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BARKING DOG FIRST CAUGHT the attention of the Gameplanet team with their release of Homeworld : Cataclysm. Since then, their games have been frequently clever and innovative, while adding new twists to an already established game mechanic - if perhaps a little flawed in execution. 'Global Operations' continues this trend and shows that while Barking Dog was doing the polish and refinement work on CounterStrike for Beta 5 release, they were clearly studying the game and wanted to address some of it's shortcomings. The end result is a game that is an awful lot of fun but needs further polishing in its execution - something they seem to be doing with notes they are providing on what the next patch will do.
Dams just need to be destroyed, y'know.
So what is 'Global Operations'? Simply put you are a member of a specialised elite squad of soldiers given a variety of objectives to complete ranging from defending installations from bomb attacks or straight out assaults, assassinating people, escorting VIPs to secure locations, rescuing hostages and generally looking funky in body armour with high calibre weapons. Sounds kinda familar doesn't it?
Briefings tend to be descriptive
but not wildly detailed about the mission.
Where counterstrike creates you as a general soldier who specialises by the choice of weapon they carry 'Global Operations' draws from the Team Fortress mold and has classes of specialist that you chose before spawning which affect what type of weapon you are best with, how fast you move and any special abilities you have.
Picking your specialty or class.
The classes are :-
Commando - Mr Personality himself who tends to favour assault rifles but can carry single shot heavy weapons like LAWs (Light Anti-tank Weapon or bazooka by another name).
Demoman - your high explosives expert who uses a grenade launcher by preference, with shotguns as a secondary weapon. Fastest at deploying or defusing a bomb pack. Loves grenades too.
Medics frequently require doses of hard drugs
to deal with the horror of their role...
Medic - a cornucopia of pharmaceuticals on the go who can keep troopers standing and actually revive the freshly fallen so that they can continue fighting. Troopers who have bled to death or suffered too much damage can't be revived. You can also heal yourself as well as other teammates. Neatly the game introduces the concept of bloodloss, as you lie on the ground groaning you bleed slowly to death. The longer you have been bleeding the less the medic can heal you which stops the medic from continually reviving fully healthy teammates.
Sniper - reaches out and touches people at range with high calibre weapons. Fastest and steadiest aim of all the classes through rifles but is lightly armoured so can be killed in close combat quickly. Moves fast though.
Heavy Weapons Gunner - maniac with lots of body armour and a penchant for machine guns and squad automatic weapons. Can lay down a lot of suppressing fire but isn't wildly accurate at range and is slow moving.
Recon - Fast moving and lightly armoured unit who favours sub-machine guns. Isn't wildly good at frontal assault but thanks to his Life Sign Detector he can aid an assault immensely. The sensor, when active, will for a time reveal the location of enemies to all teammates within close range of the Recon. This means no more hiding behind walls, in dark spots and the like with impunity. Indeed because some walls are permeable, Recons often let enemies be shot without the friendly teammates leaving cover or exposing themselves to fire. Fortunately the detector requires power to run so can only be active for about twenty seconds at a stretch and then requires about twenty seconds to recharge. Of course while the detector is out the Recon can't fire themselves...
Intelligence Officer - perhaps the most unusual specialty in the game. The Officer never particpates directly in the gameworld. Instead they have the ability to watch the spectator map constantly along with camera views both from fixed cameras on the map and from friendly troopers. They issue orders and can generally co-ordinate the match. Teammates can aid the officer by 'securing' cameras to their side as they progress through the map. The more cameras your team controls, the less information the opposing intelligence officer has to work with.
Time to choose your equipment, each slice of the 'pie' is a distinct slot
that some form of equipment can be placed in. |
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