Just what the doctor ordered whilst i am suffering with head cold/chest cold (why don't we just call it flu like all real men do) - another squad based action game to play on my Xbox.
Squad based games are something which i love - starting from Aliens on my old Amstrad, through to Dungeon Master then Hired Guns on my Amiga, Rainbow 6 and its sequels on the PC and finally onto the green box with the delightful Conflict Desert Storm and the not so delightful Brute Force .... even the worst examples of the genre have given me hours of entertainment. So to say i was looking forward to sampling what IO Interactive (who just so happen to be the developers of one of my fav nextgen games - Hitman 2) could do with the genre is putting it lightly.
FF starts with a cinematic opening which sets the tone perfectly (note to the pedantic fans out there - the opening few frames reminds me of the opening frames to MGS where Snake is swimming towards the Island where the nuclear base is, except instead of cutting away to a swimming Snake it cuts away to a few Soviet nuclear submarines). the basic premise of the storyline is that the Soviets managed to beat the US to developing the Atom bomb - and they dropped it on Berlin to finish the 2nd World War. Since then the Soviets have been in the ascendency with them claiming control of most of the globe including S.America (this is told to you during the opening cinematic).
The game 'proper' starts with you being in a truck going that famous bridge (dunno the name of it but seen it in countless movies) towards Manhanten. You are a plumber and you are going to a callout job with your mate. On getting to the apartment were you have been called to fix the pipes you notice that the door is slightly ajar - so you head into the bathroom to start the work. Suddenly a group of Soviet soldiers burst through the door looking for the resident of the apartment who just so happens to be a spokeswoman for an anti-Soviet group - they arrest your mate without knowing that you are in the bathroom ...... you take control of the character as soon as this happens and you need to escape from the apartment
sorry to post spoilers in the above paragraph, but its the only way to build the scene for those who have let FF slip past their radar
the graphics are similar to Hitman 2's in terms of character models and enviroments ... though i would say that FF has a superior feel to it in that the engine runs a lot more smoothly than it did before (i think both games are using IO's Glacier engine) - there are some good ragdoll physics being thrown around when you kill enemies or are yourself killed.
Controls are easy to pick up - movement is via the left analogue stick whilst the right controls the camera - clicking down on the left stick brings up an hybrid fps/behind the shoulder view for better aiming whilst clicking down on the right stick brings up your inventory. Squad commands are issued via the X.Y and B buttons whilst shooting is via the right shoulder button and the left jumps.
the levels are linear to start with but the further into it you get the more options in various strategies you can develop. without going into depth (to keep the spoilers down) the early levels you can run through by yourself but you 'need' to use the squad system to have any chance of succeeding in the later levels
going onto the squad system - whereas in CDS/BF you could control any of your squad members when you wanted in FF you control one character and command the others to do what you want - the commands aren't the biggest list available but this doesnt detract from the gameplay in the least. you earn charisma for successfully completing missions and you use this charisma to recruit squad members - i think you can have a maximum of 12 members of your squad at any time
now onto what is the thing which can kill a game in this genre or lift it up to the highest heights - the AI of both squad and enemies. this is where FF excells, the AI is topnotch. enemies will use cover/covering fire to attack you and try different tactics during firefights (like flanking you etc) .. they will also any moves which are available to you - ie say you use a bin near a window to enter that window (by standing on the bin) and then going through the building to reach a snipers perch then the enemies can do the exact same thing. the squad AI is just as good with your squad members using cover well, and firing any gun emplacements etc that they might come across
sadly the multiplayer game is lacking - there is zero co-op mode available (the MP game is a strictly deathmatch type situation)
any questions then don't fail to ask
camps
Squad based games are something which i love - starting from Aliens on my old Amstrad, through to Dungeon Master then Hired Guns on my Amiga, Rainbow 6 and its sequels on the PC and finally onto the green box with the delightful Conflict Desert Storm and the not so delightful Brute Force .... even the worst examples of the genre have given me hours of entertainment. So to say i was looking forward to sampling what IO Interactive (who just so happen to be the developers of one of my fav nextgen games - Hitman 2) could do with the genre is putting it lightly.
FF starts with a cinematic opening which sets the tone perfectly (note to the pedantic fans out there - the opening few frames reminds me of the opening frames to MGS where Snake is swimming towards the Island where the nuclear base is, except instead of cutting away to a swimming Snake it cuts away to a few Soviet nuclear submarines). the basic premise of the storyline is that the Soviets managed to beat the US to developing the Atom bomb - and they dropped it on Berlin to finish the 2nd World War. Since then the Soviets have been in the ascendency with them claiming control of most of the globe including S.America (this is told to you during the opening cinematic).
The game 'proper' starts with you being in a truck going that famous bridge (dunno the name of it but seen it in countless movies) towards Manhanten. You are a plumber and you are going to a callout job with your mate. On getting to the apartment were you have been called to fix the pipes you notice that the door is slightly ajar - so you head into the bathroom to start the work. Suddenly a group of Soviet soldiers burst through the door looking for the resident of the apartment who just so happens to be a spokeswoman for an anti-Soviet group - they arrest your mate without knowing that you are in the bathroom ...... you take control of the character as soon as this happens and you need to escape from the apartment
sorry to post spoilers in the above paragraph, but its the only way to build the scene for those who have let FF slip past their radar
the graphics are similar to Hitman 2's in terms of character models and enviroments ... though i would say that FF has a superior feel to it in that the engine runs a lot more smoothly than it did before (i think both games are using IO's Glacier engine) - there are some good ragdoll physics being thrown around when you kill enemies or are yourself killed.
Controls are easy to pick up - movement is via the left analogue stick whilst the right controls the camera - clicking down on the left stick brings up an hybrid fps/behind the shoulder view for better aiming whilst clicking down on the right stick brings up your inventory. Squad commands are issued via the X.Y and B buttons whilst shooting is via the right shoulder button and the left jumps.
the levels are linear to start with but the further into it you get the more options in various strategies you can develop. without going into depth (to keep the spoilers down) the early levels you can run through by yourself but you 'need' to use the squad system to have any chance of succeeding in the later levels
going onto the squad system - whereas in CDS/BF you could control any of your squad members when you wanted in FF you control one character and command the others to do what you want - the commands aren't the biggest list available but this doesnt detract from the gameplay in the least. you earn charisma for successfully completing missions and you use this charisma to recruit squad members - i think you can have a maximum of 12 members of your squad at any time
now onto what is the thing which can kill a game in this genre or lift it up to the highest heights - the AI of both squad and enemies. this is where FF excells, the AI is topnotch. enemies will use cover/covering fire to attack you and try different tactics during firefights (like flanking you etc) .. they will also any moves which are available to you - ie say you use a bin near a window to enter that window (by standing on the bin) and then going through the building to reach a snipers perch then the enemies can do the exact same thing. the squad AI is just as good with your squad members using cover well, and firing any gun emplacements etc that they might come across
sadly the multiplayer game is lacking - there is zero co-op mode available (the MP game is a strictly deathmatch type situation)
any questions then don't fail to ask
camps
Less trial and error, more skill.
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