Global Operations Preview

Bloody hell! It sounds a tad alike, doesn't it? I should reemphasize however that I don't care about the blatant similarities, as long as both development teams deliver quality products. It's not like Pepsi and Coke taste THAT different anyway, and I'll gladly drink both without any reservations over who came up with the concept first.

The players will be able to buy only certain types of weapons depending on the class they choose. So, if you choose to play as a sniper, don't expect to be able to purchase an M-60 right off the bat. However, you can pick up any kinds of weapons during the game. But there's another catch to this, you see. Although you'll be able to pick up an M-60 even though you're a sniper, that big ol' thing is gonna recoil on you like crazy and your aiming will probably be dog poor (no pun intended). This is only natural given the fact that snipers should be lightweight and stealthy, and not big and buffed like John Rambo.

Money Makes My M4 Purr...

Obviously, the player classes have been included to further enhance the team play and role-playing aspects of the game (you can't argue with the tried and proven TF model). And while the notion of classes is completely unoriginal, Barking Dog has included one other team play oriented feature, which is rather unique, and could add more spice to the game. In order to stop people from playing simply for money and frags, the monetary system in Global Ops is not conceived on the idea of distributing the money individually. The cash from a job well done is placed on a "joint team account" and players are forced to share it. I have no idea how they plan to make this option work and who's gonna buy what, and for what amount. All I know is, this is certainly going to generate some funny comments online: "FAG, YOU SPEND MORE THAN A FAT ACCTRESS ON PROSAC!!!!"

Although this would probably be a great trick, which I would undoubtedly include in the game, I think the social system of equal distribution is looking like a more viable solution. The more money is on the pile, the bigger your share, which is btw identical to what your teammates get... But then what about the price of the weapons? They'll probably have to balance out the prices for different types of weapons, too. Ah, hell... that's not my problem anyway.

Money can't buy you love, but it can buy you a whole lot of gadgets and weapons. Stuff like: binoculars, Thermal Vision, Night Vision, shoulder mounted cameras; light/medium/heavy armor, and medical kits. Global Operations is going to feature 36 real weapons: 8 handguns, 6 sub-machine guns, 4 shotguns, 4 machine guns, 8 assault rifles, and 6 sniper rifles (Whoa!). Each of the weapons has been modeled and textured according to a digital image of the real gun. All the gun sounds are based on the recordings of actual weapons, fired in the firing range. Further more, the game features a very complex ballistic system: the bullets will pierce things, lodge in others, and even ricochet off harder surfaces depending on the properties of the material. And as for the damage, a decal system was implemented for the representation of blood, entrance, and exit wounds. Besides the usual primary weapon and sidearm, players will also be able to carry a secondary weapon, all of which will be clearly visible on a model during gameplay.

And if all this firepower abundance in the game happens to get you shot, know that the game's reinforcement feature gathers eliminated players together in helicopters and armored personnel carriers before reinserting them in the game. In this unique "waiting room", teammates have an opportunity to converse and strategize before returning to the battlefield as a reinforcing squad. The reinsertion happens in timed two-minute intervals. So, if you happen to die in the first few seconds of that interval you'll have more than enough time to discuss further actions before you go back in. The good thing about this system is that the KIA players are reinserted all at the same time and in a group, so that newbie players can have some protection if they happen to respawn in the midst of a heavy firefight.

Finally, the team has made an assload of changes to the LithTech 2.5 engine, modifying it so that it would best fit this particular style of gameplay. Here's what Jeff Barnhart had to say about it in his recent interview given to the boys over at Stomped:

"Barking Dog has already made some serious modifications to the engine. We want the game to look as realistic as possible, and to be as detailed and unique as possible so we are really getting into the code and tweaking it for Global Operations. We have already added radiosity to the lighting model, and it's made a huge difference as to how realistic the environments look. We are completely re-writing the network code, packet compression and encryption are now in the networking model, and we have modified Dedit by adding powerful new texture and vertex manipulation features. The ballistics / collision system has been rewritten, and we will continue to optimize the renderer to suit the game's needs."

Each of the models in the game will have roughly about 1200 polys, and the engine also supports lip syncing, which will come in very handy, given that the voice over IP plays an important role in adding to the team communication element of Global Ops.

In a nutshell.

Sure, I'll play it, why not? As long as it manages to deliver on all of the promised features... What strikes me as a bit odd though, is the fact that none of the previews I've read on the net make a clear reference to the fact that Global Ops bears such striking resemblance to games like TF2 and Counter-Strike. Makes you wonder really.