Dispatches From The Front #2

[Mateo]

The gaming press would have you believe that nothing exists past Battlefield 2. Once you make what the gaming press and the gaming industry have already anointed as a "must buy", there are still games in the pipeline which deserve attention.

Some of these you are probably aware of: F.E.A.R. and S.T.A.L.K.E.R should be well known to the Tactical Gamer community by now. There is also the PC port of a crime simulator set in the imaginary (but remarkably similar to Los Angeles) city of San Andreas that probably deserves a passing mention. There you go. That was it.

But my job as freelance (not to mention free) journalist is to bring to your attention games and mods that you might not be aware of. So what is in the pipeline that you need to keep an eye out for?

Falcon 4.0 Allied Force
Atari/Graphism Entertainment
Estimated release: June 2005

Some of you probably saw my thread about Flight Sims the other day. You see, I don't play flight Sims. I'm not qualified to say what makes a FS good or bad, nor can I tell you what flight dynamics are more "real" than others. A quick Google, and the impressions of several of our Flight Wing (if I can call it that) led me to the conclusion that there is one that appears to rise above the rest for both goodness and realism: Falcon 4.0.


The Main Event

The game, originally released in 1998 set the standard for Flight Sims. Every aspect of the flight control of the F-16 Fighting Falcon was meticulously recreated, and put through its paces in a series of challenging missions. Over time, however, official support for the game waned, and the Falcon 4.0 community stepped in to update the graphics, bridge the hardware gap, and provide new and more challenging single player and multi-player opportunities to launch missiles at unseen targets at Mach speeds.


Gratuitous Dogfight Pron

And then the news that Atari had green lighted the update of this seminal title began to surface. Not only is the game to get a major graphics update, the game will now include as standard many things which only player mods allowed Falcon afficianados to do, including:

• Pilot three different variants of the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

• Simulate an entire war with the most advanced and truly dynamic campaign
  engine ever made for your PC.

• Participate in cooperative or adversarial multi-player flight over a LAN or
  Internet.

In addition to these, the AI has been thoroughly revamped, a new, more realistic cockpit is included, and the ability to fly other jets such as the F-15 Eagle, the MiG-29, and others is possible.

For more information, check http://www.lead-pursuit.com/news.htm

T-72: Balkans on Fire
IDDK/Crazy House/Battlefront.com
Estimated Release: Unknown, but reportedly "gold"

Armor grognards will have not only Battlefield 2 to satiate their lust for fast moving heavy objects that make loud noises. T-72 Balkans on Fire began as a co-project between IDDK and Crazy House in 2003. The original idea was to simulate the life of a Russian tank volunteer during the Yugoslavian Civil War.


Yep, Russians Can Make Pretty Games Too...

The game was released in 2004 in Russia, and since then, not much has happened. Apparently, Eastern European Civil Wars aren't hot sellers in the west, because it took almost 8 months to find a publisher in the west. Battlefront.com has stepped in to offer this apparent Russian gem to the West for a mere $35 per.

So what do you get for your rubles?
In the process of mission completion the player will be able to control the T34-85, T55, and T72 tanks, the models and physical behavior of which tanks during the movements, shooting, collisions, and missile hitting are maximally approximated to the real behavior. During the game the player will be opposed to five different types of tanks, six types of other military equipment including air targets (helicopters), and also infantry with different armament (5 types). 3 types of civilians are also presented in the game.

The game provides a campaign of 18 coherent missions, 5 standalone missions and 2 training ones and also two kinds of network game: human vs. human, and two or three humans vs. a computer on different difficulty levels.


Don't Call Me Old!

Battlefront.com reports that the mission/ scenario editor as used by IDDK/Crazy House is included, and that multi-player scenarios are possible.

For more information, check http://www.battlefront.com/products/t72/overview.html

Codename Panzers Phase Two
CDV
Estimated Release: July 2005

For RTS fans, the current crop of games seems quite thin. Sure, Warhammer should get an expansion soon, but what else does a strategic tactical gamer have to look forward to? How about the second installment of the Codename Panzer series?


Something to look forward to?

The first game of the series, Phase One, took a couple of existing game ideas, and mated them to a stunning 3D graphics engine. To call it Command & Conquer Generals for the WWII set wouldn't be too far off the mark. The game allowed players to control an army on the unit level, guiding some 50 unit types through 30 single player missions. Where the game fell short is when the battle was taken online. In multi-player, serious bugs prevented the game from achieving the online greatness the engine seemed to promise. Despite this, the game garnered serious critical acclaim, if not unit sales.


The Other Lancaster

Enter Phase Two. The operative word here is more: 20 more units, more scenarios, more buildings, more bug fixes. In addition, CDV is including a map and scenario editor that will allow players to create their own missions and cut scenes. More of a critically acclaimed game is never a bad thing.

For more information, check http://www.panzers.de/index.php?page=news.en.phase2

Call of Duty 2
Infinity Ward
Estimated Release: Fall 2005

In the midst of Battlefield 2 mania, some titles that would be massive in normal circumstances get lost. One such game is Call of Duty 2. Several trailers and E3 impressions were reported, but it caused as much interest as Pam Anderson throwing out the first pitch at a Yankees-Red Sox game. Yeah Pam, that's nice, now back to the main attraction.


A still from the opening cutscene...

The old chestnut is that "If it isn't broke, don't fix it". And by all accounts, Infinity Ward doesn't plan too. This is not a negative, not when the title in question is the sequel to Call of Duty. Not much is really changed by all accounts. There will be three campaigns, the engine is a new proprietary engine that allows the player to go "off the rails" (Thank God!), and environments that are realistic and explorable. One interesting change is the ability to hop between campaigns and missions. If you get stuck in the British missions, you can try another unlocked mission in the same campaign, or switch over to the Russian or American campaigns. I'd thank the diety again here, but that would put me over the once per dispatch quota.


Believe it or not, this is actual ingame footage!

No word on what Infinity Ward has up their sleeves for multiplayer, but if they leave well enough alone, that will be sufficient. One thing the game will not be is long. Inifinty Ward appears unconcerned with game length according to Game Spy, although they are targeting a slightly longer game this time around. Fifteen hours for single player is what has been reported.

Gametab quotes a release date of November 2005, which seems reasonable given reports of the state the game appears to be in.

More info here: http://www.callofduty.com/

Next week, I'll look at some games that probably won't make their Fall 2005 release dates, and provide another slab of demo and mod goodness. That is, if you can pry me away from the Battlefield 2 demo.