OFP thoughts: what the heck did I just play??

[Zzzzzzzzz]

Well, I just completed the single player campaign of OFP and I'm not really sure what to make of it. There were a lot of things I loved. The game was so slick and stable, and gave every impression of being a detailed, realistic military sim/shooter hybrid. And yet... the game is just so incredibly slight. It's almost like a promising, half-finished fan mod was released as a full game. My complaints aren't quite the same as most of the ones I've seen here. I have no issue with the graphics, and the lack of ded server options doesn't particularly bother me. I didn't even have any great issues with the AI, although there's always room for improvement.

What does bother me is that I feel like I just paid full price for a demo or possibly a well presented proof-of-concept. Where is the content? After the fantastic, stage-setting opening, you're presented with basically a void of gameplay and storytelling. 11 or so very simple, very brief (if you take out the immersive slogs around the enormous, realistic game world, there is perhaps 2-3 hours of actual gameplay here, at a generous guess) missions flash by, with no real narrative or variation in play style. A seemingly impressive array of tactical options is presented to you via the squad commands and tactical map, but why use them when you really only need to leave your allies behind and creep forward with your rifle, headshotting patrol after passive, braindead PLA patrol?

The introduction gives the impression that Skira will be the scene of a massive showdown between the US and China, and that neither side can afford to lose. The game, on the other hand, gives the impression that China left maybe 20 guys and a couple of AA guns to defend the island, and the US deployed about 25 guys and 3 tanks to take them all out. I kept waiting for the moment that the game finally opened up, and the PLA started actually DEFENDING the island, rather than retreating and waiting to be headshotted. I felt like 'any mission now' the game would show its true colours and really get started. After all, why create such a vast, immersive gameworld only to fill it with just a couple short hours of gameplay? But then all of a sudden General Zheng (huh? who? this game had characters in it?) was dead, and it was all over, and I was left wondering why Codemasters never got around to turning this flashy tech demo into a computer game.

The most frustrating thing is that on the surface, OFP looks so promising, and ends up delivering so little. Unlike a lot of commenters here, I don't want the game to be something it's not. I'm fairly happy with what it already is. There just needs to be a lot more of it. Currently there isn't enough to justify any sort of price tag.

[Enzian]

Content to follow if the franchise proves successful...
but they'll keep a monopoly on the means of producing it, thank you very much.



Consider yourself lucky they didn't feel confident enough to withhold the editor from the PC version.

[Zzzzzzzzz]

This is exactly the impression I got. Too bad I already ponied up the cash, huh? :/

[Enzian]

Go here: http://ofphq.com/downloads/dragon-rising/missions, and get downloading.

Talented people are already making missions that are far more ambitious in scope than the vanilla campaign.

[Spacemanc]

I agree that there should have been more missions out of the box, and I cant really understand why there's so few, considering how easy they are to make. Also there's no reason for there to be so little use of armour and helicopters.

I suspect that we'll see plenty more missions released in the first DLC (apparently the first few DLC will be free) Also make sure you play the game on Hardcore mode, because if you play the game on "noob" mode, then obviously its pretty easy and doesn't take long to complete.

[Ballistic]

Originally Posted by Spacemanc

I agree that there should have been more missions out of the box, and I cant really understand why there's so few, considering how easy they are to make. Also there's no reason for there to be so little use of armour and helicopters.

I suspect that we'll see plenty more missions released in the first DLC (apparently the first few DLC will be free) Also make sure you play the game on Hardcore mode, because if you play the game on "noob" mode, then obviously its pretty easy and doesn't take long to complete.

Good post. I would just like to add that the Ultimate AI and Damage rebalance mods are a must.

[fatboy214536]

Dude this guy is right on target. They brought us a product and we drooled over it, bought it, played it. It's not done. Not even close. I want to say it works because it runs well, has tight controls and makes an effort with certain aspects of gameplay that other games chose to overlook. But the game doesn't work. A game offers multyplayer, and if not a robust single player. MP isn't a new concept. It's not something that needs to be re-invented. MP modes you can go nuts with, but making a working proper MP, I'm sure is not rocket science as everyone else making games seems to be doing just fine.

Ya the community are pitching in heaps of effort to make the game a fun experience. It's totally working too, the rebalance mod and the AI mod made this game a joy to play. It brings back the fear and with the fear comes the satisfaction of overcoming the opposition. But the community is supposed to take something and play with it, learn it, and do whatever they want with it. Not fix it. I feel CM owes Templar and Acog a cheque, a big one at that.

I'm stickin around for the long haul on this game, I believe it has potential. But CM might have jumped the gun and got too giddy about releasing the game too early. It's really a shame, the game should have been SOO good. It was the biggest let down for me this year.

[BFalcon]

the singleplayer campaign would have been far better with a few briefings (even if they all took place in either a small camp or in the briefing room of a carrier - both of which were reused each time as appropriate) and maybe a few "cut scenes" of the larger picture, eg a cobra strike on an installation after you take down a few SAM sites would make it feel more rewarding.

A little more work, but one that would have been a bit more of a full experience.

I mean - how many squads get their briefing as they're on the invasion beach? Surely they'd get that just before leaving the carrier?

It's a few more than 25 hostiles and there are times when there's too many for the troops you have with you, but then there are a distinct lack of hostiles compared to how I'd expect it to feel after the first few days.

A cobra mission or two where you have to stop chinese reinforcements landing would be a good start - once the US invades, I'd expect there to be a few more headed to the island...

[BuZZarD1973]

I completely agree that the whole experience felt like a demo/proof-of-concept.

Surely if the US, Russia & the Chinese were involved, there would be epic battles and firefights, trading turf backwards and forwards for a while at least. I'd expect it would warrant coverage on a 24*7 CNN scale as opposed to slot on the local news.
The AI was pretty weak to say the least and I'd expect most original OFP players to have gone through it without dying more than a couple of times if at all.

Luckily, the modding community have already been hard at work and made the AI significantly stronger and there are already a couple of really good custom missions available.

Once the MP is sorted out, I expect great things from this title.

[Charlie_Chat]

Originally Posted by Spacemanc

I agree that there should have been more missions out of the box, and I cant really understand why there's so few, considering how easy they are to make. Also there's no reason for there to be so little use of armour and helicopters.

Exaclty. Not only that, they could have included many variations of the same mission.

For example, I have created the same mission with different player roles: 1) as the sniper, 2) suad leader, 3) chopper gunner, 4) chopper pilot. That's four missions in one. They could have spawned hundreds of missions right out of the box to add more value.