Let’s just say realism and detail is good but the lack of careful game design spoils this game.
The Story
The island of Skira has been a disputed territory since the end of World War II. Officially, it falls under the sovereignty of the Russian Federation, but a U.S. and Japanese presence has been there following the discovery of extremely rich and viable oil fields.
On September 23rd at 0800 hours, under the guise of ensuring his people’s prosperity, General Zheng ordered an airborne division of the People’s Liberation Army of China (PLA) to execute a lightning invasion, claiming Skira Island for the People’s Republic.
As you are aware, the Russian Federation has requested U.S. military support. In response, the USS Iwo Jima has been deployed. You and your fellow Marines should expect to engage scattered but heavily entrenched PLA positions. Our success on Skira could avert total war on the mainland.
Gameplay
The game is as realistic as it can be, it’s not some fancy arcade like charge-like-crazy ala Wolfenstein style shooter. It’s not those like GRAW where you could just heal as if you’re supported by some divine force.
The action is real, a few bullets are you could mean death.
While the game is realistic, it isn’t helpful when the game solely relies on CHECK POINTS – yeah, annoying isn’t it? I think check points work fine with arcade games or FPS that doesn’t kill you that fast like Lost Planet but for realism shooters – NO WAY!
RANT MODE ON : Now, I was damn pissed off by the game itself – after having some down time on my gaming rig, I manage to work on some things to get the review over with. The introduction and all were impressive I must say, after I enter the game – I was like WTHISTHISSHIT!?!?!?!
Ok, before I rant about the check point part, I’m gonna rant about the stupid tutorials. Yup, it was stupid. In a game that involves complex commands and all, you MUST have a tutorial – in this case, there wasn’t any since the tutorial appear as text (yes, text……… no sexy lady voice telling you right click the mouse on the spot marked X on the screen) and the text wasn’t helpful in any way. For example, the text just appears saying something like “Press the Call Fire Support button and select……… ” – ok, fine…… WHICH IS THE FIRE SUPPORT BUTTON? That’s like telling someone to switch on the car’s head lights without telling the person where the switch is! Damn it, it was stupid. I had to remember the NAME of the button, escape to the game menu and look through the keyboard configuration and hope to find it there.
Stupid? Yes it was. The issuing of commands were equally stupid as well. So assuming you come by a fortified post with a few soldiers there and you wish to issue a suppressive fire order – you can’t do so without being able to see the target. And you can’t peep or anything, so there comes the soldier meerkat standing up to issue the command – how stupid……… and the commands aren’t some 1 or 2 step thing! you press Q to call the command dial and you’d BETTER hope you choose the correct one since the command comes in like a few levels in detail so a mis-step means you’ll have to re-call the command dial. that’s like anywhere from 4 to 10 (if there’s any mistake) key presses to issue a command. For someone new to the game it’s like “Q”…. let’s see, then choose again, then this, then that, oh wait that’s not the one………. bad huh?
And to make things worse (the check point part) – the game saves only at checkpoints and it doesn’t save properly! So there I was done with all the objectives of Mission 1 (took about 30 minutes or so to get it right, including familiarizing and some reloads) and I thought how about going for the secondary objectives – after all I’m a person who likes challenges in games. So yeah made my way to those points and after about 10 – 20 minutes of travelling to the distance and died, the game puts me back to my last main objective. ARGGHHH! So not only do I have to settle that objective again, I have to make my journey all over again.
And here’s the even MORE crazy thing – I managed to settle the main secondary objective, fortunately the game’s last check point was pretty close to the secondary objective. So fine, after a few tries it was all completed and a check point was saved. I was so happy, I decided to log off before I make my way back to the extraction point as I was going out (yes, I have a life 😛 ) and when I came back to load the last check point, I was way back to the point before I completed my last main objective! WTHZOMGBBQSAUCE! I got fed up (a lot of effort have I placed in getting that secondary objective done) and decided to forget about the secondary objectives altogether and move on. 🙁
Things couldn’t get worse, I tried to capture the game screenshots (sorry, video didn’t work. I don’t know why) so I tried to load Mission 1……… can’t, last check point is last check point, so it was mission 2. Bleh, I can’t find mission 1 in campaign mode no matter how. So I went to Single Mission mode and voila, it’s there but I have to play mission 1 all over again. 🙁
RANT MODE OFF
So there ya have it. I am a SEASONED gamer, and even with my skill and experience, this game managed to make it so troublesome to play that I (even at mission 1) had decided not to play it any more. Eventually I played till mission 2, for the sake of doing this review.
Oh, and to add to the joke – the AI team mates can be really stupid. I mean really, in warfare – you don’t run to another point passing in front of another soldier! Unfortunately that’s what one of the AI did, which so happen I was using my scope to shoot opposing forces. HAHA …….. I was like OOOPS!! ………. it looked like a headshot too since he died on the spot.
Graphics & Sound
While many have complained the game isn’t astounding graphically, I thought the graphic actually looks nice (I have low taste perhaps? 🙂 – the game works fine with full details with 4xAA on a GTX260+. (FPS around 20 to 30). Sound wise it’s just as any other military game, radio chatters, sound effects from guns and nearby fire and explosions. It’s all good.
Network Gaming
No chance to test, not because I didn’t try but the game just refuses to connect me as I attempt to create an account. No settings ONLINE gaming to check either. FAIL.
Conclusion
I DON’T LIKE THIS GAME. 3 out of 10, for such crappy overall game design that hurts the experience. Please, include the QUICK SAVE / QUICK LOAD option – I thought the game and missions were fun, I really do, it’s just that I couldn’t be bothered with spending 20 minutes on a whole set of task and having to do it all over again just because of a mistake.
Game Rating
Played this game on xbox, because someone at game shop told me it’s a very good game. My opinion? this game sucks. It’s too difficult to play, at least for a casual gamer like me. I don’t even finish the first mission (or was it tutorial?), I quit. I believe PC version has superior graphic, but for console version, the graphic is terrible. Luckily I bought it for RM8 only. Jack sparrow ftw!
Wow,lol..This reminds of the games from the 90’s,looks likes this is an antique..Lol…Oh mr.goldfries..Looks likes you know some /k/ “commands” there.:P
Uhm…
Well, I have all the hate for this game as well… I forgot which mission is it that I can’t pass and kept on loading on some stupid checkpoint.
Some village that my troops have taken over and was being attacked from all sides…
I was finally able to pass that level after looking for a trainer… ekekek… And it was kinda fun to play after that.
I don’t think I’ll ever install this game to play again.
No, keep on playing it. There is also an invisible AI commander who gives you orders like ‘raid that entire airfield within 2 minutes sharp’ and who will have you headshot (eehrm, the screen gets black at least and it’s game over) if you fail to comply. Even if you basically already managed it, despite your bullet hungry AI who love to dance in front of enemies, and you just had to deal with some minor issues with the champagne already in your hands.
I also liked the mission where you must not be detected. Your crew will shout ‘they found us!’ or something like that when you are detected. They will shout in the silent dead of night ‘They’re not looking for us anymore!!!’ or something like that (playing OFP DR was a while ago). If this game was called OFP Paranormal Activity or OFP Deaf Match I would have believed it.
Glitches in OFP titles are such a pity for such an excellent series. I mean, ARMA II’s pure engine plus maps plus vehicles, weapons and items, plus a slightly more intuitive mission editor plus the ability to add/edit topography and 3D content easily would make one of the most popular games available. Even without a single mission included. It would be a platform for all kinds of games, attracting far more people than die hard war sim players. Bohemia Interactive should consider this imho.
You know, game wasnt really that hard. I managed to get to the 5th level in hardest mode (no hub no checkpoint nothing). Yeah well 5th level was hell so after a year later I’m playing it in experianced diffuculty and I’m kind of frustrated to have hub and compass. I dont want them! I only want damn checkpoints.
This game is no longer simulation for me, but its fun you know.
I’m sorry guys, maybe OF:DR is not perfect but You just suck at video games… You give it 3/10 because it’s to hard for You LOL. Go play easy kid games like CoD.
It wasn’t given 3/10 because it was hard you know. 🙂