[OFP] Operation Overlord by Kendo J

Review by Cheetah

Overview

Pretty good picture including a border accompanied by a few lines of text, which serve as an introduction to the mission. Nice and informative, but the double title, D-Day is used as well as Operation Overlord, disturbs me. Next to this I miss a version number and the name of the author.

Intro

Some lag on my PC which normally runs OFP fine, not too bad though as there are only a few seconds of lag. The rest of the Intro runs better, although not completely smooth. The flak could've been simulated better with more black smoke made by the drop command, although that's something done with polishing the mission. So the Intro is informative and introduces you to the mission, the more or less correct atmosphere is created by the use of custom sounds. What's lacking? Nice camera angles, like a camera simulating a paradrop or following a few soldiers to their assembly areas. As the camera work is important, the Intro overall isn't as good as it could have been.

Briefing

The mission plan, map and objectives are clear and straightforward. There are two special sections, the sitrep and orders, each with more details about the mission. They help, sucking you deeper into the WW2 atmosphere, although they share the same information and thus seem a bit redundant. A huge array of weapons is available so you should find something you like for this mission. If that's not enough for you, there's always the Notes section to read. For some it might be too much to read, or already known information but the author spent a lot of time gathering facts and information about D-Day.

Mission

In this mission you have to capture and defend a town after finding your squad which got dispersed during the combat jump. The mission can be quite challenging at times, especially when the mission turns into urban combat. Enemy soldiers will be running around everywhere and your teammates will have trouble staying alive. It's good, but I miss an organized enemy, for example with a coordinated platoon assault preceded by a mortar barrage. It might be the OFP engine itself, or maybe the low number of skilled troops, but it felt as if there were only a few German squads ready to retake the town. As urban fighting forms the largest part of the mission, the last loon hunt is sometimes present; though walking through the town with my squad was enough to let the last loons to reveal their position. Other than the occasional last loon problems, technically the mission is adequate, although the timing on the enemy attacks could have been improved. The intro has good sounds, the mission has custom voices and although used multiple times, they increase the atmosphere. Friendly squads are also absent while this is a large operation. It would have been good to see more friendlies gathering and moving out to take cities and annihilate the enemy, or at least fighting Germans patrol. Stupid teammates also deduct from the overall atmosphere, in the urban setting they have trouble keeping the formation closed in order to move through the town.

Outro(s)

No outro.

Special

Of course the addons are special, but they should be known by now, as they have been out for a long time. But the most special thing present is the surrender script which works pretty well, the only problem is that an enemy has to be killed before he'll surrender. This makes it less interesting in battle and only fit for the atmosphere and the eye. An enemy won't lay down it's weapons to surrender, but he'll try to kill you, die and surrender which is of course a bit weird. Other than this there are other scripts included to improve the mission, like delete script and spawning scripts, working hard to lower the PC requirements. This is a major plus, you don't need a powerful computer for this mission, Operation Overlord.

Overall

Overall, the mission is well portrayed, things are working as they should, but the mission structure isn't complicated. Take a town and defend it. More could have been done to improve the atmosphere, more sounds, music; better emplacement of enemies and more friendlies. I had to feeling the I was alone on the battlefield, it's weird when you consider that there should be more platoons in the vicinity. The surrender script works and adds to the gameplay, but as it's limited it can't make this mission a really good one. You won't be wrong playing this one, but don't expect too much, the gameplay is good at times, but can become frustrating seconds later. Lone wolves, who don't mind the atmosphere and teammates, can have a good WW2 shoot. Teamplayers will have to spend more time on their teammates, baby-sitting them and getting them to properly engage the Germans.