Hidden and dangerous

[Cannon Fodder 0]

A recently had an unexplained compulsion to reinstall H&D and play it until my fingers bled (I really have to get a decent exorcist). And lo and behold, what a game this is.

It seems like eons ago when it was released in 1999, but the game still looks fantastic. The forebearer to OFP, it had controllable vehicle of land and sea (but no air, sadly, but H&D2 remedies this). The missions were imaginative (and apparently they consulted a SAS operative from WW2, and he actually went on these missions!!, and superbly pitched at just the right difficulty level. The music was rousing and appropriate, the weapons sounding meaty and punchy, and the characters textured to perfection.

MISSIONS OF NOTE

Villa Assault

Starting off in some woods, you sneak over a hill and get dazzled by a searchlight scanning the garden of a SS Officer's villa. Using the 'nocs on a hillside, you discern who is operating the searchlight and who is patrolling the grounds. You move up your boys onto the hillside with you (using the innovative command map) and set up covering fire arcs, and zero in on that jerry with the searchlight's head. Bang! You give the order to fire and everyone cuts loose. You (playing as William 'Spider' Web) and your buddy, Anthony 'Eye' Switcher, covering your flank, rush the villa. Bursting through the patio doors, you quickly engage at close range and take out some German swines. You burst in on the Officer's bedroom, and he tells you to "Give yerselves ap! Yoo have no chanze!". You clear the gardens and force him to come with you.

The Lancaster Take off

One the best. With you and your buddies eagerly awaiting a Lancaster extraction, you nervously catch a glimpse of over 30 SS guys, some on BMW bikes, high-tailing it down a hill towards you. OPEN FIRE!! You cut loose. Tracers light scream across the sky as you hit the dirt, you pals struggling to keep the guns down from excessive recoil. Suddenly you hear a distinctive roarof 4 Merlin Rolls Royce Engines.... it can only be the Avro Lancaster. The majestic beauty touches down and taxis for take off. You drop another 4 or 5 Jerrys then decide to make a break for it. You scream the order to follow and make a crazy dash for the bird. Bullets whip past you, kicking up dirt in front of your feet. You make it to the Lancaster, and climb into the hull. Your buddies climb into the gunner psotions and the engines roar into life. Yopu catch glimpse of krauts firing rounds into the hull as the Lancaster starts to roll. Your rear gunner suddenly kicks into life and those twin barrel .50 cals rip apart the Nazi threat. You're being chased, but the Lancaster pulls itself grudgingly off the runway and takes flight into the blue sky. You breath a sigh of relief. It's all over.. and you got everyone out.

Parachute Cock-up

After the lancaster you're being inserted with gets flaked to shite, you land in a wooded area. Your soldiers are dotted around, nd you have to quickly consolidate your forces with the area literally crawling with Nazis.

The world's hardest mission

With a whole Panzer column on your arse, you have to traverse about 10 miles through German bases, roadblocks, villages and densely packed bocage. Inside a Sdkfz, you have to regularly get out and Panzershreck a few tanks and mine up the road behind you. Too much pressure for one person!

The world's hardest mission part 2

Not content with being pushed to the absolute limit of human endurance with the last mission, you have to defend your position from over 3 king Tigers and over 70 men! Lining up the mines, the enemy emerge from the trees through pillars of flame and bullets. The fight is on as you unload shells by the bucketfulll from your Mg42 positons. You pray you hold that position... and suddenly it stops.. the mg42's run out but there's no Nazi left... you climb in the catalina and get the hell outta there.

More to come..

CF out.

[Black Op 0]

Villa Assault

The Lancaster Take off

One the best. With you and your buddies eagerly awaiting a Lancaster extraction, you nervously catch a glimpse of over 30 SS guys, some on BMW bikes, high-tailing it down a hill towards you. OPEN FIRE!! You cut loose. Tracers light scream across the sky as you hit the dirt, you pals struggling to keep the guns down from excessive recoil. Suddenly you hear a distinctive roarof 4 Merlin Rolls Royce Engines.... it can only be the Avro Lancaster. The majestic beauty touches down and taxis for take off. You drop another 4 or 5 Jerrys then decide to make a break for it. You scream the order to follow and make a crazy dash for the bird. Bullets whip past you, kicking up dirt in front of your feet. You make it to the Lancaster, and climb into the hull. Your buddies climb into the gunner psotions and the engines roar into life. Yopu catch glimpse of krauts firing rounds into the hull as the Lancaster starts to roll. Your rear gunner suddenly kicks into life and those twin barrel .50 cals rip apart the Nazi threat. You're being chased, but the Lancaster pulls itself grudgingly off the runway and takes flight into the blue sky. You breath a sigh of relief. It's all over.. and you got everyone out.

that was a very good mission, my bren gun never stopped firing , however there must of been a bug because my men wouldnt get in the lancaster and we were left on the ground as it took off lol

The world's hardest mission part 2

Not content with being pushed to the absolute limit of human endurance with the last mission, you have to defend your position from over 3 king Tigers and over 70 men! Lining up the mines, the enemy emerge from the trees through pillars of flame and bullets. The fight is on as you unload shells by the bucketfulll from your Mg42 positons. You pray you hold that position... and suddenly it stops.. the mg42's run out but there's no Nazi left... you climb in the catalina and get the hell outta there.

i always got blown to pieces by the tanks

one of my favourite missions was where you had to blow up the lock gate, i think you were suppose to use stealth but i always speeded into the harbour with the front machine spraying lead at the Germans , lol there was also a German jeep, think its called kumbelwagon on this mission which was a speedy little bastard , however i was disapointed when i got inside the tank

[Damage Inc 0]

It's more like B&D.

It's infested. With bugs.

[Black Op 0]

still good though, and u can get it from freeloader

[Damage Inc 0]

Yes and it's free.

[Placebo 29]

It's being re-released in a re-mastered sort of way, improved visuals and 2k/XP support.

[Skulleye 0]

Free? Wow! I've always wanted to play this game after trying the demo, but didn't want to buy it. Thank you very much for telling me

[Black Op 0]

http://www.freeloader.com/en/

[Cannon Fodder 0]

Okay, here's some more...

Frigging Frigate Hell!

After being inserted via a dinghy, you have to find a small enigma coding machine in the bowels of the creaking beast. You nervously traverse the slippy, wet decks, one step at a time.... then a flare goes up, illuminating you with the incandescent glow of a phosphorus flash. German fire erupts, piercing a hole in the sound of the sinking ship. You eventually go deep into the heart of the ship, into the engine room. Quite literally shaking with fear, you have go further still to find the comms room - and steal an unscathed machine. With your bounty safe and sound, you need to escape off that bloody ship, while more and more jerrys try to take you down with the ship....

Undercover... with a clothes line

With our boys still recouperating from the parachute cock-up, you stumble across a town. If you got hold of a boat, you could still fulfil your objective... cue much sneaking about in the shadows, avoiding the gendarmes and nicking some civilian clothes from a convineintly placed line. Once suited and booted, you make your way to the dock to steal that illusive ship. Once yyou're in, it all goes to hell. The nazi boatsmen emerge from the local pub, spraying you with fire as you make a hasty getaway.

Urban Hell.... taped up, painted windows (in 20 years)

You and the boys are sent deep into a czechoslovakian city centre. With snipers in every window and every bell-tower, you need to get to the city centre and escape this banal urban reality. Only when eventually geting there, you are met with a tirade of enemy gunfire and tank shells. The real fight begins...

Lancaster saves the day AGAIN

In the very last mission, you have to get to a runway, fiercely guarded with Hitler's minions, with a hostage in tow. As you sweat profusely (I know I did) while nervously awaiting the lancaster's arrival, your brave and valiant men fight with all their heart, firing out of the back and the windows of an opel truck! The Lancaster lands and it all gets a bit more difficult (as if it could)... scrambling on board, the reds arrive..... the rest if for you to discover yourselves, but it's quite a show!

CF out.

[Black Op 0]

me might download it again

[the nothing 0]

Is there any way to change the damn brightness? I can't see 5 inches away! It's so damn dark!

[Black Op 0]

take a flare gun on your missions

; )

[Damage Inc 0]

There's a switch on your monitor that sets the brightness. Use it. Now.

[Thehamster 0]

Change the gamma settings in game.

[the nothing 0]

Well, I forgot to metion the part about there being absolutely no video setting options in the options menu... only controls, music, and mouse... nothing more! I don't know why the video settings are not visible anywhere!

[Assault (CAN) 1]

Awesome game. Is H&D 2 even coming out? I have seen the trailer for it but that was a long time ago, any new news? Has the project been canceled?

[Guest]

This is the best H&D2 fan/news site IMO http://www.hidden-and-dangerous2.co.uk/ The trailers/movies really look great. There's an 18 minute long movie (kind of poor quality) of one of the developers playing through some of the missions. H&D was a great game to play through, had a really nice story but what killed it for me was the lack of an editor H&D deluxe looks interesting, and with the editor might add some life to the game.

[the nothing 0]

Oh. I finally realized you were speaking about the computer's settings, not the game's settings.

[Hilandor 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (the nothing @ Mar. 10 2002,06:13)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Oh. I finally realized you were speaking about the computer's settings, not the game's settings.<span id='postcolor'>

i usually find the only time when my game screen goes dark is because ive alt tabbed out of it to desktop at some point. in order to sort it i just alt tab a few more times and it seems to correct itself.

[Charlie_McSheenie 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Cannon Fodder @ Mar. 09 2002,15:18)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">A recently had an unexplained compulsion to reinstall H&D and play it until my fingers bled (I really have to get a decent exorcist). And lo and behold, what a game this is.

It seems like eons ago when it was released in 1999, but the game still looks fantastic. The forebearer to OFP, it had controllable vehicle of land and sea (but no air, sadly, but H&D2 remedies this). The missions were imaginative (and apparently they consulted a SAS operative from WW2, and he actually went on these missions!!, and superbly pitched at just the right difficulty level. The music was rousing and appropriate, the weapons sounding meaty and punchy, and the characters textured to perfection.

MISSIONS OF NOTE

Villa Assault

Starting off in some woods, you sneak over a hill and get dazzled by a searchlight scanning the garden of a SS Officer's villa. Using the 'nocs on a hillside, you discern who is operating the searchlight and who is patrolling the grounds. You move up your boys onto the hillside with you (using the innovative command map) and set up covering fire arcs, and zero in on that jerry with the searchlight's head. Bang! You give the order to fire and everyone cuts loose. You (playing as William 'Spider' Web) and your buddy, Anthony 'Eye' Switcher, covering your flank, rush the villa. Bursting through the patio doors, you quickly engage at close range and take out some German swines. You burst in on the Officer's bedroom, and he tells you to "Give yerselves ap! Yoo have no chanze!". You clear the gardens and force him to come with you.

The Lancaster Take off

One the best. With you and your buddies eagerly awaiting a Lancaster extraction, you nervously catch a glimpse of over 30 SS guys, some on BMW bikes, high-tailing it down a hill towards you. OPEN FIRE!! You cut loose. Tracers light scream across the sky as you hit the dirt, you pals struggling to keep the guns down from excessive recoil. Suddenly you hear a distinctive roarof 4 Merlin Rolls Royce Engines.... it can only be the Avro Lancaster. The majestic beauty touches down and taxis for take off. You drop another 4 or 5 Jerrys then decide to make a break for it. You scream the order to follow and make a crazy dash for the bird. Bullets whip past you, kicking up dirt in front of your feet. You make it to the Lancaster, and climb into the hull. Your buddies climb into the gunner psotions and the engines roar into life. Yopu catch glimpse of krauts firing rounds into the hull as the Lancaster starts to roll. Your rear gunner suddenly kicks into life and those twin barrel .50 cals rip apart the Nazi threat. You're being chased, but the Lancaster pulls itself grudgingly off the runway and takes flight into the blue sky. You breath a sigh of relief. It's all over.. and you got everyone out.

Parachute Cock-up

After the lancaster you're being inserted with gets flaked to shite, you land in a wooded area. Your soldiers are dotted around, nd you have to quickly consolidate your forces with the area literally crawling with Nazis.

The world's hardest mission

With a whole Panzer column on your arse, you have to traverse about 10 miles through German bases, roadblocks, villages and densely packed bocage. Inside a Sdkfz, you have to regularly get out and Panzershreck a few tanks and mine up the road behind you. Too much pressure for one person!

The world's hardest mission part 2

Not content with being pushed to the absolute limit of human endurance with the last mission, you have to defend your position from over 3 king Tigers and over 70 men! Lining up the mines, the enemy emerge from the trees through pillars of flame and bullets. The fight is on as you unload shells by the bucketfulll from your Mg42 positons. You pray you hold that position... and suddenly it stops.. the mg42's run out but there's no Nazi left... you climb in the catalina and get the hell outta there.

More to come..

CF out.<span id='postcolor'>

I never liked hidden and dangerous, to much like tomb raider - lots of unexpected deths only avoided by replaying replaying replaying. Plus it was hard to control. The demo mission sucked ass (i only played the demo) and it looked like it was made in some amateur game making package. Controlling 4 men at a time sucked as well, very clumsilly done. It lacked atmosphere, it used fogging to hide distant enemies from you so the game was harder, snipering sucked, machine guns were overrated, sub machine guns the only useful guns etc....

i didn't like it very much, thats why i didn't buy the game and to this day i can't even be arsed downloading it for free off grokster.

[IsthatyouJohnWayne 0]

then youve missed out - H&D rocks

no atmosphere?- You gotta be joking , its one of THE most atmoshperic games ive played. It has the tension and feeling of every good WW2 film youve ever seen.

sure the bugs and stuff sucked but it was massively worth it. I cant think of many games id rather have been playing before OFP was released

[Charlie_McSheenie 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (IsthatyouJohnWayne @ Mar. 10 2002,13:51)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">then youve missed out - H&D rocks

no atmosphere?- You gotta be joking , its one of THE most atmoshperic games ive played. It has the tension and feeling of every good WW2 film youve ever seen.

sure the bugs and stuff sucked but it was massively worth it. I cant think of many games id rather have been playing before OFP was released<span id='postcolor'>

Well, i omly played the demo and it lacked atmosphere, a train drove past every now and then, there was a wood hut, with 3 guys who were always in the same place, and it was dark and foggy.

The other level was crap too i remember but i can't remember what it looked like, it had these shanty town type huts in it, but thats all i remember.

I read about some of the missions in this thread and it does sound pretty atmospheric (and cool ) but if the full game has levels like the demo i think all those comments were just exaggerations.

In fact, i think i'll download it tonight

[John C Flett 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I never liked hidden and dangerous, to much like tomb raider - lots of unexpected deths only avoided by replaying replaying replaying. Plus it was hard to control. The demo mission sucked ass (i only played the demo) and it looked like it was made in some amateur game making package. <span id='postcolor'>

Sorry but don't judge the full game by the early demo. The bugs were fixed, some of the later levels looked fantastic and the control was a little strange but it worked well enough. Its like playing the first single mission of OFP and claiming you know the whole game. You barely scratched the surface. The first level was designed to be small and basic so you could get the hang of the basics.

As somebody who's played the game and the addon disc through more than once it is still a favourite game and its sense of place and variety was second to none. After some 30 missions I never felt once that I'd seen it before. Half sunken destroyers, bombed out cities, pitch battles, winter wastelands, forests and mountain bases and getting caught in a bombing raid isn't even the half of it.

That is not to say it was perfect though and I hope the new deluxe edition and H+D2 will improve the AI. The bad guys were too static sometimes.

[Guest]

The AI were indeed very static but also very accurate. Lost count how many times I've been killed by Nazi Luger snipers in H&D FFF/DB was a nice addon, was a shame they changed the aiming system though I hope in H&D2 and H&D deluxe you will be able to choose from irons and quake style.

[Charlie_McSheenie 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (John C Flett @ Mar. 10 2002,21:47)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I never liked hidden and dangerous, to much like tomb raider - lots of unexpected deths only avoided by replaying replaying replaying. Plus it was hard to control. The demo mission sucked ass (i only played the demo) and it looked like it was made in some amateur game making package. <span id='postcolor'>

Sorry but don't judge the full game by the early demo. The bugs were fixed, some of the later levels looked fantastic and the control was a little strange but it worked well enough. Its like playing the first single mission of OFP and claiming you know the whole game. You barely scratched the surface. The first level was designed to be small and basic so you could get the hang of the basics.

As somebody who's played the game and the addon disc through more than once it is still a favourite game and its sense of place and variety was second to none. After some 30 missions I never felt once that I'd seen it before. Half sunken destroyers, bombed out cities, pitch battles, winter wastelands, forests and mountain bases and getting caught in a bombing raid isn't even the half of it.

That is not to say it was perfect though and I hope the new deluxe edition and H+D2 will improve the AI. The bad guys were too static sometimes.<span id='postcolor'>

The thing i hated most about the demo was the, in a word, shite controls, and the fiddly command menu's. Also the inability to get to grips with said points despite constant, constant practice (i really wanted to get into the game )