[ArmA] Bloody Business by Cheetah

Review by LCD

Overview

The overview is the standard picture plus text combination. The text is nicely thought of, indicating the amount of "trouble" that you may encounter in the mission.

The picture while having a border is not very good though as it doesn't have anything that makes you feel like playing the mission.

The overview also includes the author's name and version number, which is a good thing in case the author releases another version.

Intro

The intro uses some nice camera angles, showing the manner in which the player arrives to the mission area, and after that, continues to show an amusing change of words between two SLA soldiers before they start preparing for the general's arrival. The intro is fully voiced which adds a lot to the atmosphere, with the SLA soldiers talking in spanish (nice touch there...) with English subtitles.

There's low volume music playing in the background. It adds to the intro while not going over the conversations between different characters.

Briefing

The briefing is short and explains your objectives clearly also giving some background information about the objective, with the second page giving some extra information on why the mission is executed in the way it is. The briefing also gives some hints on the way the mission may be played out, however in no point does the briefing go indepth about the situation in the mission.

Spaced out just right, with all the markers working and with extra objectives appearing as you progress in the mission and all the objectives getting ticked off right. The briefing works well with the mission.

Mission

The mission has you playing as an undercover operative in a town and ambush a general that is arriving about fifteen minutes later. This is a refreshing change from the usual type of missions, as here you will move more or less freely around the mission area until the action starts (or until you do something stupid that attracts enemy attention). There's a good amount of replayability as there are more than two ways to complete this mission, and each of them makes you use your head to try planning the perfect (or not so perfect) ambush.

The main problem with the mission is that the author didn't develop the way the mission plays out to the fullest, as the mission could have been a lot more intriguing if the author spent more time on it.

The scripting in the mission is uneven in its level, as it includes some very smart scripting that gives you, for example the option to holster you weapon (if you have a handgun), or makes the enemies react to you even if you are in a civilian car (fixing a famous ArmA bug). On the other hand, there are some parts where the scripting is lacking, a thing that allows you to kill civilians without much reaction from the other civilians (also killing members of the gang that roam around without any real reaction from the gang members).

Nice work is made with all the civilians wandering around town giving the mission a more alive feeling, with some good interaction with two of the civilians on the mission.

Outro(s)

The outro shows a face-off between the player and two gang members that want him wasted for his actions in the town. The player wins in the famous western-movies fashion and then drives off from the scene. Again the voices and the music add a lot to the atmosphere of this short nice cinematic moment.

Special

The whole undercover mission theme is a very good change from the usual missions you get and some of the scripting is very smart.
The mission is also fully voiced in a combination of English and Spanish which adds to the atmosphere of the whole mission.

Overall

The mission is a short decent mission that could have rated higher if the author would have developed the idea more, but still, it does the work and entertains. The mission also has a good value of replayability as the mission encourages the player to think and plan ahead the way the objective is executed.