Post by HAMMERHEAD~*DS*~ on Dec 7, 2004 7:13:18 GMT -8
ALL:
OK, I think I have spent enough time in the servers to get a feel for Joint Operation's new expansion pack "Escalation". So, here are some of my observations.
SNIPERS: Sniper fests (like 20 snipers on a team) are basically over. As a result of studying game play, Novalogic decided to lock the sniper scopes on maximum zoom, much to the dismay of countless snipers. Further, they added a puff of smoke and light when you shoot and increased scope drift. This makes it a little easier to see a sniper, but not by much and harder to hit a moving target. As a result of these changes, there are less snipers and gameplay is faster and furious. You can actually have time to get something going rather than getting sniped at the spawn point.
PARACHUTES: Can you believe it? Novalogic actually put parachutes in the armory and they work great. I have seen some squads/clans do amazing stuff with parachutes and take capture points extremely quickly. The basic scenario is to load up a chopper with a full load, speed over the capture area at full speed, and everyone jumps (as low as 100m). The chutes deploy automatically. Very cool to be ale to put six or eight guys on the ground in your enemies back yard so quickly. The chutes are also supposed to work from cliffs, but I have not experimented with that yet. The drawbacks are that there is a minimum amout of height you need for the chute to deploy (no jumping at 50 feet and thinking your going to live) and the speed of decent is a little slow. This can be alleviated by staying right around 100m and then bailing out. You pop chute and are on the ground in no time.
TANKS: There are now M1 Abrams and T-80s. They hold a crew of three to include a driver (no weapon), a main gunner, and a TC, who controls the .50 on top (easy to pick him off). They are fast and devastating, but they can be killed with a Javelin missle or two. The Javelin is extremely cool to watch. Lock on and fire and it shoots way up in the air and arcs down on the top of the tank. It also takes out landing craft. Very cool. There is also a load out of mines, which will take care of a tank in short order.
DIRT BIKES: These are basically the bomb, though they are less based in reality and more arcade-like! They are super fast and can get you and a buddy somewhere in a hurry. You can't shoot while driving, but your passenger can (even fire a Javelin). They also are a lot of fun when you jump insanely high cliffs and get about 5 seconds of air time, only to land safely and continue on. They are a little fragile when you hit something though, such as a tree and you can expect to die when you do. A little practice and you will be power sliding and jumping with the best of them. They are plentiful and speed up game play, allowing you to get to the front in little time.
APACHE HELICOPTERS: These have been added to the mix and are pretty damn cool. They are crewed by two people, a pilot (no guns) and a gunner, who can switch from 30mm cannon to rockets. The cannon can swivel back and forth and can be devasting. With the new update, only a co-pilot can fire flares, not the pilot. firing the missles requires coordination between the pilot and gunner, as the targeting bracket for missles remains the same.
WEAPONS: They mixed it up a little here and and took a few things (RPGs/Dragons) away from the rifleman to make it better balanced. They added the G36, G3, FN-FNC and P90, as well as the semi-automatic MK23 as a backup. Altogether, there are 44 different weapons. Engineers have the greatest variety, but are still stuck with iron sighted M4s. They also added body armor to prolong your life a bit and you can now choose what type of rounds to load up. The choices are soft-points (devasting against unarmored targets), Full Metal Jacket (a compromise), and armor piercing, which is good for soft-skinned vehicles. They also included an armored 50 Cal for base defense and made all .50 Cals subject to overheating, which means you can't stay on the trigger forever.
MAPS: In the expansion pack, they added about 25 new multiplayer maps, such as a strip mine, chemical plant and civilian airport. They are a blast to play and vary a great deal from one to another. Capture points are a bit closer and some overlap, giving you an easier time to get into the action. Also, they provided a bit more cover to most spawn points to cut down on spawn raping.
REVIEW: Overall, this new expansion pack rocks! I have not noticed any major bugs, just one or two small ones, such as the Javelin failing to fire once in awhile. It is very cool game, even just to watch. Squads of dirt bikers, jumping mountains to get to the takeover zones, soldiers parachuting in, firing on the way down, M1 tanks and T-80's dueling it out on the open plains and all sorts of missles shooting up and across the battlefield. Novalogic upped the graphics slightly too with some particle effects and added fog and rain, which makes for a soggy experience. There are also more ambient effects like a huge waterfall, mosquitoes and even fireflies on some maps. They also added damage zones, so getting shot in the foot will not kill you as before. Novalogic also did some work on the netcode to make it even more playable then before.
My final statement is that the game is about 100% more playable, better balanced and whole hell of a lot more fun! Try it!
- HH
OK, I think I have spent enough time in the servers to get a feel for Joint Operation's new expansion pack "Escalation". So, here are some of my observations.
SNIPERS: Sniper fests (like 20 snipers on a team) are basically over. As a result of studying game play, Novalogic decided to lock the sniper scopes on maximum zoom, much to the dismay of countless snipers. Further, they added a puff of smoke and light when you shoot and increased scope drift. This makes it a little easier to see a sniper, but not by much and harder to hit a moving target. As a result of these changes, there are less snipers and gameplay is faster and furious. You can actually have time to get something going rather than getting sniped at the spawn point.
PARACHUTES: Can you believe it? Novalogic actually put parachutes in the armory and they work great. I have seen some squads/clans do amazing stuff with parachutes and take capture points extremely quickly. The basic scenario is to load up a chopper with a full load, speed over the capture area at full speed, and everyone jumps (as low as 100m). The chutes deploy automatically. Very cool to be ale to put six or eight guys on the ground in your enemies back yard so quickly. The chutes are also supposed to work from cliffs, but I have not experimented with that yet. The drawbacks are that there is a minimum amout of height you need for the chute to deploy (no jumping at 50 feet and thinking your going to live) and the speed of decent is a little slow. This can be alleviated by staying right around 100m and then bailing out. You pop chute and are on the ground in no time.
TANKS: There are now M1 Abrams and T-80s. They hold a crew of three to include a driver (no weapon), a main gunner, and a TC, who controls the .50 on top (easy to pick him off). They are fast and devastating, but they can be killed with a Javelin missle or two. The Javelin is extremely cool to watch. Lock on and fire and it shoots way up in the air and arcs down on the top of the tank. It also takes out landing craft. Very cool. There is also a load out of mines, which will take care of a tank in short order.
DIRT BIKES: These are basically the bomb, though they are less based in reality and more arcade-like! They are super fast and can get you and a buddy somewhere in a hurry. You can't shoot while driving, but your passenger can (even fire a Javelin). They also are a lot of fun when you jump insanely high cliffs and get about 5 seconds of air time, only to land safely and continue on. They are a little fragile when you hit something though, such as a tree and you can expect to die when you do. A little practice and you will be power sliding and jumping with the best of them. They are plentiful and speed up game play, allowing you to get to the front in little time.
APACHE HELICOPTERS: These have been added to the mix and are pretty damn cool. They are crewed by two people, a pilot (no guns) and a gunner, who can switch from 30mm cannon to rockets. The cannon can swivel back and forth and can be devasting. With the new update, only a co-pilot can fire flares, not the pilot. firing the missles requires coordination between the pilot and gunner, as the targeting bracket for missles remains the same.
WEAPONS: They mixed it up a little here and and took a few things (RPGs/Dragons) away from the rifleman to make it better balanced. They added the G36, G3, FN-FNC and P90, as well as the semi-automatic MK23 as a backup. Altogether, there are 44 different weapons. Engineers have the greatest variety, but are still stuck with iron sighted M4s. They also added body armor to prolong your life a bit and you can now choose what type of rounds to load up. The choices are soft-points (devasting against unarmored targets), Full Metal Jacket (a compromise), and armor piercing, which is good for soft-skinned vehicles. They also included an armored 50 Cal for base defense and made all .50 Cals subject to overheating, which means you can't stay on the trigger forever.
MAPS: In the expansion pack, they added about 25 new multiplayer maps, such as a strip mine, chemical plant and civilian airport. They are a blast to play and vary a great deal from one to another. Capture points are a bit closer and some overlap, giving you an easier time to get into the action. Also, they provided a bit more cover to most spawn points to cut down on spawn raping.
REVIEW: Overall, this new expansion pack rocks! I have not noticed any major bugs, just one or two small ones, such as the Javelin failing to fire once in awhile. It is very cool game, even just to watch. Squads of dirt bikers, jumping mountains to get to the takeover zones, soldiers parachuting in, firing on the way down, M1 tanks and T-80's dueling it out on the open plains and all sorts of missles shooting up and across the battlefield. Novalogic upped the graphics slightly too with some particle effects and added fog and rain, which makes for a soggy experience. There are also more ambient effects like a huge waterfall, mosquitoes and even fireflies on some maps. They also added damage zones, so getting shot in the foot will not kill you as before. Novalogic also did some work on the netcode to make it even more playable then before.
My final statement is that the game is about 100% more playable, better balanced and whole hell of a lot more fun! Try it!
- HH
