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Spec Ops II: Green Berets
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Graphics & Sound:
Graphically, Spec Ops II: Green Berets is quite nice. Some of the textures are astoundingly realistic. (Love those Antarctic missions!) The graphic details are impressive; bullets leave bullet holes behind and explosions scorch both objects and the ground! Those of you who have been arguing over which is better -- first person or third person views -- can put aside your differences and pick up Spec Ops II. It seems that SO2 has a first person view and a third person view, as well as several scope views, binocular view, night vision, and the ability to lock the camera’s location (in third person view). This large variety of cameras is reminiscent of flight simulations. The camera movement is very smooth in third person, although it sometimes lags behind a bit.
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Gameplay:
A lot of games stress realism. Spec Ops II: Green Berets does so -- quite possibly to a fault. While it’s completely true that it is difficult to aim while running at full speed, this is something we’ve come to expect of video game characters. Video game characters are expected to be stronger, faster, (bigger boobed...), smarter, rich, good looking, (did I mention bigger boobed? oh, wait... there it is... never mind), able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and capable of magic powers. These guys are not video game characters. They’re simulated Green Berets. Green Berets may be among the best specimens of human war machines, but they bleed just like everybody else. While this is great for the simulation aspect, many people approach this game expecting it to be some sort of “Unreal” war simulation where you can just “Quake” your way through, fragging the enemy and shrugging off incoming fire. Those gamers need to go back to their arcade games. This is war. And war is hell. You will lose team members. You will fail. And you will like it. Or not. Your magic spells and “invincibility” can’t help you now.
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Difficulty:
Spec Ops II: Green Berets is a very difficult game. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear was a difficult game, requiring practice, patience, and a good bit of luck. Even at that, your team members followed a preplanned route which could take you hours to devise. Then, once your Rogue Spear mission was underway, you had the “crutch” of an auto-aim feature. Spec Ops II requires you to “spoon feed” your team directions as you go without a preplanned attack, and it doesn’t have the auto-aim feature. In Spec Ops II, you’re making surgical strikes. That is, of course, assuming surgeons carry heavy firepower. You have to control (up to) four soldiers, all with their own specialties, and all with minds of their own. You can use the “TAB” key to switch between characters and personally control them and/or give them general commands such as “hit the deck!” or “follow me!” via radio. However, don’t be surprised when you turn around and they’re not where you expect them to be. They have to protect their asses, too. In the end, it all comes down to you. You have to keep them alive because they’re necessary to accomplish the goal. But, hey -- no pressure. So, is it hard? Yeah. You could say that. But, there ARE three difficulty settings, so I’m sure you can (almost) do alright...
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Game Mechanics:
The camera movement, while very smooth in third person, sometimes lags behind a bit, making aiming difficult at times. This smoothness is apparently accomplished by an “averaging” routine which delays exaggerated movements (relative to the character) by moving to somewhere in between where the camera currently is and where the camera’s algorithm calculates it should be. This means that when rapid, exaggerated moves are made, the camera moves towards where it should be, slowing down as it gets closer to its final position. If you’re trying to aim at something precisely, such as a light bulb, this movement can keep interrupting your aim until the camera gets to its stopping point. Of course, the very fact that you CAN shoot out a light bulb is to be commended. This is an excellent example of a good use of dynamic lighting.
Some tactical strike simulation fans may be upset with the extremely limited mission briefings, but, quite frankly, it’s more realistic. When things get bad enough to call an elite strike force such as the Green Berets in, there’s probably not a whole lot of time to play around with planning. Planning is something you do once you’re deployed -- while surviving and accomplishing objectives.
One other way Spec Ops II adds to the realism is the lack of an auto-aim feature. The Green Beret’s guns don’t aim for them, so why should yours? This might make it more realistic, but could cause you some problems if the main reason you’re playing a tactical strike force GAME is because you’re not actually skilled enough to be in a REAL tactical strike force. But, if you’re looking for (sometimes frustrating) realism, Spec Ops II: Green Berets delivers. |
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-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins |
Minimum System Requirements:
Pentium MMX 200, 32 MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM, 150 MB free hard disk space, DirectX 6.0 or higher compatible sound card, Direct3D compatible video card, 28.8k modem and ISP for multiplayer, Win95/98
Preferred System Requirements:
PII 200 or greater, 32 MB RAM, 8X CD-ROM, 150 MB free hard drive space, DirectX 6.0 or higher compatible Sound Card, 3Dfx Voodoo or Direct3D compatible video card with 16 MB RAM, 56k modem and ISP for multiplayer, Win95/98
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Test System:
AMD K6-II 400 3DNow, 64 RAM, 44xCD, Voodoo 3 2000 PCI, Aureal Vortex II Soundcard, Benwin BW2000 Flatpanel Speakers, Razer BoomSlang 2000 (extreme gaming mouse), Win98 |
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