In the midst of the Battlefield 2 release, Ubisoft released Raven Shield Iron Wrath.
Iron Wrath was a long rumored code update and expansion for the 3 year old title, and most thought it was canceled.
And then, as if to say, "Hey, EA, pick a finger", there it was, ready to download.
Available only as a File Planet exclusive, the update provides 7 new missions, new weapons, new MP modes, and gives the old Rogue Spear and Raven Shield missions some much needed graphical and networking updates.
Is it worth the download? Yes, I think so. I never was that great at the single player version, so I found the just as difficult as before, although the game was much smoother overall. The little graphical hiccups I experienced straight through the 1.61 patch are now gone, and the game doesn't feel as sluggish as before.
The new levels are certainly a challenge. The AI remains as un-repentantly unforgiving as before: peek your head around a corner, and it's likely to get taken off. And if you don't micro manage the green and gold squads, you will quickly hear lots of "man down" calls.
In Lone Wolf or Instant Action modes, the game becomes much more manageable, not to mention more fun.
Instant action gives you a "Raven Shield Lite" version of the game, one squad, 4 guys, same mission. You can spend more time playing, less time micro managing, without losing much of the overall game play.
Lone Wolf is probably the best training for FPS games you can get, a throwback to games that really tried to kill you, not just shot at you aimlessly.
Raven Shield was at the tops of the tactical shooter, despite a series of bugs and an lackluster expansion. As UBI and Red Storm move to capture more of the console market with this franchise, Iron Wrath appears to be the end of the line for this type of game from them.
End of an era, and a fitting one at that.
For more information check:
Team Warfare
IGN
And download here:
http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/ironwrath/
