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Platform: PC |
Developer: Barking Dog |
Publisher: Electronic Arts |
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Genre: Tactical First Person Shooter |
ETA: Q1 2002 |
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Global
Ops It’s
nice to see how the first person shooter has evolved over the years.
While there was structure and strategy present in the early years,
sadly more often then not it was nothing but chaotic run-and-gun
sessions with most players taking an “every man for himself”
approach (and depending on what servers you play on these day, you’re
probably still experiencing it). But
since then games like Rainbow Six, Land Warrior, Operation Flashpoint,
and a slew of other tactics-oriented, squad based first person shooters
have come along to help provide a gray matter throbbing counterpoint to
the more off the wall norm of the time.
Now Electronic Arts/Barking Dog has a little something of their own to
contribute to the PC squad-based tactical first person shooter (now
there’s a mouthful of a sub genre!), as they finish up work on Global
Ops. Unlike
some games in the genre, Global Ops will focus on multiplayer gaming.
While somewhat of a leap of faith when you consider how often
teammates ditch the rest of the crew in this environment on other games,
if you can round up some buddies who actually want to give the game a
serious go it shouldn’t be a problem.
If you’re lucky and can get enough people together the game will allow
for up to 24 players at a time in online play.
This isn’t to say that there won’t be a single player game
here, as there most certainly will be, but a great deal of effort is
being made to ensure that there is a lot to the multiplayer aspects of
the game, preventing it from feeling like an afterthought. Once
you have your crew rounded up, it’s off to 10 different real world
hotspots ranging from Chechnya, to North Africa, to Sri Lanka, to the
South China Sea. But not
only will the locations be based on real life counterparts, the different
fighters will also be based on real peacekeeper units, special forces,
rebel groups, and such with 25 different types of soldier factions
to deal with all together. From there
things can become even more refined as players choose from one of seven
different specialists, ranging from recon, to snipers, to heavy gunners,
and medics. All the while players will do the usual mix of special
forces-type missions, defusing bombs, stopping guerilla forces and so
on.
But
what’s a first person shooter without a lengthy list of firearms at
players’ disposal? Global
Ops will make sure that players have plenty to choose from with a total
of 30 guns in the arsenal. It’s
the usual mix of real world weaponry with shotguns, machine guns,
anti-tank guns, handguns, sniper rifles and so forth.
While other tactical first person shooters have certainly pushed
players to think long and hard about what weapons to take on different
missions, the diversity of environments in Global Ops could require even
more thought be put in before heading out.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out in the final
product. A
neat little feature that will be included in the title is how players
are inserted into game. It
won’t be through spawning or any other magical means of appearing on
the battlefield, but through parachute landings, helicopters, beach
landings, and APCs. A
lot of what Global Ops appears to have to offer is looking like pretty
standard features in tactical first person shooters.
What will likely make or break the game is its multiplay.
So if it is well executed and players can round up a good number
of reliable opponents and teammates this game could turn out pretty
good. - Mr. Nash
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