Flashpoint 2

[Stormy]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-operation-flashpoint/50856

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-operation-flashpoint/50858

I must admit, I was expecting a lot more from this game. Graphicly it looks great but whats happened to that realism game play that made flashpoint what it was?

It really has that slightly dulled down console feel to it which comes through a lot when he starts bringing up the order and weapon select menus. I was excited about this, now I'm not and will be looking more into ArmA II.

"We all know what red barrels do" -- Sounds like they missed the point to me.

Thoughts?

 

[Mutley]

It looks awesome, as for realism, I had similar doubts but read this (from Dev):

• As you all correctly surmised this is a modified version of the intro/tutorial level running on XB360. The thinking behind this was to make something users could pick up and play, we generally had only 10 minutes to demo the game and so needed something more compact. It is not representative of the main campaign missions which are much longer and more atmospheric/tense/dramatically paced
• This mission also has a number of secondary objectives which (if they choose to) the player can attempt, you hear them called out at the beginning
• The demo is absolutely definitely on Assisted (Easy) mode
• We were next to the Lego Rock band stall, nuff said! After day 2 it did begin to grate a little, however by day 3 we’d lost our marbles and were happily dancing and singing along
• These videos do not do our game justice; they are filmed from cameras pointed at a wall-mounted screen, positioned above the screen we were playing on, so the angle wasn;t great. Our game looks beautiful!
• The ‘Russian’ fireteam leader is supposed to be Hispanic! I don’t like his voice either, we are re-recording him!
• Artillery will make a noise as it falls thru the air (if you’re close enough)
• Alex Vestin’s estimates to run the island do not take into account recovery times from sprinting
• Sprinting and jogging animations have been addressed; focal point is now more static whilst still retaining the ‘handheld’ impact of footfalls
• We are still optimising particle effects, smoke grenades and smoke mortars already last much longer (minutes instead of seconds) this would have been easily observed if I had set one off
• Time of day/lighting/colouration/balancing etc. Call it what you will is under constant review
• Reload animations; not final speed
• I enjoy the occasional banana, but I’m more of an apple man
  
• Darth Eclipse, I recall meeting your dad, he must have been the guy who ‘Had to play this game and report back’
• Artillery times were faster for the demo
• Bottom right of the map = Time of Day
• Everyone has exploding red barrels, and I mean ‘everyone’. (I checked
  
  )
• Last comment on the barrels, they are not one shot explosions, often in the demo I would need to fire a couple of bursts to get it to explode
• There is definitely distanced based sound delay, im surprised you didn’t notice it! (must have been the Jackson 5)
• Weapon sway is in, but wasn’t in E3 build
• The build did not lag, I refer you the filming methods
• The guns sound like the real thing, I’ve compared both, trust me. The sound in OF: DR is fantastic, youtube does not do our awesome audio dept justice. The recent sound team updates give you a glimpse at the amazing work they are doing on the game
• Muzzle flash differs for every weapon
• The command radial is 3 layers deep, you only see a fraction of it in the video and it is context sensitive
• If you want to know what hardcore really looks like, look out for an upcoming video dedicated to the hardcore mode
• The USMC turned up and enjoyed seeing the game in action and so did the Army (obviously they thought they should have their own game as well
  
  )
• My personal highlight of E3? Watching half a dozen infinity ward devs queuing to play OF: DR
  

 

[Lucid]

Doesn't really look bad at all.
If you guys want extreme realism, go play ArmA1/2... they've basically taken over OFP's throne.

 

[Stormy]

I guess people expected it to be realistic, and not dumbed down to sell more copys.

 

[Lobster]

Its worth remembering they are adding in a veteran skill mode that removes alot of the user friendly features, such as HUD elements and the medkit.

 

[Shakermaker]

Any word on a demo for this?

 

[StardogChampion]

It looks as shit as it looked when the original action movie trailer was released.

 

[jverne]

what happened to realism you ask...i think realism died about 6 or 7 years ago...why?

 

[PvtRyan]

Looks pretty decent and I don't see a huge problem with the realism if this was easy mode. And honestly, games like OFP, ARMA and Red Orchestra can be REALLY awkward as infantry, especially in close quarters combat. I'll happily sacrifice some realism and the clunky awkwardness for a first person view that feels more like CoD.

 

[ailevation]

I like the idea of the bullets actually being physical objects, I want to see how that plays out.

 

[tesher06]

The guy in the video is a moron... I was hit in the head, it's not serious, but I am bleeding badly...

 

[Gargantou]

How can you expect realism? This is NOT the real sequel to OFP, the real sequel to OFP is ARMA2, in fact, Bohemia are in the process of suing Codemasters right now for advertising OFP2 as "Sequel to the award winning game.", because basically, in the dispute that lead to the split of relations, the ONLY thing, and I do mean ONLY thing Codemasters retained, was the NAME, that was the only thing, the contract even explicitly stated that all SEQUELS to OFP were exclusively made by Bohemia, so Codemasters basically has the right to call the game OFPR; but it can't legally go around claiming it's a "Sequel to OFP", because Bohemia own all the rights to the original game, except the name OFP.

Just thought you might wanna know, since you were asking what happened to realism, what do you expect when the team goes from a professional military developer(If you didn't know, Bohemia produces actual training simulations called VBS for amongst other the USMC and the NZ military) to a purely commercial entertainment developer(Codemasters)?

 

[Mutley]

Interesting to know Garg, didn't know that.

Not really one for extreme realism like ArmA2, I loved the Delta Force and Joint Operations series and that's what I see this to be a successor over, where it take a pinch of both.

 

[Gargantou]

I personally would call OFPDR for a mix of OFP and the Battlefield franchise.

 

[Unfocused]

I like the idea of the bullets actually being physical objects, I want to see how that plays out.

It's not a new concept, you have that in Battlefield 2 for instance.

 

[smwScott]

How can you expect realism? This is NOT the real sequel to OFP, the real sequel to OFP is ARMA2, in fact, Bohemia are in the process of suing Codemasters right now for advertising OFP2 as "Sequel to the award winning game.", because basically, in the dispute that lead to the split of relations, the ONLY thing, and I do mean ONLY thing Codemasters retained, was the NAME, that was the only thing, the contract even explicitly stated that all SEQUELS to OFP were exclusively made by Bohemia, so Codemasters basically has the right to call the game OFPR; but it can't legally go around claiming it's a "Sequel to OFP", because Bohemia own all the rights to the original game, except the name OFP.

Just thought you might wanna know, since you were asking what happened to realism, what do you expect when the team goes from a professional military developer(If you didn't know, Bohemia produces actual training simulations called VBS for amongst other the USMC and the NZ military) to a purely commercial entertainment developer(Codemasters)?

That last paragraph is key. ArmA2 looks interesting ... but it also looks like a buggy, frustrating mess. The developers seem to lack the same degree of professionalism and QA that's common in the rest of the industry. I hope I'm wrong because it would be incredible if it actually lived up to its promise.

OFP2 however looks like a very good, and very fun game. It will hopefully be the right mix of realism with the necessary compromises required to make a game fun. That mixed with the natural polish and QA that comes from a professional development team will likely make it the better game.

 

[Gargantou]

Yes ARMA2 has its fair share of bugs, but that's the way it's been even since the original OFP, and it didn't cease OFP from becoming a hit.

Make no mistake, ARMA2 or the original OFP does not in any way target the casual gamers, they target simmers, and simmers are kinda used to buggy products that are semi-broken at release(Take Falcon 4.0 for instance, or Il-2 Sturmovik).

Anyone who's actually read up properly on OFPDR will release it's seems to be a lot more focused on the mainstream appeal.

So it all depends on what you're after, if you're after a proper SIMULATOR of modern infantry-focused warfare, then you should get ARMA2, otherwise, if you're into say Battlefield 2, I'd say you'd be better off looking into OFPDR.

Also, whilst ARMA2 might have a lot of bugs(quite few compared to ARMA1, and like 0.01% gamebreaking bugs), it has good support from it's developer as well as it's community, OFP and the ARMA games has some of the largest modding communities out there, and so far it seems quite unlikely that will transfer over onto OFPDR, seeing as most of the modders play OFP and ARMA specifically for the simulation aspect off it.

Personally I've only once tried playing an organized private operation in ARMA1, with some acquaintances, but it was one of the most enjoyable multiplayer experiences I've ever had, and it was some of the closest I've ever come to real life combat, especially when you use the ACE mod.

That's also another pro of the OFP/ARMA modding community, the devs have made sure to maintain as much cross-engine moddability as possible, so it is fairly easy to transfer OFP mods to ARMA1 and ARMA1 mods to ARMA2 and so forth.

 

[ailevation]

It's not a new concept, you have that in Battlefield 2 for instance.

I thought BF2 only had the calculations for the bullet, that's why when you shoot a far away target you often have to lead your shot. Not the actual bullet itself is physically there in the game. I think what this dude is saying is that the bullets in this new OPF are actual physical objects which would be very interesting.

 

[Unfocused]

I thought BF2 only had the calculations for the bullet, that's why when you shoot a far away target you often have to lead your shot. Not the actual bullet itself is physically there in the game. I think what this dude is saying is that the bullets in this new OPF are actual physical objects which would be very interesting.

Hm, would there be any noticeable difference anyway, if that were the case? Bullet position (drop over distance, distance to target etc.) is calculated as if the bullet was a physical object anyway I think? So it doesn't matter if it is a physical object with visual representation or if it is calculated as if it was a physical object.

However I don't think bullets in BF2 ricochet, while they may in Flashpoint 2, but then again ricochets are not a new concept in games either.

 

[ailevation]

Hm, would there be any noticeable difference anyway, if that were the case? Bullet position (drop over distance, distance to target etc.) is calculated as if the bullet was a physical object anyway I think? So it doesn't matter if it is a physical object with visual representation or if it is calculated as if it was a physical object.

However I don't think bullets in BF2 ricochet, while they may in Flashpoint 2, but then again ricochets are not a new concept in games either.

I guess the bullet actually being a "physical object" is too broad to describe nowadays? Maybe it's more about how dynamic the bullet will behave. When the dude said the bullets are actual physics objects, that sounds like they're onto something. Maybe instead of the cliche bullets can ricochet, have bullet drop, can penetrate through some surfaces. You could tweak the bullet's properties if you wanted and have them shoot so slow, or shoot so fast that they will either drop to the floor the instance you shoot it, or they would penetrate something with so much force that a 9mm bullet could cause a 1 foot wide hole in a tank.

 

[Evo]

Sorry to be postin a link to some from The Reticule, but one of my writers (Greg) has played some preview code of the game and has written a little preview of it. You can read it here if you are interested.

 

[Shift]

They should change the name immediately, looks nothing like an OFP game.

 

[Gargantou]

FYI it isn't called OFP2, it's called OFPDR, fyi, when Bohemia and Codemasters went their seperate ways, the legal agreement gave Codemasters the right to use the name "Operation Flashpoint" for their games, but it gaves Bohemia exclusive rights to develop a SEQUEL to Operation Flashpoint, hence why Codemasters was earlier this year sued after they in a press-release calledDragon Rising for the sequel to the award-winning Operation Flashpoint.

You might wanna fix that in the article Evo, as to avoid lawsuits.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

You might wanna fix that in the article Evo, as to avoid lawsuits.

He'll be fine.

I may actually play this version, never got around to the first one for some reason.

 

[Gargantou]

Well considering the simplifications that's been made to the series formula with this game, maybe the original was too difficult for ye?

 

[Apocalypse89]

I'm keeping an eye on this one...I already played the ARMA 2 demo and liked it, but admittedly I'm a more casual/arcadey gamer so maybe this one will appeal to me more. I also think the USA vs. China scenario is a bit more interesting than the usual USA vs. Russia/third world country with Russian equipment(on an unrelated note, I wish I had picked up BF2 when it was still in its prime since it had one of the most interesting sets of factions I've seen in a modern war game).

Although like ARMA 2, there are a lot more games with higher priority on my list so I doubt I'll get it anytime soon unless the demo is absolutely exceptional.

 

[Mutley]

Sorry to be postin a link to some from The Reticule, but one of my writers (Greg) has played some preview code of the game and has written a little preview of it. You can read it here if you are interested.

Great little writeup.

I'm amazed there is no lean though, especially in a tactical shooter like this, I wonder how that plays out.