Impressivly Dissapointing
Look at the feature set of what this game has to offer; a 220 KM2 island to explore which is entirely seamless, you can travel from one end to the other without need of a loading screen. 70 weapons and weapon variations, 40 vehicles including boats and helicopters, 300m draw distances, destructible cover and buildings, fumes of smoke pouring out of burnt tanks which last for hours... It must have been quite a task to fit all this into a game, streaming technology for environments as big as this is extremely complicated to develop.
So why is it that with all of this fantastic technology which suggests an open-ended structure do you see or interact with only about 30% of it through the campaign. The main campaign only lasts about 5 hours and the multiplayer only allows up to 8 people to fight each other on only 2 different modes team deathmatch and assault contained within pre-defined 'maps' within the island. I seriously thought that this was a contender to Arma, and to be honest the technology, ballistics and the environment are all in place for it to be the superior military simulator. Problem is that the missions are so tightly scripted that there is no point deviating from the path given to you, it feels like each mission is separated from the mission before it, much in the way that Ghost Recon or Delta Force feels. The is absolutely no point in having a giant free roaming map when all the missions are broken up by loading screens, you are never given the chance to travel huge distances (albeit during one sequence where you are allowed to operate a helicopter).
I hoped that at least the multiplayer would be the meat of this game, the multiplayer is where the whole island is open to you with objectives spread across the land...You see, Arma 2 has this fantastic multiplayer mode called Domination, yourself and up to 30 other human players must capture every key location on the 200 KM2 map. It is you vs the computer AI, the human team is heavily outnumbered but they are granted the gift of immortality through respawning. This mode forces you to use all the resources available to drive, fly or parachute into the current objective, each game can last for hours and it's not about the winning more than it is about the taking part of this war.
Operation Flashpoints multiplayer is where Codemasters should have put most of its effort into, they could have taken their excellent combat and engine into a more involving, epic multiplayer struggle but instead we are given only 4 players on each team and two of the most standardised multiplayer modes gaming has to offer. The end result is a sparse and eerily empty world where you can go a long time without firing a bullet. I mean even if they copied the Battlefield capture the points formulae it could have been enough if set across a large part of the island.
This game is only disappointing because of everything it does right, the gunplay is truly incredible, every encounter with an enemy requires a steady aim and an understanding of environmental tactics, the island (or at least what I saw of it) is a fantastic setting for a war and you will not see better smoke in any other game out there. Smoke is used as a weapon as well as eye candy but if you get caught in a smoke grenade with a couple of enemies prepare to be scared.
If I were to judge this game as a Call of Duty style, short, linear campaign with multiplayer I would say that the campaign missions are truly excellent especially through 4 player coop but the game is let down with lazy multiplayer modes. Unfortunately this game is advertised and has everything in place to be much more than your typical shooter, this could have been the successor to operation flashpoint, and finally a polished bug-free military sim rival to Arma but it falls short through how the game is structured and presented to the player, I think Codemasters lost their bottle, pussied out and because of this has wasted a fantastic opportunity.
I advise you not to spend 50 pounds on a 5 hour campaign with frankly, bullshit multiplayer features. Even though I did love the campaign, I can't really see myself playing this game for a long time as I had imagined... I would rather deal with the awkward but ambitious and brave Arma 2.
