Craig: So we’ve been playing a fair chunk of Flashpoint in co-op lately because we’re so on trend and since it’s cropping up cheap now I think we should talk about it. In broad strokes, then, are you liking it?
Ed: Broadly so, yes.
Craig: Good. Paul plays too but he’s off doing whatever Paul does.
Ed: Eve probably.
Craig: Probably. Stupid space MMOs. Anyway – is “yes” all you have to say?
Ed: No. Yes.
Craig: Sigh.
Ed: I mean it’s an odd experience, there’s some really frustrating design decisions and it’s not what the original Operation Flashpoint was, but it manages to be highly entertaining in its own right.
Craig: It’s more…not arcadey…approachable? Less intimidating?
Ed: If you ask the fanbase of the original they’d probably froth at the mouth and declare it arcadey. But I quite like the mix between casual shooter and complex military operations.
Craig: Well ArmAII is filling that gap isn’t it? But I suppose at the same time they did put themselves in direct competition with each other. Ok, does it make financial sense for someone as big as codemasters to put millions of pounds into a title just for hardcore sim people?
Ed: Probably not, but I don’t think it was that hard on their part to include a way to play the game like Arma II. Feels like missing out on the piece of the market the original title catered to.
Craig: Well isn’t this why I insist that we play on the hardest difficulty? Don’t you think that it makes it much closer to the original that what people probably give it credit for?
Ed: Yes, but the hard mode makes a few annoying decisions, like no clear indication of if I’ve got a grenade loaded or a bullet. I wish they had a way to fiddle personally with what options you want on and off instead of blanket difficulty modes.
Craig: I totally agree, it is the biggest annoyance. It’s like they made the game and decided that what they had was going to piss off a load of people so shoved in this hardcore mode to cater.
Ed: Different people want different things from their hardcore modes. For instance, I think I disagree with you on the checkpointing in missions. I don’t like when one person dies and they have nothing to do for the, what, 30 minutes it might take to complete a level? It’s either that or restart the level.
Craig: That goes back to your want for choosing variables, because some people want that sort of thing. Case in point: in college I had this lecturer who was super into flashpoint. He had a troop of guys who would do proper training exercises on the weekend and then do skirmishes that lasted literally all day – like they would have a base and have to patrol it and crap like that with a random chance of bad guys turning up. Fucking crazy right? And more so when they had the rule that if you died you were out for the day.
Ed: Fuck me. Seriously?
Craig: Yeah, he wasn’t a big gamer or anything, they were just really into flashpoint. We used to argue all the time about the source engine. Also he had a motorbike.
Ed: I suppose this is like EA reproducing Microsoft flight simulator, but making it a cross between a combat sim and the usual rigmarole of sim flying.
Craig: Yeah, but think – the flight sim stuff got shut down because there just isn’t the money in hardcore sim stuff. Unless you are Tim Stone.
Ed: That man isn’t even human I think. He has the patience for the weirdest things.
Craig: quickly off topic, did you ever read that thing he did about flying an old bi-plane over the Atlantic with a 2% chance the engines would fail? Crazy.
Ed: Sounded ace. Never try it myself.
Craig: Well, basically, this is the type of person codemasters are dealing with when doing a new flashpoint.
Ed: Yes, ballistic experts and armchair generals. When you see arguements about the precise amount of shots two different guns would unleash it’s hard to be perfect in dealing with them.
Craig: So we are in firm agreement, I assume, that they needed to cater to both parties – ‘normal people’ for the cash, and the hardcore sim people because that was their fanbase, yes?
Ed: Pretty much.
Craig: So, the point we have been dancing around – did they satisfy both?
Ed: I don’t think so. They failed to market it to the audience they wanted, and instead faced a backlash from the fanbase.
Paul: It is I.
Craig: Oh my gosh!
Ed: Holy shitballs!
Craig: So Paul, rough opinion on everything so far?
Paul: Sorry, I’m wanking as I write this.
Paul: I mean eating. Yes.
Ed: Masticating?
Craig: Whhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…… Can’t unthink
Paul: So… Yes. Dragon Rising, for me, was a bit of a disappointment. It has such a solid engine and amazing potential but it virtually all goes to waste. I was a big fan of the original Flashpoint and I was hoping DR would provide the same sense but with more polish.
Craig: See, I was never that into the original but at a glance that’s exactly what it is.
Paul: The original wasn’t just a brilliantly adventurous sim – it also had an epic campaign that really gave you the drama of being a soldier from so many perspectives. In comparison, nine(?) years on, DR’s looks lazy.
Ed: It is a dissapointment, especially with the potential. They crafted a whole fucking Island, then limit you to running between a few close paced objectives without much variety.
Craig: Ok, so take away the Op Flash title, do we have a good game?
Paul: Yes and no. Codies presented us with an awesome war sandwich but then only lets us nibble the crusts. And some of the sandwich bit.
Ed: I don’t want the bit with blood and soiled pants. That doesn’t taste nice.
Paul: That’s not how you make a war sandwich – it’s mostly ham!
Craig: What the? Why…? What? So it was ok but didn’t live up to it’s bready expectations?
Paul: It’s just this weird incongruence between having such a solid foundation but not doing anything adventurous with it. With the inclusion of the map editor in the PC release, it’s almost like they were hoping the community would bring the game to life.
Craig: A case of “you made an engine, now make a game”?
Ed: They weren’t given decent enough modding tools to make a game. Wow we’re really pissing on DR aren’t we?
Craig: Seem to be yeah, but I actually quite like it. I mean, it’s no classic and I don’t like the singleplayer, but we’ve had some pretty great times in co-op.
Ed: Yes, often through unintentional hilarity but also moments of shared tension. If they just let you pick your equipment at the start of each mission I think I’d be willing to forgive more.
Paul: That’s just it. It’s piss arse decisions like that – sure the times we’ve had playing multiplayer have been good but imagine how much better they would have been if we had some decent maps to play on rather than simply slugging through the dull campaign. If the modding tool was a little more accessable we could knock up our own awesome maps pretty quickly too. It just seems to fall between the cracks at every turn.
Craig: So you people want an accessible, simplistic map editor but an inaccessible game bolted on? How the fuck could codies hope to win?
Paul: No Craig you imbecile. I am not saying that at all. I merely want a main game component that tries – you shouldn’t have to piss around in a map editor to see the potential of a game, as I did when I just took a helicopter and flew it around Skira – it was beautiful! The devs should make a point of thrusting all the game’s best features at you in the single player, which Codies seem to avoid for some reason.
Craig: do you think that they just shoved out a template and were relying on the community to pick up the slack since it was thriving for OpFlash 1?
Paul: Possibly. It certainly seems that way.
Craig: Do you think that co-op in inherantly fun enough to carry it past mediocrity though? Like I say, singleplayer is crappy, but co-op I really like, though co-op can do a lot to improve a game.
Paul: Yes it could – and sometimes it does – but… Like the last time we played, for example. We wanted some aspects of the hardest difficulty setting like the hidden HUD and compass indicators, but with a respawn to keep us in the game rather than hanging around for the mission to finish – because the missions are poorly designed with crazy difficulty spikes. Just having those options be more flexible would have improved our enjoyment… it’s just another failed aspect of the design
Craig: Yeah, which is what Ed was touching on earlier. And it seems to be an overarching thing with Dragon Rising – inflexible when the original just wasn’t and it suffers for it. Big question then, is it going to be something we stick with?
Paul: Until we all get hold of and get comfortable with Arma II, it will satisfy that soldiery itch.
Ed: Plus Arma II doesn’t have flippy goggles. THEY MOVE WITHOUT BEING TOUCHED.
Craig: They are hilarious. For anyone playing co-op, just look at each other and hammer the ‘V’ key when you have night-vision available, it had me in tears the first time.
Paul: That’s the GD Dragon Rising Coop Walkthrough – just hammer the V key.
Craig: It’s probably the most fun you can have with the game.
Ed: That and executing the AI. But Craig often does that before anyone else gets a chance.
Craig: Stupid AI. All artificial and sort of intelligent.
Paul: This isn’t going any way to convincing us you’re not a robot.
Craig: and with that I think we are done lest I get found o….I mean…errr….
Ed: I KNEW IT. Quick Paul, I’ll get his arms whilst you rip out the circuitry.
Craig: in closing then, should people get Op Flash now it’s on the cheap for the co-op thrills or just skip it?
Paul: In my opinion, it should be punished for its laziness. No – don’t buy the fucking thing. It’s a game with a huge budget and it just doesn’t try.
Ed: Like me in bed. I’ll shut up.
Craig: Try it once, feel dissapointed after then have a little cry?
Ed: Have you been talking to my girlfriend?
Craig: No, Paul. Anyway, I say it’s more fun than you two are making out. You’re by no means wrong, but it’s not that bad either.
Paul: WE ARE NOT MAKING OUT. Oh… Well, you know my opinion, and I’m all out of sandwich based metaphor – it’s just frustrating!!
Ed: I enjoy it, but don’t think I can reccomend paying for it outside a sale. For the game too.
Craig: sigh. Right, that’s it. We’re done.
I lol’d. Craig must feel awkward around his writers. Like, all the time.
That was a cool talk. I don’t think I’m the type for DR (decided that long ago), but yeah, I agree that co-op can make things better. It’s the same case with what I played of Borderlands.
I mean, that is why L4D1/2 has AI (good in 1, mediocre in 2 because the game got much more complex). Imagine playing THAT in actual single player. They had that as a mutation and it’s 1) really, really freaky for a B movie parody zombie game and 2) really, really difficult.
It was pretty freaky with the dialogue too. I went as Nick, and he said, “Hello? Anybody? Am I the only one here?” (something like that), and basically, I got freaked. In a horror like way. Which doesn’t normally happen with the L4Ds for me.
Yeah. That was a tangent. Now to eat a ham sandwich…