[OFP] The Forest by Mandoble

The Forest by Mandoble

Mission details

Type Single Player
Player side West
Island Malden
Time of Day Night
Weather Rainy
Filesize 2.93MB

Mission requirements

Game OFP v 1.96
Addons  
7/10

Overview - 7
Briefing - 6
Camera - 8
Scripting - 8

User rating

4.8/5


Added
06 May 2009

Views
3476

Downloads
793

Comments
2

Summary

After a run of bad luck, you joined the army. Now, on routine guard duty within a strange forest, things take a spooky turn. Solve a mystery and put tormented spirits to rest in this immersive and intriguing ghost story.

Click to see 1 other mission by this author.

Review by Bedges

Overview

While the author has tried and succeeded to do something a bit special with the overview in giving a bit of background to the player's character, he tells us nothing about the mission itself. This promotes a sense of unease. The player's character has evidently had a run of bad luck recently, although what this has to do with a Forest is unclear. The pictures are all of a reasonable size and it's obvious some time has gone into setting up Flashpoint scenes in order to capture the images. Unconventional for an overview, but works well.

Intro

Any doubts about what's happening are completely banished in the intro which is a well thought out, well constructed bit of cinematics. The player gets a real feel for the character, the history and pathos. There's obviously a great deal of scripting at play in here and it all runs smoothly without a hitch in sight. There are a couple of odd phrases, only because english isn't the author's first language, but those don't detract in any way from the overall impression of a story well told. Fluid, immersive, imaginative and very well executed.

Briefing

It's becoming obvious what effect the author is going for, but having built up the history of the character so well, only the scantest outline of the current situation is given in the briefing. We know it's a cold night, we know we're probably on patrol, around a forest with a dubious history that the army has recently acquired... other than that, there's nothing.


There's some nice music in the briefing, but one point which did break the suspension of disbelief for me was the "Note to player", insisting that I read the notes section, which is unnecessary. If the player doesn't read the notes section and there's something important there, it's the player's loss.

Mission

The opening few seconds feature a bit of wonderous scripting that puts aside any doubts about the coding capabilities of the author. These are no downloaded scripts either, they are all penned by the mission-maker himself. Top marks for that.


Getting my bearings I head south to relieve my comrade in the forest. I found him without any problem, but the discussion we had through titletext was difficult to read with alternating lines of text appearing on screen at the same time. Given the extensive use of custom sounds in the mission, I wonder why the extra step wasn't taken to add voices.


I now have to investigate the eerie sounds all around me, and I must admit I have to reach for my headphones here because the speakers just aren't cutting it in the sound location stakes. I spend quite some time running around, impressed by the atmosphere the author has created with sound, specially scripted lighting effects, and the occasional attack by what I presume is a nasty glowing-eyed wolf.


I manage to proceed through the story by following the light of campfires in the distance, sometimes backtracking and realising it's one I've already visited, and finally meet the girl talked about in the briefing. I am directed south, but now I'm vomiting every 20 seconds or so, and evidently losing health. Another wolf attack and I lose my M16.


The vomiting continues, and I find my way to an opening in the trees. I've lost so much health now I cannot stand, and I'm still vomiting. Gameplay is grinding to a crawling, vomiting halt. And then I die.


As an aside, I'm very hesitant in recommending any mission which takes control away from the player unless it's for a very good reason. In Flashpoint, sometimes the designer needs to disableuserinput to make sure an effect goes just so. This is one of those examples, but I must confess it started to get frustrating. It's very well done; realistic, well scripted, the sound effects are suitably retching, and the sense of urgency engendered by realising you're losing health and there are wolves about is completely in line with the atmosphere of the mission. I'm just warning you that your patience may be pushed by this aspect of the mission.


Nevertheless, given the quality of the experience so far, I'm more than willing to use the well-placed retry point and persevere. I follow the ingenious signs leading me farther south where I find what the girl was directing me towards. This part of the mission was very well done. Although it suffered from the same titletext issues, it was a nice break from running scared from tree to tree.


After I complete the final showdown, I'm feeling a bit better, no longer vomiting, and all I need to do is get back to camp... but the way I came is blocked! I escape in a nearby boat, and fatigue sets in... I fall asleep at the wheel, and wake a little time later, out of fuel and out of the nightmare, in sight of home. I run back north towards the camp, and music kicks in reinforcing the feeling of relief that I've made it. I'm going to be safe, as soon as I get back to the northern edge of this damned spooky forest!


Thankfully, I make it, and the outro shows a sophisticated ending to a sophisticated mission.

Special

The scripted lighting effects deserve a mention here. The author obviously has a concrete grasp of the drop command and uses its potential well, without ever overdoing it. The storytelling and development of atmosphere are very strong in this mission. English, German and Spanish all catered for.

Overall

For a first release, this is a stunning debut from the author. He has pushed the bounds of what Flashpoint can offer in terms of building an experience which is not simply another military exercise. One need only fire a maximum of 3 shots in the game, and yet it is still well worth downloading, if for no other reason than to see another side of Flashpoint, one all too often neglected. Excellent stuff.


You can view the beta thread here.

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