I picked up Novalogic's Black Hawk Down last Saturday and meant to put up a review on Sunday... but I've been too busy playing it to sign off and tell you guys that it's every bit as awesome as I had hoped it'd be. Strap in, kiddies, here we go:
Overview:
This game is set in Somalia during the same time period of the movie "Black Hawk Down." It's a port of a precision shooter that came out on the computer in 2003. I am going to let you know right now, I don't even know how to start a campaign on this one. I just hopped right online and haven't signed off until now to write this lame review. It's a class based game similar to Return to Castle Wolfenstein where you can either select a medic, gunner, sniper, or CQB specialist (close quarters combat). Each has their strenghts and weaknesses, and they all contribute to a well ballanced team. A team with too many medics won't have the firepower to handle a swarm of gunners with m60s, but a team of snipers won't be able to handle the rush of a platoon of CQBs. Finding what you're good at and a good ballance of classes among your friends is key to victory.
Every class is equiped with a primary weapon, a knife, frag grenades, flash/smoke grenades, a pistol, and binoculars. I've never used binoculars in any game I've ever played until BHD. The levels are so huge and the streets are so long that you really need to use them to watch for enemies in the distance. Even snipers could use someone on the binoculars to spot for them. Ever level is simply massive with endless alleys and rooftops. Death can come from ANYWHERE and it does frequently.
Graphics:
Mediocre. They are plain and simple, but the game makes up for it with pure scale. At any time you could pick a direction and walk for a mile out into the desert. If you're looking for a graphically stunning game, this isn't it. The textures are very basic. It looks like a slightly upgraded port of a game from 2003... wait? Yeah. This is a slightly upgraded port of a game from 2003. I've never been one to base my enjoyment of a game on graphics, and even though these graphics are simple, I'm still impressed by the complexity and size of every map. It really is a unique online experience even with the slightly dated graphics.
Sound:
This game does not support 5.1 surround sound, so you guys who listen for enemies coming from behind you, you're out of luck. For the rest of us with basic sound setups, the sound is great. The sound of sniper bullets hitting the ground at your feet while you're running accross the street to heal a downed teammate are amazing. Very realistic sound to all weapons, all bullets, everything. If someone shoots from far enough away you won't hear the shot, but you'll hear the bullet wizz by and hit the dirt. The ambiant sounds are simple, but they add to the feel of being in a war beaten African town. My favorite is the sound of flys circling around barrels and doorways.
Basically, when the combat zone is hot, it's going to sound hot. You're not going to be able to escape the sounds of war, and that's how it should be. Every battlefield sounds like a battlefield. The best part of it? The sounds that make you feel like you're in the middle of an intense battle are all caused by other players. There are no ambiant war sounds. When nobody's fighting, it's quiet, and even more scary.
Online Gameplay:
Here's where BHD strikes Xbox gold. The gameplay online is as intense and immersive as you could ever wish a game to be. From the moment you engage the enemy until the round is over you are going to be on the edge of your seat. I play as a medic, and I can't tell you another situation as insanely intense as watching someone get cut down by a sniper in the middle of an open street who is calling for your help. You call for covering fire, you're gunner opens fire, and you dash accross the street as hard as you can, heal your buddy, and try to get back behind cover while bullets are ripping by you by the dozens. There are many times where you'll find yourself organizing strikes on PSPs (Player Spawn Points) that will invlove 20 of your men againt 20 of theirs.
I spend the majority of my time playing straight Team Deathmatch, but there are other gametypes like King of the Hill, CTF, Flag Ball (one flag CTF), Attack and Defend, and Search and Destroy. All of which bring even more intensity to the playing field. I'll write more on these gametypes as I have more experience, but from the little I've played each they are all a great time.
Online negatives:
I've heard endless lines of people telling me they aren't getting this game for 2 reasons: "I heard the game is laggy with 50 people." It's not. I've played in multiple 50 player rooms that ran like silk. At first Novalogic had problems with their servers, but every day they are doing a better job. By the time you read this there will be a few more 50 player servers that run perfectly. The problem with laggy servers is that if you lose connection for a split second you get a message accross your screen telling you, "This session is no longer available (20)" that goes away after a few seconds, but while it's there it's blocking your line of sight. In servers that are so/so you are going to see that every so often, but the game will otherwize run fine.
The other is "I heard you can't drive the vehicals. Being on a vehical that drives itself is so gay." Well, they do drive themselves, but this gives you benefits that can't be understated. Not only do you get the benefit of having a hellicopter with chainguns that will cut any bad guy to shreds before he even knows you're there and humvees with 50cals mounted on them that will roll into town and change the direction of a battle, but you DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT PEOPLE TAKING ALL THE VEHICALS AND SPAWN CAMPING THE HELL OUT OF YOU!!!! The fact that the vehicals are not able to be used to defend positions or attack as a group is amazing. It gives you all the upside of having them, but none of the annoying downside [see halo 2 when one team has both wraith tanks on waterworks, both banshees on coagulation, the banshee (and rockets) on assention, etc]. This feature brings ballance to something that could be awful. I've played games like Battlefield Veitnam where you could pilot any vehical and the only reason that those games didn't become awful was because flying those vehicals was so difficult that not many people could do it effectively. Not only that, but there were so many vehicals, and fixed anti air/armor guns all over the place that there was no way you were going to come out alive for long no matter how good a pilot you were. The Xbox just doesn't have the server power to host games with that many moving parts yet, so you're looking at a game with very few vehicals and a very strong possiblilty that they will become a great annoyance.
There are really only two things that I find dissapointing in this game. The first is that it takes a long time to find a good game. When you optimatch, you will see endless servers with 35/50 12/32, etc that have plenty of room for you to join, but when you click on it, it trys to load for 30 seconds and tells you the game is no longer available. Then you search again, and the server is still there and not full. I still have no clue what that's all about, and Novalogic doesn't run a site like www.rainbowsix3.com where there is a forum to ask questions, so it's going to be a while before I have answers. The worst part about this problem is if you have 6 people that you are playing with, and all of you try to get into the same game, 4 of you will get in, and 2 won't be able to connect. That has been happening less and less this week, but it sucks when it does.
On a side note, you can't switch teams between rounds, and there is no pregame lobbey, so if you want to play together with friends you have to decide before hand which team you are going to join and set your preferences to either red or blue at the get go. Not a huge deal. Only problem with that (and it's not much of a problem if you think about it) is that you can't stack one team with more than 3 extra players. So if there is a room that's only got 10 people in it and it's 5 red/5 blue and you bring in 6 people that all want to join red, one or two are going to join blue. It stops games from being stacked, and it's easy to fix. Once the other team gets a player or two, drop, and come back red. With the lack of a pregame lobbey, that's how it has to be.
The only other problem I have is the gunners/CQBs. Nothing is more frustrating than being in a fire fight down a street where you are hiding behind a wall and having someone lay down a grenade from a grenade launcher or fireing an AT4 (shoulder launched light anti armor rocket) at your feet blowing you to bits. When grenade launchers are on (and I don't put them on in my rooms) you always have to be on your toes for people that can blow you up around corners. The reason I don't like them is because normal frag grenades are time delayed, but launchers explode on contact, so you have absolutely no chance of escaping if someone fires a grenade instead of throwing them.
That problem is solveable. The thing I really can't stand is the acuracy of the heavy guns. For anyone who played rainbow six 3, you know that an M60 isn't going to be your best bet if you are going to be engaging the enemy at long range. In BHD you can take an M60 out, lay in the middle of a road, and start spraying. You will hit EVERYTHING that gets near your crosshairs. I've only encountered it a few times, but if you have a handful of smart gunners they can effectively cover all usefull exits from your spawn by spraying like maniacs and cutting everyone to pieces before they even realize where you are. Friends of mine have been learning ways to out shoot and out manuver these spray and pray gunners, but I'm still at a point where I'm a sitting duck. I don't know what they were thinking with this bit of the game, but I am getting the feeling now that it's going to level out once we medics become better shots. As I said, one of my friends has no problem wasting those fools before they get him, but I haven't figured it out yet.
The Short of it All:
Pros:
-Intense and immersive battles that never let you take a breath.
-Vast and complicated levels that force you to work as a team
-A class system that MUST be ballanced to win.
-Massive games with up to 50 players in a Novalogic server or 32 in a player hosed game
-Multiple gametypes that all have a strong following
-GREAT hit detection. NO HITBOX PROBLEMS WHAT SO EVER
-Great online community. The people that runied Halo 2 don't like games like this.
-Teamwork is necessary and fun. You will find yourself saying things like, "I'm engaging the enemy 2 clicks due west of alpha." "SOMEONE GET A ROCKET ON THAT HEELO!" "MEDIC!!!" "WE'RE TAKING FIRE AT E4! ALL NEARBY ENGAGE THE ENEMY!"
-Can't understate the immersion. You will feel like you're really fighting.
-NUMBER 1 REASON TO PLAY - The annoying kids who ruined Halo 2 have read the lousy reviews this game has received and are "waiting for battlefield 2" You WILL find rooms of mature adults who are level headed team players every night. I've added more friends in the past week than I did in the past few months playing halo 2.
Cons:
-Not graphicly stunning
-No ragdoll physics
-time consuming to find or fill a room
-Some Novalogic servers still aren't up to par
-You can hear everyone nearby if they don't hold down the white button. Be ready to mute.
-gunners should not equal snipers with 400 round clips and RPGs
-"This game is no longer available (20)"
-"This game session is no longer available"
-NUMBER 1 REASON NOT TO PLAY - This game is a port of a precision shooter from 2003. If you are looking for something with graphics and physics that are going to blow you away, this isn't for you. It's time consuming and very involved to play. If you are looking for a quick fix, go to halo 2.
Final Thoughts:
I love this game. I've been looking for a game that catered to what my friends and I love since rainbow six 3 was killed by that horrible garbage called Black Arrow. I've always said that the next great strategy based simulation shooter would come from a company I've never heard of. In comes Novalogic. I have allready put together a team, and we are going to begin competeing as soon as we get enough guys online at once. It's looking like next week is when we start using the in-game system. I'll be sure to come back and let you all know how that works out.
This game is exactly what you're looking for if you are 21+ and you loved rainbow six 3 and have been waiting for another game to come out that has the same feel. It's also great if you loved RTCW or Ghost Recon. If I had to say exactly what this game is, it's a blend of r6, RTCW, and Ghost Recon.
Buy this game. You will not be dissapointed unless you believe halo 2 is the greatest game ever.
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