CRASH
06-22-2003, 10:40 AM
Per Festers request ...
Alrighty then ... up at Dusty's this weekend for a mini LAN meet inbetween our regular blowout meets we have at my house ... Dusty needed to run down to the store to pick up IL-2 Forgotten Battles so we could give that a go ... and I saw Battlefield 1942 sitting there ... great $50 bucks - STILL ... I sure hope Fester was right. :rolleyes:
At our LAN meets we usually fly (DUH!) but we like to get in something to break up the weekend. We use Operation Flashpoint, a game based in 1985 that has many of the same features as BF1942 - the ability to drive various vehicles, pick up weapons, reload, realistic damage, limited healing ability etc.. OFP in most of the combat sim world is considered the benchmark. All that being said, let me compare and tell yall what I think.
BF1942 just plain ROCKED! Solid game play ... we got three of us in with one copy (now that we know we like it ... the others will go buy a copy). MP interface was pretty simple, powerful with plenty of settings and complete.
Graphics in BF1942 are far better than OFP. Would put them on par sort of with the latest Rogue Spear series offerings. Running full tilt at 16X12 ... just gorgeous.
Controls are pretty easy and laid out well ... there are a few things we need to figure out still (like getting out of an LST for one).
Flight models ... suck. Driving models ... suck. But to be fair .. so do the ones in OFP and the Red Storm/Ubi Clancey offerings don't even have these feaures. I could not locate quickly the option to use my joystick over my mouse ... that could have helped me some ... but that really is not the focus here. The ability to use this equpment in a battle for strategic purposes adds a solid and now necessary dimension
Maps ... here is where OFP really shines above everything. The maps in OFP are so huge ... you will more than likely never run off the edge ... if you can even find it. The Clancey games maps are tiny (never forget Ghost Recon and wondering why I had a sniper rifle that could shoot three times as far as the map was wide). The maps in BF1942 are not that small, but really could stand to be bigger ... flew several planes out of range and could not get back in time and was executed. Of all the things I saw ... this was probably my biggest gripe. Also the world of OFP is persistent if you want it to be ... this does not look possible in BF 1942 ... however this is not really a problem since most OFP missions have a purpose and once you complete them, you are done anyway. A positive is that you are put close enough to the action to start that you are not wasting time stealing (sorry, Dusty corrected me ... APPROPRIATING) a truck and driving half way across an island to the target area. But then you also don't get the latitude and freedom for strategy because of that either.
I always heard the AI was terrible in BF1942... disagree, they seem to have more sense than most real people I know. The city fighting and scurrying through streets avoiding tanks and rocket launchers was intense. Speaking of intense ... this game is much more intense than OFP or pretty much anything else I have played. Also like the fact that the sniper rifles are not magic insta killers and that you gotta really take your time to aim.
3rd party add ons ... looks like both games have quite a selection (I need the site with the best selection of 1942 stuff guys) and I plan to loook at this more as well. Also saw that there is a Battlefield Vietnam in the making ... very cool.
So in a nut shell ... Fester ... maybe I owe you the beer ... this will probably take the place of OFP for us at our LAN meets. Once I get back from vacation next week I may try and get on a server with you guys and see how it works (bad news on the LAN/Internet compatability - hope they fix it). This game got a pretty bad rap when it released in the combat circles mostly due to severe bugs ... I think that patched up, it is a pretty cool game.
Alrighty then ... up at Dusty's this weekend for a mini LAN meet inbetween our regular blowout meets we have at my house ... Dusty needed to run down to the store to pick up IL-2 Forgotten Battles so we could give that a go ... and I saw Battlefield 1942 sitting there ... great $50 bucks - STILL ... I sure hope Fester was right. :rolleyes:
At our LAN meets we usually fly (DUH!) but we like to get in something to break up the weekend. We use Operation Flashpoint, a game based in 1985 that has many of the same features as BF1942 - the ability to drive various vehicles, pick up weapons, reload, realistic damage, limited healing ability etc.. OFP in most of the combat sim world is considered the benchmark. All that being said, let me compare and tell yall what I think.
BF1942 just plain ROCKED! Solid game play ... we got three of us in with one copy (now that we know we like it ... the others will go buy a copy). MP interface was pretty simple, powerful with plenty of settings and complete.
Graphics in BF1942 are far better than OFP. Would put them on par sort of with the latest Rogue Spear series offerings. Running full tilt at 16X12 ... just gorgeous.
Controls are pretty easy and laid out well ... there are a few things we need to figure out still (like getting out of an LST for one).
Flight models ... suck. Driving models ... suck. But to be fair .. so do the ones in OFP and the Red Storm/Ubi Clancey offerings don't even have these feaures. I could not locate quickly the option to use my joystick over my mouse ... that could have helped me some ... but that really is not the focus here. The ability to use this equpment in a battle for strategic purposes adds a solid and now necessary dimension
Maps ... here is where OFP really shines above everything. The maps in OFP are so huge ... you will more than likely never run off the edge ... if you can even find it. The Clancey games maps are tiny (never forget Ghost Recon and wondering why I had a sniper rifle that could shoot three times as far as the map was wide). The maps in BF1942 are not that small, but really could stand to be bigger ... flew several planes out of range and could not get back in time and was executed. Of all the things I saw ... this was probably my biggest gripe. Also the world of OFP is persistent if you want it to be ... this does not look possible in BF 1942 ... however this is not really a problem since most OFP missions have a purpose and once you complete them, you are done anyway. A positive is that you are put close enough to the action to start that you are not wasting time stealing (sorry, Dusty corrected me ... APPROPRIATING) a truck and driving half way across an island to the target area. But then you also don't get the latitude and freedom for strategy because of that either.
I always heard the AI was terrible in BF1942... disagree, they seem to have more sense than most real people I know. The city fighting and scurrying through streets avoiding tanks and rocket launchers was intense. Speaking of intense ... this game is much more intense than OFP or pretty much anything else I have played. Also like the fact that the sniper rifles are not magic insta killers and that you gotta really take your time to aim.
3rd party add ons ... looks like both games have quite a selection (I need the site with the best selection of 1942 stuff guys) and I plan to loook at this more as well. Also saw that there is a Battlefield Vietnam in the making ... very cool.
So in a nut shell ... Fester ... maybe I owe you the beer ... this will probably take the place of OFP for us at our LAN meets. Once I get back from vacation next week I may try and get on a server with you guys and see how it works (bad news on the LAN/Internet compatability - hope they fix it). This game got a pretty bad rap when it released in the combat circles mostly due to severe bugs ... I think that patched up, it is a pretty cool game.