I couldn't find a copy of Call Of Duty to go with this United Offensive thing for some time.
Well the day has come, and I finally have a copy of said game for my own personal abuse.
My first impression was that it was a decent Medal Of Honor clone. Fairly linear gameplay, hand to mouth objectives and all that. pretty much the same game. Even the music is similar. (but so far no D-Day scene from Private Ryan) and there's a dam level looks to be stolen from Wolfenstein
then I got to the second campaign. Stalingrad, with an opening scene right out of Enemy at the Gate. (a film I am particularly fond of)
and it just got a whole lot more interesting somehow. changing the lead character is a good idea.
I couldn't help but compare it to the D-Day level from Allied Assault. Basically the scripted events seemed more coherent and natural.
It's no wonder this game was number one on the best seller list for four months.
Good gameplay, decent graphics and music. a great package.
also reminiscent of WWII Sniper. except without the problems associated with that game
Namely glitchy, shitty execution, like folks shooting you through dead tanks and crappy AI, but it's a cheap game, so it's ok.
One problem I had with Call of Duty was the lack of easily accessible Mods. When I get a game if it's been around for awhile which this one seems to have been, immediately I download a ton of Single Player Mods for it.
A cursory Google turned up a few sites with mods, but even the ones which claimed to be SP mods turned out to be weapon skins, game tweaks and sound effects. I HATE that shit! useless bullshit gumming up the internet. come on! where's the modding community for CoD? I expect this crap from Fileplanet.
It's built on the Quake3 engine (like RTCW) so I expected a lot of mods sooner
and so answers the question What if Return To Castle Wolfenstein more realistic, like the MOH series, but didn't have a history lesson between levels?
The answer is that it is a lot of fun, but taking out the satanic occult theme, sci-fi frankensteinian monsters and hot nazi leatherchicks leaves a bit of a hole.
In this game my hole is filled with good solid gameplay, and all the rest of this article is just nit-picking.
I do think games which claim to be "as realistic as a game can get" are laughable, as realistic in this case would mean electrocuting you while showing autopsy photos, then wiping your harddrive the first time you get shot.
Barring that, realism means running down a nameless hill through the fog and being wasted in one shot by RANDOM artillery fire. Luckily, there's not too much of that.
One thing I thought lent the game a spot of cheapness was the fact that there is almost no wavering of the gunsights in snipermode, even in hard mode. and none at all in easy mode
Every other FPS out there has some degree of penalty for not lying down. usually the wavering is more pronounced depending on if you are crouched or prone. I'm not saying that it should be done on the basis of convention, only that ommitting this lacks realism.
It reminds me of Syphon Filter on the PS1, where the transition to sniper mode always ended up exactly at head level so that every shot was a guaranteed headshot, you didn't even have to wait until the transition was over.
In Farcry, the sight picture gets even more steady when you hold your breath (spacebar) adding an extra note of realism to that game.
This game has none of that, which to be honest is a relief in some instances, as having your sights waving around is maddening at times, but the overall effect feels lacking.
Also odd is the regeneration of your warbuddies apparently ahead of your position. The all seem to get shot when you are not looking, then the next thing you know, they are on the other side of the factory, or maybe outside somewhere. how the hell did they get out there? maybe I took a wrong turn.
The mission load screens are so close to the old playstation Medal of Honor, it feels like deja vu. I expect to hear the gravelly ghost of Colonel Hargrove explaining how awesome I am.
I'll have to see what United Offensive looks like, but overall it's a very good game.
-------------------------------------UPDATE:-------------------------------------------
I finally found a SP mod at Planet Call of Duty. the Leoncod2 mod is a four part single player mission which plays pretty well. Includes some very well made urban maps and some kick-ass AI
one glitch turned up when some lazy-ass nazi asshole decided to take a walk through a corner instead of going around, and I shot that pole-smokin fascist cocksucker right in the wahoolies. Dropped that numbfuck right where he stood, IN THE WALL! (see photo)
Of course, that's probably the fault of the engine rather than the mods author.
A great and very professional mod, made me abandon the main game altogether. Made me swear a lot too always a good sign for a game.
Then I got to the end of the maps and it turned into a "have a clueless dildo follow you around and get his ass shot ending the mission" games. I don't really like so called escort missions.
about the third time this dumpsterfucker ran AHEAD of me around a CORNER packed full of NAZIs, I went back to playing the regular game. I later realized he knew how to get out of town, and I didn't.
Just about all the other mods listed at PlanetCOD were projects in the planning stages or gameplay modifications.
To get the mods running
Enable the console in Options/save-interact then hit the ~ key and input MAP MAPNAME. ENTER