“Conflict: Wasted Opportunity”

by dkpatriach

©2008 David Hilton

   I love shooters. It’s just that there are so many of them on the 360. This means that I’ve been there done that so many times that even Call of Duty 4 doesn’t seem that innovative. And Conflict: Denied Ops is no Call of Duty 4. Far from it. Still, it is very easy to compare all shooters to COD4 and dismiss any that aren’t as exciting or have the same production values.

So it becomes a case of “Why bother compete with COD4s” or “Let’s cash in on gamers’ love of the genre”. Well most publishers go with the latter, and Conflict is one of those titles. Still, it does redeem itself in some areas.

The Conflict games used to be about ‘squad’ and the change from third person to first person with this game has changed the emphasis from team to two. Yes, two of the most annoyingly unlikable protagonists since Kane & Lynch, with one constantly spouting on about his “black ass” and ending every sentence (or sentence fragment) with “bro”. “You gonna drive a bus bro?” Who is this guy trying to be? Tubbs?

Click any image to view full size:

Then you have the gung-ho swearing and army speak that has been one of my pet peeves for eons now; things like: “It’s not the blood on your hands, it’s the gravel in your guts”. Wow, with words of wisdom like that, I feel inspired….inspired to heave the contents of my stomach onto the carpet. So dialogue isn’t a strong part of the game….

Next you have the bane of all shooters, the lack of cohesive story…or any story at all. This one is about…a renegade South American General….and bombs and terrorists. Something like that…yadda yadda; I tuned out. So story isn’t a strong part of the game…

What about the production values of the game? Is it fun? A mixed bag really. Some of the graphics and sound is quite good, but some of it is horrible. For example, the main score is adequately thematic for a shooter but the guns just sound weak. There is a higher degree of destructible environment in this game than many shooters, which is great to see.

The variety of locations is quite good too and the vehicle sections add some variety, but the lighting is strange. On half the missions, like with the castle, it is so dark that you end up using those horrible night vision goggles these games insist on having, making you play the level with a green filter covering any graphical work they may have done. What a waste!

Then you have some levels, like the South American terrorist camp, that feel like you are staring into the sun and can actually give you a headache. Well it did to me. The blurring effects when you reload are equally nausea-inducing and one of those ‘why do that?’ aspects to the game.

The explosions look good and even though it is a bit old school to have exploding barrels and gas tanks everywhere clearly painted in red, they do provide some cool fireworks and blow up a few enemies you’d rather not spend the time shooting. Because if you play as the white ‘trailer-trash redneck’ sniper you’d rather not shoot. It takes three shots for each baddie, unless you get a head shot. Exactly three shots with the sniper gun, be it in the arm, the leg, the groin, or the chest. Equally strange are the theatrical ways enemies often fly through the air when killed.

The game is still linear, despite a few alternate ways of getting to some places, which is pretty standard for shooters. There isn’t really a rise in tempo as there are not many set pieces and those that do occur are cut scenes which pull you out of the game too much to build any tension. The save points are usually, though not always, at good points and the levels are a fairly good length without too much repetition of environment to stretch game time.

The main selling point of the game is that it has co-op. In single player you can take control of either character simply by pressing a button, much like the recent Jericho or the old Xbox game Burte Force. Each character has different weapons; you basically have a sniper/ shotgun character and a machine gun/ rocket launcher one. This is a great idea and allows you to change depeding on the circumstances, but isn’t as fun as playing with someone human.

The second player can even join in your next mission instead of a separate co-op game having to be started. I am a strong believer that shooters should have co-op in this gaming generation, and this game thankfully has offline co-op as well as the online co-op. It is immensely fun playing split-screen co-op with a partner in the same room and I commend Conflict for having the sense to not forget the non-Live players.

It also has offline multiplayer too as well as online, but the multiplayer is not the meat and bones of this game. Still, nice to see it has done what Halo and COD have and unlike Medal of Honor or Turok, kept split-screen. I don’t see a big following happening on Live for this game, so split-screen means that if you can’t find a game online you can still play it offline.

The problem with the co-op system here is that when you are playing alone, without your human assistant, the friendly AI is so dumb you have to tell him every few seconds to stay with you. Sure, the guy will cover you and shoot some of the enemy effectively when he’s with you, but if you forget to keep ordering him near he’ll stay way back and just sit there. You might as well be the one man army you are in so many other shooter games. Therefore, this game is best played with a friend, and then its value increases.

The controls are not nearly as tight as the COD series, but they are certainly not the worst I’ve played either. The lack of a fast running button caught me off guard as I’ve gotten used to that, but it still feels like you are wading through water sometimes.

Conflict: Denied Ops could have been more than the average shooter it is. In that sense it is a wasted opportunity because having co-op really did work in increasing the fun factor, but only when the second player was human. Diversity of locations, unusually destructive environments, and breaking up the game with integrated vehicle sections is marred by poor lighting choices, dumb AI, horrid protagonists, weak clichéd storyline, and feeble-sounding weapons. This is a game that seems to be pitched at shooter fans needing another quick fix, and so never aimed high, which is a shame.

6/10

©2008 David Hilton

Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Xbox 360 Game Reviews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | "360 conflict denied ops", "360 denied ops", "conflict denied ops review", "Conflict Denied Ops", "xbox 360 reviews", "xbox denied ops", edios, xbox360