The commando, a favorite unit among Command & Conquer players, is the star of this action game that puts gamers in the boots of the tough foot soldier. The commando has the sniper rifle and C4 explosive he used in the first Command & Conquer, plus a selection of typical weapons like the pistol, M-16 assault rifle, and M-203 grenade launcher. He'll also be able to pick up new weapons like a Tiberium gun and drive a variety of vehicles. First and third person perspectives are supported, along with full 3D graphics and multiplayer.

Word is that the game's engine can compete with Halo, so that's a plus too.. Gotta admit, the screen shots do look rather good.

Spec Ops 2 ex-pack news [15:45:40 EDT] by - Rush
Bill from Zombie made a post today in the SpecOps2.com forums regarding the status of the ex-pack and the SO2 patch. Here's the goods:

Just a quick note. Almost done with the expansion pack and it will be available as a free download. It has pretty much taken the place of the patch that everyone has been waiting for. We ended up making enough changes that this made the most sense. Most likely it will be released in episodes, the exes and main resources in one chunk and then individual map releases after that. I am almost there, I swear!

Thanks,

Bill Wright
SpecOps Programmer
Tech Director
Zombie Games

So there ya go.. The ex-pack will be released as a free download. I've been beta testing the ex-pack for awhile now, and there are some good fixes in there. Plus the ex-pack contains 25 new missions in 5 new areas.. I think you'll like it. Playing the new maps in multiplayer will be a blast!

Thanks Travis for the heads up!

Ever since DeltaForce1 was released I was hoping that NovaLogic would release and editor for the 3Di file (the file containing textures and 3D Mesh data for polygon based objects in DF1/DF2). However realizing how bad (non-existence) NovaLogic's support for 3rd party modifications for their games is, I hoped somebody (not me) would make a program that would allow the editing of those polygon based objects. Well I stopped hopping for that now too. Instead I made my own, even though I am not very good when it comes to 3D stuff. But the program I made (3DiView Beta v0.7) does allow you right now to Export/Import/View textures inside the 3Di files and it allows you to Export/View the 3D Mesh (the import function will soon follow).

For example you can use it to make your own Skins for any DF1/DF2 object.

Anyway, I realize that instead of whining I should have made this program a long time ago.

Here is the download link: http://www.df2hq.com/fworaven/3DiView.zip

Sounds like just the ticket to spruce up those Delta Force mods..

H&D Action Pack review [01:28:13 EDT] by - Rush
We seem to be getting a lot of these lately, and so Game Zone Online has put up a review of Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack, which we know is the original Hidden & Dangerous bundled together with the Devil's Bridge expansion pack. Here's a snip on the missions:

Most missions require that you neutralize key enemy guards or towers through the use of a well-placed sniper shot before you and your team can continue safely. The teams AI is quite nice as they take care of themselves pretty well while you are using another member for your first person. They can detect, see and kill the enemy without you having to watch every single move. Each squad member has their own strengths and weaknesses so use them to the best of their ability. This is going to be a bit difficult at first for the first-shooter type player; but after trial and error, you are sure to get the hang of it before too long.

The game's sound is great!! Tunnel echos, your brass shells hitting wood and stone, rats, artillery, helicopters, Vietnamese language. It's a hoot! The shell casings are one of my favorite reasons to play - they fall everywhere! Rain falls on you in staccato bursts, cave walls and roofs leak. Firefights rise and fade in the background... Did I mention it's fun?

It seems the word that gets used to describe this title most is 'fun', so ya can't go wrong with that. Check out the full article, which can also be found in the articles section ('natch!)

This squad-based war sim was touted as one of most exceptional PC titles of last year, and is heading to Dreamcast with all guns cocked and loaded. Console owners can expect all the missions from the PC version, as well as a completely bug-free experience. The PC outing was notorious for glitches, but gamers and the vast majority of the gaming press over-looked the holes in the code due to the supremely addictive gameplay.

Differences between the two versions also include save points. On PC you could record your progress wherever you felt the need. Not so on Dreamcast, where save points will be provided, probably making this the toughest Dreamcast game on the market.

The Dreamcast keyboard will be supported, but the mouse is left out in the cold. Watch for a release at the end of July.

Gotta admit, the shots look very faithful to the original PC version of H&D.

Temporary Tango mod for DF2? [15:45:25 EDT] by - Rush
I saw over at Delta-Force2.com that someone is working on a 'Temporary Tango' mod for DF2, where you again get to play as the terrorist instead of the good guy. Here's the skinny:

This new mod allows you to play as the tango, with the terrorist weapons (ak47, ak74, ak103, aku-94, m-16, non silenced mp5) against the spetsnaz and delta troops. The mod will also include new weapon sounds.

Not much info is available, but there's also a 'temporary' site up for the mod as well. Release date is planned for later this month.

Rainbow 6 DC review [14:19:50 EDT] by - Rush
Gamecenter has posted a review of the Dreamcast version of Rainbow 6, where they give it an appropriate score of 6 out of 10. Here's a gander:

Thankfully, you're not required to complete the training bits and can skip right into the game. Developer Pipe Dream has found a way to stuff the original Rainbow Six missions and the Eagle Watch mission pack into this disc. Assignments will take your team from the depths of the jungle to indoor environments, packed with close-quarters confrontations. Defusing bombs, rescuing hostages, and eradicating threats are among the more mundane tasks presented. A word of advice to rookie operatives: bring lots of ammo.

Good stuff, check out the rest..

More sweet IGI shots! [11:11:39 EDT] by - Rush
PC.IGN has posted a few sweet screenshots of Innerloop's upcoming shooter, I'm Going In. 

Looks like Delta Force with a full 3D engine!

Def check 'em out!

Codename Eagle review [08:13:06 EDT] by - Rush
Chris Harding over at Avault has put up a review of Refraction Games' Codename Eagle. Here's a snip on the missions you'll face:

Codename Eagle's missions give 3D action fans a little of everything. The first mission has you infiltrating an enemy base, stealing weapons documents, and sneaking back out undetected. Even if you are undetected on your way in, leaving is an entirely different matter. Once one enemy is aware of your presence, they all are, and they will pursue you relentlessly. Each of the twelve missions has at least two objectives to complete, but most have three, and some as many as five. The weapons you have at your disposal to accomplish these missions and objectives are many and varied. You can use bazookas, dynamite, machine guns, knives, grenades, and flamethrowers to name a few. Some of the missions will require you to travel; as such you have the ability to pilot boats, drive trucks and tanks, ride motorcycles, and fly planes.

UO review [01:00:48 EDT] by - Rush
GamingAge has posted a review of RedStorm's mission pack for Rogue Spear, Urban Operations. Here's a snip on the game's tactics:

It’s this type of variety in mission tactics that makes Urban Ops’ campaign such a worthwhile one. One of my gripes with the original R6 was that a lot of the missions seemed to play too similar, this was improved in Rogue Spear, and it seems to have been improved even further in this expansion.

Thanks BluesNews.

Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack review [00:52:22 EDT] by - Rush
3dfxgamers.com has posted a review of IllusionSoft's Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack, the compilation of the original H&D plus the Devil's Bridge add-on. Here's how they sum it up:

Overall, I thought this game was excellent. There are a few bugs here and there, but the game was so fun and incredibly addictive, that the bugs were easily disregarded. This game looks great and its missions are exciting, unique, and complicated. Hidden & Dangerous is an extremely convincing World War II tactical combat simulation. It is also an immensely satisfying experience during those rare times that you successfully coordinate your men to achieve one of the game's diverse objectives. Ultimately, if its premise appeals to you, then Hidden & Dangerous is worth all the effort it takes to play.

I heartily agree!

Although I do support many of the fixes, the more I see Redstorm messing with their original game code to make gameplay enhancements, the more I wince. No game can be perfect, and players will always have some problems with the features. I believe Redstorm's developers may be on that slippery slope of trying to make things right or nearly perfect with its product. When do all the gameplay fixes become too much?

Some of the fixes are toggles, so it's not such a big deal really..

NATO3 MOD review [22:03:50 EDT] by - Rush
CombatSim has posted a review of the NATO3 mod for Rogue Spear, written by Pie4Foo. Great article; here's a snip:

As mentioned above, the addition of these new weapons (along with three new ammo types) translates to some new tactics and gameplay strategies. For one, if a player picks up a Glock 18C, he is essentially packing another primary weapon. And in general, anytime a mod adds new weapons, its bound to affect the gameplay balance so carefully examined by the original developers. But it is here that ARMM really outdid itself. Not only did it spend the time to add only real-world guns to the mod, but it also took a couple of months to test the mod out and work on play-balancing issues, ensuring that the game was still as balanced as the original developers of Rogue Spear had originally intended.

Gotta admit.. NATO3 is my choice for weapons mods for RS/UO..

More MOUT shots/info [20:34:36 EDT] by - Rush
Incite has posted a quickie preview and some screens of MOUT 2025, Zombie's upcoming futuristic shooter. Here's the blurb:

Urban warfare. It's nasty, gritty, and the subject of an upcoming Ripcord game. Set in the near future, MOUT is full of terrorists and their big bad plans to wreck US cities. You're a member of the MOUT force (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) and you've got to stop all this nonsense.

The PC version of the game will host up to 32 players online, and have multiplayer modes like Co-op and Team Competitive. The Dreamcast version will also host multiplay, and both will have real-world cities, exceptional weapons (always necessary in any kind of combat game), and numerous vehicles for air, land, and sea travel. Expect to battle it out across desert, forest, industrial, and urban settings.

Truthfully, I can't be sure what pics these are.. It doesn't LOOK like the LithTech engine, but more like the SO2 engine in an urban setting.. Great-looking shots tho!

IGI shots/info [01:07:31 EDT] by - Rush
GameSpot has posted some info and 25 killer new shots from Innerloop's game, I'm Going In. Here's the goods:

Unlike other games in the genre, I'm Going In stresses the importance of covert action and stealth over the all-out use of firepower.

I'm Going In places you in the shoes of Jones, a special operative who's been inserted in Eastern Europe to track down a Russian colonel who has gone mad. The game is mission-based, and each level will call upon Jones to complete a variety of different tasks. In the version of I'm Going In we played, Jones was inserted into an air base to search for an imprisoned ally. To get to the prison facility, however, we had to make our way past numerous guards, APCs, and even Hind helicopters while constantly avoiding security cameras and making sure not to trip other security systems.

Confrontations, however, are inevitable - and a wide variety of weapons are available from mission-to-mission to make dispatching enemies easier. I'm Going In will feature a number of small arms, rifles, and explosives, as well as essential items like binoculars and handheld global-positioning satellite units. The build we played already had a large array of weaponry, including a combat knife, a Glock 17 pistol, a silenced H&K MP3, an AK-47, a minigun, and a fragmentation grenade.

Sweet indeed!

Property Basis: M.O.U.T. 2025 is a near-future simulation of real-world terrorist threats to major U.S. cities. M.O.U.T. Force is the swiftest and surest weapon in America’s growing counter-terrorism arsenal. Players join this cadre of military elite to face intense single-player action or join an online battle for up to thirty-two players.

Competitive Position: M.O.U.T. 2025 fires up online multiplayer network gaming with a hot FPS in an urban warfare setting. As the only tactical FPS utilizing real cities and authentic counter-terrorism it is a compelling game for first time players and veterans.

4. What kind of research did you have to do for Urban Ops? Are there any books or movies that you read/watched on the subject?

We consulted a large number of research materials from books, to publications on weapons, and wound ballistics. We watched documentaries on real CT teams, and interviewed the people who did it in real-life. We did watch some movies, but tended not to rely on them for real-world performance or tactics, but to help with gameplay factors. Essentially to look at what could be stretched to make it fun, without sacrificing the realistic feel.

Def check out the rest.

Urban Ops beta patch [14:38:14 EDT] by - Rush
RedStorm has released a beta patch (2.71 MB) for Urban Operations, with new features and numerous fixes. Scope it out here! 

H&D Action Pack review [14:31:11 EDT] by - Rush
ARS Technica has posted a review of Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack, which is the original H&D plus the Devil's Bridge add-on all in one package. Here's a tasty snip:

Beware though. If you're spotted, the wrath of the entire German army will come down upon you, and it will be miraculous if you get out alive. If you are clever, which you'll have to be to survive, you can set all the bombs to go off at about the same time, which should coincide with the time that your teams rendezvous and steal the bomber, providing a perfect distraction while you fly away to your freedom.

In related news, EB now has Devil's Bridge stand-alone selling for $9.99, so there's no excuse to pick up a copy now if ya don't have it yet! Thanks Suppressive Fire for the news.

If you join a server running UO, it becomes obvious that most of the work in the expansion went into prolonging the multiplayer life of Rogue Spear. Eight new multiplayer maps, plus the ten single player maps for a total of 18 new maps to play online. Since modmakers cannot make their own maps for Rogue Spear, these new maps are a godsend. What really makes UO worth the price of admission is the new gameplay mode: defend.

Project IGI preview [17:44:47 EDT] by - Rush
Saw via Suppressive Fire that Cutting The Edge has posted a preview of the game I'm looking forward to most these days, Project IGI (I'm Going In). Here's a bit on where the missions take place:

The 12-15 missions of IGI will take place on the wide-open spaces around and inside military bases and installations in Eastern Europe and the middle East with a few later missions in the United States. Other areas of missions include a nuclear train, a helicopter base, a radar station in Siberia and a destroyed village in Afghanistan. All of the missions will feature accurate weather, terrain, and building data.

Sounds awesome to me... The game is slated for release in Q3 2000.