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Hidden and Dangerous 2 The forgotten WW2 shooter of 2003, the OG Call of Duty is the remembered one. However this is the game that I can keep coming back to. Developed by Illusion Softworks (now 2k Czech) of Mafia fame, HD2 is a Special Air Service WW2 squad combat simulator with RPG elements and vehicles. There is no game quite like it and while its execution and design choices are questionable at times the sum of its parts make up for a memorable experience.  fig1. An unwilling participant in dress up It is kind of hard to describe a close analogue to this game. Think old Rainbow 6 with vehicles with elements of Sniper Elite and you are sort of there. The single player game is divided into various small campaigns throughout WW2 where at the beginning of each campaign you pick 4 soldiers and the equipment they have to carry with them. Choosing the right soldier is important since the RPG elements determine if they are a good shot, proficient with first aid or just really strong. If you continue to use the soldiers they get better over the course of the game, so do other soldiers you don't use although more slowly. More importantly if they die they won't be coming back. It has a detailed inventory too, guns have weight and take up equipment slots. Bullets ricochet off walls, guns handle like rear end as the did in WW2, ADS, mouse wheel to control movement speed, verbal communication limited by range, really cool briefings, non-linear level design, castles with Nazi gold, etc. This is for a game released in 2003. There is a mission at an African airport where you have to escape by plane with a prisoner you have to capture that shows how good this game can get when firing on all cylinders. Your squad arrives and manages to slip in undetected since 2 of them were wearing enemy uniforms (yes you can dress up in Nazi uniforms and do subterfuge). Do you send the 2 men around and quietly dispatch the base? You start in the armoury so you could just get some good equipment and blast your way through. There is a tank nearby in the motor pool that you can steal but there are other tanks that are manned there. Maybe you could use one of your disguised men to plant a clam bomb on a manned tank and have your uniformed men steal the tank after the bomb explodes?  fig2. Next mission swapping some gear and still rocking the same outfit If you played the original game you might get some Deja Vu when you place magnetic mines on the Tirpitz and climb aboard the minesweeper in the same Fjord to steal the enigma machine. Or running though a village that doesn't have the same wow factor as the original game's Prague level. The original shipped with co-op play but you need to get the expansion for co-op play in the sequel in one of the most bizarre decisions by a video game developer ever. The RPG element in the game wasn't really implemented right either. Someone who has an 80% shooting ability means they are good with all guns in the game, not just a rifle that includes bazookas, MP40s and tank destroyer cannons. Some RPG elements are hardly used like lockpicking and the stealth stat detmines how quiet you are AND how long you can be in front of a Kraut before he realises that you are an enemy. The interface is rough to use, opening a door requires a minimum of 2 button presses is one common example and closing the same door will use a second different button. The original was notoriously buggy on release, this was less so but the issues have been patched out. AI is only so-so. These sound like major problems but when a game manages to have so much scope (mini submarines, De Lisle Carbine, Burma missions) and depth for a WW2 shooter (it does feel like a WW2 game with how the guns and vehicles behave), you don't really care. Fortunately if you are interested in the game it is available on Steam and GOG for a pittance with its expansion pack included. If you do play it check for a widescreen fix and make sure you set Anisotropic filtering in your drivers to 16X to make the textures look their best. You can get the action pack for 2 dollars more an it will include the original with its expansion but it might be too much of a turn off for most people even though it did a few things better than its sequel. A Let's Play from 2010 is not in the archive site anymore and I had to do some digging. Regrettably the videos are taken down but this artwork remembering one of the funniest bugs (and reactions) to ever happen in a Let's Play survives with it's photobucket watermark.  fig3. Larrrrrrrrrrrrry??????
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Nov 28, 2021 03:05
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 20:51 |
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