[OFP] Operation Hellfire by Krieg

Review by savedbygrace

Overview

Text summarizes the mission appropriately and though the image presents a great backdrop, the subject is dark and barely recognizable. However, this does not remove from the overall presentation.

Intro

The intro cinematic was nicely done. Complete with voices, story and background music, the length was perfect as it sets the mood for the mission ahead.

Briefing

The planning section is clear cut and to the point. It explains the purpose of this mission and then provides additional information via links to more notebook sections which detail specifics such as the "Situation" which elaborates on enemy force and numbers, a "Detailed briefing" which lays out the order of execution for operational phases and which groups are involved in what areas and lastly, the "ORBAT" which lists the order of battle ranks for the Task force. My only dislike is that the objectives were pushed to the next page and not readily accessible.

The notes section provides a glimpse into the history of the player's character and how he ended up where he is at and it does so in the form of a diary entry which prevents the information from sounding like a documentary or statistics sheet.

The Gear section provides an acceptable range of weapons from which the player can choose from to approach the mission from varying tactical styles, which is always a positive note in my book.

Mission

At start, the mission begins with a rather long cutscene of the approach which I found myself fast forwarding through as there was not much to feed the imagination by. Fortunately the author incorporated a savegame after the landing to prevent having to replay the scene if the player should perish.
The first objective was rather easy as the overwhelming force worked together to complete it which was fairly balanced considering that the player had to reserve his numbers for the remainder of the mission which became slightly more challenging. The author used fog and radio chatter
to add more depth to the immersion and create a more cautious atmoshpere. Plenty of enemy weapons and ammo lying about in case you've spent your supply. Medical tents at certain locations help to replenish you and your group. The author also allows the player to control the timing of the combined assault on the second objective which is also a plus in my book.

Outro(s)

The outro cinematic was also short and to the point, showing the repelling of the soviet counterattack from varying angles and in slow motion during certain stages. Angles were good.

Special

The addition of voice files, decent story and cinematics is always special to me and any author committed to a project enough to include them should be recognized for the effort.

Also, a feature that I did not mention in the gameplay since it had no bearing on the mission itself was the ability to replace the Soviet flag of each position with an American flag. That shows attention to detail.

Overall

Mission flow was smooth and the mission played nicely with perhaps a few replays remaining in it.
A couple of dislikes...Radio chatter was a bit overbearing at times and armor reporting in their damage seemed to clutter the airwaves with insignificant information.

Since the author allowed great player control in the beginning, he could have done the same for the end portion of the mission to allow the player to coordinate the end assault for maximum effiency.

And lastly, since he provided savegames after the landing and first objective, he could have added one after the second objective.