Operation Darkness

[miffy495]

Holy crap, how have I not heard of this before? British werewolves fighting Hitler's zombie/vampire horde? Gameplay that looks quite reminiscent of Fire Emblem? Hells. Yes. If this gets halfway decent reviews, I'm buying it. I haven't been so overwhelmed with happy just from hearing a concept for a while. Seeing a werewolf fire a rocket launcher was all I needed. My first impression was "hmm... seems like they ripped off a bit from Wolfenstein." Then I stopped caring and started giggling. I'm psyched. Here's the trailer:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/32654.html

Anyone else interested, or am I alone in my (admittedly childish, but when has that ever stopped me before?) "Goddamn that looks amazing" reaction?

[Roderick]

I remember seeing a trailer a while back and thinking it was juvenile and crude. This trailer hasn't really helped that impression. It looks quite bland and from what I can see the theme hasn't really been worked out in any interesting fashion. But I haven't read previews or reviews or anything, I'm just going from the videos.

[miffy495]

Why does juvenile and crude always necessarily mean bad? While I appreciate well-polished cerebral games (hell, why else would I have stuck around here so long?) I'm fully willing to admit that sometimes I just feel like playing something juvenile and crude. Fun is fun, and to deny yourself that simply because you think it's below your maturity level is a huge waste, I think. Avoiding something "juvenile" to me sounds a lot like someone who avoids "kiddy" games. Instead of denying yourself an enjoyable game because you think you're too old for it, you're doing the same because you think you're too smart. This doesn't necessarily apply to you, Rodi, I just find it to be fairly endemic among any declaration that a form of entertainment is juvenile.

Your impression of blandness is a definite risk, which is why I said I'm hoping for halfway decent reviews, but juvenile doesn't worry me. Hell, I'm 20. I'm allowed to lapse sometimes. I spent 10 minutes making a pedestrian run in circles in GTA IV earlier tonight by herding him around an intersection with sniper fire, cackling all the while. Doing stuff like that helps prove to me that juvenile gaming can be damned fun.

[Roderick]

I feel like I've chosen my words poorly. What I mean is that I'm afraid this game has just mashed some random 'cool' stuff like werewolves and vampires and nazi's together without any feeling for why these things are cool in the first place and why they normally work. If I look at the footage, I see gray areas, I see werewolves who are decidedly not feral and only the vampires fit naturally well with the aristocratic demeanor of Nazi generals. What bothers me is that the concept has potential to be awesome and pulpy, but the footage utterly fails to bring that across.

That's the juvenile and crude part. Not the idea, but the execution. Even pulp needs some thought behind it to work.

[miffy495]

Ah, fair enough. I'm just hoping the execution can pull it off. I think a werewolf could conceivably retain some of the human's non-feral demeanor, and it does look like the attacks are still largely "run in and claw the guy" so I have hope. And while the vampires fit with the generals, I think zombie is fine for foot soldier. It definitely looks like a budget game, but as long as they're selling it on par with other budget game prices, I don't have a problem with that. Hell, I bought and loved Ghost Squad, and that was pretty obviously budget as well.

[twmac]

Miffy, there should be a demo up on Xbox LIVE, it is about 490 MB in size.

I played through it and I must say it has some pretty bad flaws, the camera angles are terrible and often leave you staring at a wall when you should be seeing the character firing a weapon at people or them moving into a better position.

Another big criticism is that there is no overview map so somtimes it is very difficult to tell which way an enemy is approaching from.

On the plus side the turn based strategy element works well the tactics are solid and they remind me of old battle isle games mixed with Shinning force and a bit of over the top super specials added in for the sake of it.

I really liked it but then I've been gagging for a turn based strategy game to come out on a console since Future Tactics.

[Wrestlevania]

I'm compelled to comment in a childish manner, so: Operation Dumbness.

I'll try to remember to download the demo tonight.

[miffy495]

I played through it and I must say it has some pretty bad flaws, the camera angles are terrible and often leave you staring at a wall when you should be seeing the character firing a weapon at people or them moving into a better position.

Another big criticism is that there is no overview map so somtimes it is very difficult to tell which way an enemy is approaching from.

Oh. Well poo.

I really liked it but then I've been gagging for a turn based strategy game to come out on a console since Future Tactics.

Possible yay. Have you played Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn? I've really been wanting to check that out as well. Probably first as it seems like the better game, save for the "fulfilling 12 year old dreams of awesome" factor.

[Nachimir]

It looks pretty shoddy.

[Verohari]

I thought the developers were taking the piss when I first watched it. I prefer it over any other 'war' game, though, but I think I've mentioned elsewhere that I prefer ridiculous.

I would've been more impressed (but probably not played it) if they had made it a little morbid - and darker (literally); weren't the werewolves running around in broad daylight? And as several people have pointed out, they look like regular people dressed in party masks and gloves with foam claws. Maybe based the story around a never-talked-about 'special squad' of werewolves etc. rather than 'oh, by the way, both sides can turn into various undead/mythical things', which is what it comes across as.

What bothers me is that the concept has potential to be awesome and pulpy, but the footage utterly fails to bring that across.

I was terrified when it warned me about gore/violence and prompted me to enter my date of birth. I'm terrified of werewolves as it is.

I should stick to Harvest Moon.

[Coldkill]

I completely lost interest when it said "wide arsenal of weapons and magic".

It looks pretty shoddy to be honest, graphics don't look that special (for anything next gen at least) and it seems to be one of those Japanese attempts at a first person shooter... not quite getting rid of the side view punch/kick fighting game style. (Ok, Metal Gear Solid excluded I know...)

[DanJW]

The art style and graphics are pretty rubbish. When you're in the same "animé-RPG" bracket as Squaresoft, you really need to try harder.

I don't see anthing wrong with the premise though. There's lots of animé and manga like that out there.

[twmac]

I haven't tried Fire Emblem, I know it's caliber and would recommend that over what I experienced of Operation Darkness.

I feel my opinion is still coming over too negative... I actually enjoyed the demo, there were lots of well thought out sections in the tactics. The graphics are indeed atrocious but it was simply a lot of fun to turn into a werewolf then move (in classic grid based movement) into firing range and lobbing a rocket into the midst of five Nazi soldiers. Then on their turn they run past my sniper who is in the 'Cover Ambush' mode and she wastes them.

I like the fact that ammo runs out quickly and that you can loot bodies for weapons.

Miffy don't buy it as a full priced game but yes it will fulfill the joys of werewolves and vampires duking it out (the vampires walk around in daylight too) with zombies in the mix for good measure.

Sure there are negative aspects to the game, I already mentioned them but I found myself working past them. I would need a manual though, as I have no idea how the levelling system works and there are tons of menus that makre little sense.

[miffy495]

Fair enough. It's not something I'd consider buying full-priced, as I think I alluded to with all my talk of budget, but still seems like something I could enjoy. The rubbish graphics and art style don't bother me too much. I've I've enjoyed games with those before. What I'm concerned with for this one is that the tactical gameplay is at least solid and that the premise is delivered upon enough to make it entertaining. If that happens, I'd call it a success given the obscurity of the people behind it. Still seems like a fun game, I'll have to check out the demo sometime soon.