That was my main concern, and probably the only reason i didn't buy it straight after playing the demo.

I think i'll keep playing the demo for a while longer and see how addicted i get.
Probably won't take too long though, i spent a good hour or two playing tonight. Even when i was killed by one of those crackshot AI it wasn't frustrating like dying was in DR, i still wanted to keep playing.

Hopefully the team keep releasing patches and fixes. Looking forward to Operation Arrowhead too, with both games i should be sorted for realistic shooters .

[TactiKill J.]

http://kriegsimulation.blogspot.com/...ising-for.html