Your opinions of the campaigns.

[Hamburglar 0]

I've been thinking about the single player campaigns and what I liked about them.

Cold War Crisis: I really liked this campaign because it was interesting in how you started out as a lowly grunt and then got to rise in rank as you played - you weren't always "the man in charge" and that kind of added to the uniqueness of the missions in that you had to follow orders. I really liked the way it kept track of the war as well - I always knew what was going on. What I didn't like were the Tank missions. They kind of disrupted the continuity of the game and the missions weren't all that fun. Plus the tank driver character was kind of a dork - I just didn't really like him.

Red Hammer: This had promise. It really did. I loved the idea of being on the Russian side and playing with their weapons and fighting against NATO. I was really loving the campaign up until you switch sides.

I have no idea WHY they made that happen. It really took me out of the campaign to see Lukin decide on a whim to just start fighting his own men. He acts as if they're all horribly guilty down to the lowest grunt even though he was one of them moments before. Plus this change of affairs really just made it a CWC rehash. The whole point of me playing Red Hammer was that I wanted to FIGHT against NATO troops and the Resistance instead of just killing Russians again. I think BIS really dropped the ball on this one. It was challenging but the plot twist was uninspired. Can't we just be the bad guys for once?

Resistance: I had high hopes for this one too. I LOVED the opening in which you just start as a civilian and then join up with the Resistance, ultimately leading it. I LOVED the new island - it just seemed so much better. What I didn't like was that the campaign turned really sour right after the mission where you ambush the truck convoy.

My question is: WHY IS THIS A TANK CAMPAIGN. I was looking forward to hit and run guerilla tactics: Lots of fighting in the woods, ambushes, assassinations, escapes, sabotages, etc. BUT, they change the ONE campaign that should have been predominantly infantry into a tank campaign. Almost every mission you NEEDED to load your guys up into tanks or fight a zillion tanks etc. When I saw the capital, Lipany, and the other huge city, Petrovice, I had visions of awesome infantry street fights. What do we get? Pound the crap out of it with tanks from long distance. Tanks tanks tanks tanks. Not only was it not fun, its entirely unrealistic. The Russian airforce would have obliterated any Rebel tank column because the rebels had ZERO air defense or planes/helicopters. It really ruined the campaign for me. I only played it through once just to finish it but I don't think I could ever play it again. What makes me sad is how novel the concept seemed but how the execution in my opinion was atrocious.

My basic opinion is that Cold War Crisis is the best of the campaigns, but Red Hammer and Resistance could have been better if they just stuck to their guns and let you play as the Russians and let you act as a rebel group instead of turning into the mess they were. Am I alone or do people agree with me on this?

[PopUpTarget 0]

I have to agree. I think Cold War Crisis was my favorite for two main reasons:

1) It was the first campaign produced, and introduced me to this amazing game.

2) As a player you have the opportunity to play many roles. Squad leader, tanker, pilot, spec ops.

And the ending where you return to a now peaceful island is a nice cap to all that violence.

[The Frenchman 0]

Red Hammer:  This had promise.  It really did.  I loved the idea of being on the Russian side and playing with their weapons and fighting against NATO.  I was really loving the campaign up until you switch sides.  

I have no idea WHY they made that happen.  It really took me out of the campaign to see Lukin decide on a whim to just start fighting his own men.  He acts as if they're all horribly guilty down to the lowest grunt even though he was one of them moments before.  Plus this change of affairs really just made it a CWC rehash.  The whole point of me playing Red Hammer was that I wanted to FIGHT against NATO troops and the Resistance instead of just killing Russians again.  I think BIS really dropped the ball on this one.  It was challenging but the plot twist was uninspired.  Can't we just be the bad guys for once?

You do know that Red Hammer was not made by BIS, right?

[Skul 0]

Yeah, it was made by Codemasters.

I was really hoping to see the Reds' side of the story, but do I? No. Dmitri starts out as a bad-ass, crazy, tough-guy. But then he gets a glimpse of conscience and joins the Resistance and starts fighting his own countrymen just because Guba, the Santa Claus look-a-like wannabe, is a traitor. Plus the missions were rather bland and boring. It was like playing a jazzed-up user campaign made by an intermediate mission maker.

Cold War Crisis

Really liked this one. When I first played it, I felt like I was really Armstrong. I only knew as much as he did. By the end of it, I was totally absorbed in OFP.

Resistance

This one was great. The ending for this one was, without a doubt, the best Flashpoint ending scene ever! I didn't like the tank missions, though. The way Victor used them made him seem even crazier than Dmitri at times! The First Strike mission, the one where you have to use all your tanks to defeat another tank force about 8 times the size of your own... that was a bad mission. By the time I had reached the Lipany and Petrovice missions, I had only one T55 left! The very first time I played it, I had NO TANKS in reserve!!

But all the campaigns had their good moments.

Like Red Hammer. My favourite mission in that one has always been Alamo. I don't know what it is, it just seems a novel idea, building your defenses as you see fit. It's like using the mission editor while inside the level (this is the kind of feature I want OFP2 to have, if it has a mission editor)!

Cold War Crisis. The first few missions where you're a rookie and have no idea what's going on.

Resistance - The beginning and ending, definitely!

[Gareth Gates must die]

[Dark Angel 0]

Well, I liked CWC but it wasn't my personal fave, but still brilliant!

Resistance: My fave, I liked the hoarding ammo and stuff...and I also love all tank missions! (Yeah, I'm different!)

Red Hammer: I liked it, but it didn't have the charm of CWC or Resistance.

That's my two Ås.

[thirtyg 0]

Resistance was my favourite, having to scavange for weapons and ammo for your next missions added that extra dimention to the gameplay, as you needed to think what weapons would i like to be able to arm my guys with.

Also when your guys got killed later in the peice they were gone, no more reinforcements, so it specifically made you think about how you used your medics.

I liked the tank missions because they were designed to show that if you positioned your tanks correctly and used AT mines you could defeat the much stronger russians without sustaining significant damage to your own units.

And then there is the cutscenes and the ending.

[m21man 0]

Resistance was my favorite campaign, though CWC with the improved trees and textures can give Resistance a run for its money.

Red Hammer is mainly a good source for getting Russian-sounding radio transmissions. I would agree that the mission quality is usually poor/mediocre in RH, and the scripting is...*VOMITS ONTO FLOOR* .

[sether01 0]

Favorite Campaign? CWC.  The reason why? I'm a grunt more then in any other campaign.  When I first started playing this game, it truly felt like I gained ranks.  As I understood more and realized how to control my squad, the game gave me more control.  As I had more insight into the game, the game gave me more, it was cool.  

 2nd best? Redhammer, the first half of Redhammer.  Something about it, I dunno.  I'm glad it was released before resistance. Kinda of a warm up to the micro managment that was to come. . . .

 Then Resistence.  Honestly, I didn't like this.  I like the story, but not the mechanics of the gameplay.  Or, actually, I do. It's 50-50. Let me explain.

  Resistence brought out the best that OFP had to offer, but at the same time reflects all its flaws.  I loved how in the original CWC, you mostly had no clue what was going on, everything was crazy, like I assume a real firefight would be.

  Unfortunatly, in Resistance after a few mission, I started to "get" the campaign makers mindset.  I don't know how to explain it, actually. I kinda "knew" what was going to happen, what they expected the player to do.  Perhaps it was because I knew the mechanics of the game better, being that I had made a few missions and done some scripting.  It probably was that.  But something about resistance seemed so, (not the story, let me say) blah.  It was like a different game almost.  Too much micro-managment for me.

  I know that's how a lot of people feel about redhammer though(not the micromanagment part).  But I have to say, to me, at least, RedHammer feels more like the original game then Resistance.        

Mark

[Heatseeker 0]

This may sound funny but i played them all and only really liked CWC. There was some special magic in the first infantry missions, the black Op ones, the chopper ones too, missions were really varied and original and we would get to do diferent tasks like defending positions or escorting a convoy, fighting for survival and escaping from the enemy, it was almost perfect, will never forget "After Montignac" or "interdiction", that campaign is truely awsome and inspired by the gods .

The other oficial campaigns have some ok missions but dont come close, CWC has a better war invironment and realistic feel, it is just great.

[cornhelium 0]

Hi,

One of the best missions I ever played was in the Resistance campaign where you have to defend a town against that huge enemy tank attack. I found the best thing was to climb one of the tower blocks and command the whole show from the roof.

I crewed all my tanks and sent them over the hill to hide, then layed mines and satchels all down the approach to the town, then just sat on my tower block and let them come, with one more guy on the other tower with an RPG.

By the time the enemy force got to the town and the troops dismounted, they were down to about 2 mechanised infantry squads + BMPs and three tanks, only one fully functional. As we were softening them up with the Mines & RPGs I'd been movnig my tanks into position at the rear. I then brought them in and they flattened the enemy armour while I sniped troops from the rooftop.

Watching my tanks blow the last surviving troops into the treetops was...beautiful

...that's what I love best in OFP - combined Infantry/Armor as seen through the eyes of an Infantry or Mechanised Infantry squad leader. Ditto Airborne Infantry, especially deploying from Mi24's.

Cheers,

Cornhelium

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]The Russian airforce would have obliterated any Rebel tank column because the rebels had ZERO air defense or planes/helicopters.

The Russians probably didn't think that they'd need any heavy gunship support, so they only brought in Mi-17s at first for rapid deployment of troops. Once the Resistance started up, the Russians wouldn't have sent in the Mi-17s because they're like big, fat, flying pigs that the Resistance could have easily downed with HMGs (Or RPGs, I shot down the Mi-17 in the Crossroad mission ). Remember that in the campaign, the one time they brought in gunships they easily pushed back your entrenched squad. Presumably, after the destruction of the airport gunships the Russians decided that using gunships was too costly, and decided to fight the war on the ground.

Quote[/b] ]I was looking forward to hit and run guerilla tactics:  Lots of fighting in the woods, ambushes, assassinations, escapes, sabotages, etc.

You can fight this way if you want to . In fact, almost all of the missons had a time where you had to fight on foot. Also, staying in your tanks is virtually impossible when you're playing with a high viewdistance, as the Russian armor can nail you from extreme range.

Missions in Resistance (Armor I Used):

1. Invasion - None

2. Crossroad - None

3. No Turning Back - None

4. Ammo Low - None

5. Scrap - Medium

6. Field Exercise - Heavy

7. First Strike - Heavy

8. Hostages - None

9. Information - None

10. Occupation - None

11. Counterattack - Light (I used the T-72 as a taxi )

12. Contraband - None

13. Reckoning - None

14. Fireworks - None

15. The Pass - Light (Again, just used a T-80 as a taxi)

16. Hunting - Medium - (Used tanks for bombardment, then entered on foot.

17. The Trap - Heavy

18. Firefight - None

Hmm, I believe that is 11 out of 16 missions with no tanks at all. That isn't really a campaign where "every" mission uses tanks. And even here, I used tanks where they weren't necessary. For instance, I once beat Hunting while having no armor under my command.

[gazmen 0]

The 1985 campaign is the best

Because you begin has a rookie, then you drive car, then tanks, and after you become I pilot... It's so cool

I think they just forgot to make a good recon/sniping mission (two men), like kill Guba in the last mission

I hope that the OFP2 will be the same but with more feature, realism and more vehicule and plane...

[AbjectCoward 0]

I'm only partway through Resistance, so I can't really proffer an opinion on it. The other two, however...

Red Hammer was a blast. I giggled maniacally all the way through it, right up until the last mission. What was up with that? Plant three bombs, then grab a boat and scarper? Hardly a fitting finale for such a hilarious campaign.

The original CWC is my favourite so far since it's so involving. I can lose myself for hours in it. My favourite mission is After Montignac, playing hide-and-seek with all those Russians. It had an edge to it which the other solo missions (mainly Gastovski's) didn't have.

[Guest]

I liked Res the best as a whole, just because it had a stronger storyline. But I think CWC had some missions that were better than anything in Res....it's just that swapping characters all the time killed the storyline a little IMO.

Hell...they're both great!

[Pipski 0]

Haven't played RH yet (but am about to!). Definitely preferred CWC to Res. In CWC you really got the immersion thing, the feeling that you were part of a massive military campaign (especially in the retreat mission - whatever it's called, can't remember) and I was hoping that Res would give you a similar feeling of being part of a ragged-ass bunch of partisans.

I pretty much agree with everything Hamburglar said. Res would have been a lot better without tanks and with less ambitious objectives. It doesn't feel very realistic when your cadre of guys who were farming, delivering mail or selling real estate four weeks before are pushing the Red Army off the edge of the planet! A bit of sabotage, some assassinations, hostage rescues, reconaissance, that kind of thing would be more what I had in mind when I booted it up.

Oh, and I didn't like the way the last half was pretty much exclusively sniper rifling. I know that it was my decision to take the sniper rifle rather than any of the other guns, but in the later missions there are so many enemies around, with such good fields of view that you don't stand much of a chance otherwise.

[AbjectCoward 0]

It doesn't feel very realistic when your cadre of guys who were farming, delivering mail or selling real estate four weeks before are pushing the Red Army off the edge of the planet!

No? Just remember that it took only one week for a certain farmboy to leave his home planet and blow up the Death Star...

Don't believe me? Watch it again, and work out the timeframe.

[algonacy 0]

My favorite campaign is the classic user created campaign, FMC Fury. Followed by CWC. No tank missions, no heli's, just me as a grunt and then me as a squad leader. My favorite part of OFP without the annoying "other" vehicle missions.

Well, I guess there is 1 heli mission, but it is pretty simple.

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]In CWC you really got the immersion thing, the feeling that you were part of a massive military campaign

Have you ever played the PMC Command Campaign? It's a massive campaign .

[aj_addons 0]

FDF part one cant wait for part two even though ive kind of figured out whats going to happen

[Elminster 0]

So, three weeks later I add my part, too.

I liked Resistance very much; the scavenging of stuff and choosing your tactic before the missions. I rarely used any tanks, only when I stole them in the third or fourth mission and when I had to conquer and defend Mostrava (kind of pointless, by the way, obviously Victor gave the town up, anyway.). Later in the game I always used mines and satchel charges against enemy tanks, worked out well.

As I understand, many of the resistance fighters were former members of the dissolved Nogova army, so I think it was not too unrealistic that they knew a bit about combat.

I think it was possible to play the game in a kind of guerilla tactic, as it was not necessary to rely on tanks most of the time ( as I said, I prefered ambushs, and later in Petrovic Snipers and RPGs-it was quiet hard though).

Resistance was definitely my favourite campaign.

I also liked CWC very much - it had a lot of atmosphere, especially when you were not in command. But the black op missions were a bit dissapointing; I usually like sneak games like Thief and Deus Ex, and compared to the sneaking in these games OFP was a bit unlucky. I found it quiet difficult to hide behind objects, it was hard to hear footsteps approaching, you had to cross big open areas a lot - but then of course, OFP had other priorities in its design.

I relly enjoyed the freedom in decision the game offered sometime, for example to sneak onto the scud and take it out with a LAW or to launch a big assault on it with air and tank support. There was much space for different tactics.

Well, RH - I have to admit, I quit this campaign after that insane tank mission where Lukin goes Rambo and tries to take on the United States with a T72. I finished both CWC and Resistance without a single cheat, but I think RH is really too tough. I don't like the idea I only can finish a mission after trying out so many times until I had enough luck and by remembering enemy positions from my former tries.

One more thing - I `didn't experience Lukin's changing side myself, but from what I read in the forums, it does sound poor. Why not have an entire campaign showing the Russians' point of view (and not all of them will agree to Guba's ideas)?

I don't think the Russian soldier are the "bad guys", nor are the Americans the "good guys". Both fight in a war, having the ideals and informations they were given by their politicians. Maybe it would have been a nice RH ending if Lukin had decided to assassinate Guba, but not to kill his former fellows with the moto "all are bad except for daddy".

[Pathy 0]

CWC was in my opinion the best part, specifically the early David Armstrong bits. Later on it got weaker, as you had to play those black op missions which we just so f*in hard...most of them i ended up speeding the game up to max speed and running until i reached an soviet empty tank, climbing in as gunner and giving them hell :P Not exactly realism. The tank missions were for the most part dull, the helicopter missions were quite cool though. Also, i said i liked the early David Armstrong missions....i guess i liked just being a grunt, an ordinary soldier. The missions where your leading a squad are good as well, but they dont have the raw atmosphere of being a plain old soldier.

Personally, i feel CWC suffers a lull somewhere around the 1st tank missions, that lasts pretty much up until you do the landing back on everon (awesome mission, return to eden).

Red hammer, agree with all the above.

Resistance, i didnt really HAVE many tank missions, i relied pretty much on satchells, mines and RPG's....i replayed RES a couple of weeks ago (to "test" out my 5.1 sound system, its awesome, when tanks are coming right by you, the ground actually shakes ), so its fresh in my mind. That mission where you get chased off by gunships, those tanks were just a deathtrap for your teammates, i just hid em in the woods, planted about 15 mines and 15 satchels on the road leading up to and in the ruins that they had set the base up in, and waited till they rolled in. I also took out all 3 choppers with my RPG's that took about 200 savegame attempts (yes, i savegame cheated, so what?), but it was worth it in points :P

I liked RES, although the storyline got a little corny.....thats my only major crit of it. Although, all credit to BIS, Victor dies, thats not a corny ending.

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]I liked RES, although the storyline got a little corny.....thats my only major crit of it. Although, all credit to BIS, Victor dies, thats not a corny ending.

They really should have shown more of a relationship between Liz and Victor. I'm not being some perverse weirdo here, I'm just wondering why Victor said "They might know about Liz" when his relationship with her seemed to be an offering to buy her some groceries in Lipany .

[Pathy 0]

OMG, not the grocery delivery boy....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

[zeep 3]

Although, all credit to BIS, Victor dies, thats not a corny ending.

aargh.

should have stopped reading!

I'm currently playing CWC and Res for the first time. I know, i'm a bit late ;) ( GOTY owner )

Anyway, up to now, i agree with the differences between these two. In the beginning of Res i was anxious to keep playing because i found it very involving and enjoyed being an foot soldier trying to cope. Right now i'm facing my first tank mission where i have to command like 6 tanks ( don't know the mission name sorry ) and i simply don't have a clue what to do. I know i haven't missed anything but i wish i could give my team the command to go ahead and shoot stuff while i take a walk.. The tank mission is too hard for me.

However, the scavenging for weapons and all to use in future missions is awesome!

CWC i like it very much. The storyline is interesting enough to keep me going. Surprises are good imo.

So far no gripes here. I like being a soldier under command ( at least until i know how to command myself )

RH, havent started it yet.

A bit OT maybe but i wanted to add that the MP part and the addon part of the game is confusing and not very newbie friendly. ( at least for me )

I have the OFPlady FAQ bookmarked, many custom addon sites and i have ofpwatch installed too. But still half of the time i'm scared to connect to a server because it may require downloads etc.

[triumph 0]

Yes, commanding tanks is daunting at first but it becomes pretty fun once you get the hang of it. It is even better if you have goldmember's explosion mod installed - trust me, you'll see. I tend to use 'return to formation' and 'next waypoint' when commanding tanks and I put them on 'engage' and 'danger' status. Usually they can take care of themselves but sometimes you have to tell them to all target a more powerful tank like a T80 first so you can get it out of the way before it pulverizes you. It's better to simply left-click on an area where you want to go than to try and manually steer your tank. When engaging enemy tanks try to quickly right-click on a target as soon as it is within striking distance so you can lock and and get a few rounds off first. Remember that you can't fire again until the ammo counter turns from red to green. There's nothing like winning a fierce tank battle and then listening to all the secondary explosions in the aftermath.

Have fun!