[OFP] Morning Dew (MEC Entry) by Jezuro

Review by The Phantom Reviewer

Overview

Right from the overview you can tell this will be a classic. The picture's a good 16:9 aspect with a nice BISish border & shadow. Also a nice little blurb, not too much and not too little, entices you to soldier on and play the mission.

Intro

Whew, The angels, the scenes, the action, the voices, the custom resources! They leave little to the imagination why this mission made it to the final 10! After it was over I was left holding on to both sides of my screen, yearning for more!

Briefing

Well done, as expected. The objectives are all on the plan page with a link to a detailed report provided in the notes. Weapons selection is good, but not gluttonous. Provides enough for re-playability, and customization of your squad, but does require you to do some balancing.

Mission

Before you even see the opening camp, you can tell that this is going to be a cut above the rest. I mentioned re-playability, well the author has provided a difficulty selector, which pops up just as the mission starts, with interactive menu options and everything. It even has an advanced button with slider bars! Unbelievable, I've got to find out how he did that!

Don't get me wrong, I spotted a thing or two that could still be cleaned up, but then, because it's my job, I went looking for these problems. Most players wouldn't spot the things I saw, and fewer still would recognize it as a possible bug. Also, all the voices, though custom, are in Czech, even the west guys. I don't make Czech voices for my missions, so I think we can let it slide, there were subtitles after all, so I still knew what was going on. That being said, this mission, in my opinion, is bug free. I'm going to spend some time messing with the re-playability of the mission that slider bar is just calling to me - but even at my easy settings it was challenging.

Outro(s)

Neither a win nor lose Outro. Just the little camera shot that was at the end of the mission. A minor disappointment, but considering the Intro and the mission, I think we can let it slide :~)

Special

Custom death cam
Custom chopper insertion script.
Health indicator.
Beginning of mission difficulty adjustor.

Overall

(Review Date: Mar 2005) The mission is engrossing, I selected Cadet mode and Moderate difficulty, and I still had to spend an hour+ - mission time - to secure all the objectives. From the beginning with the Custom insertion script, to the health indicator and the custom death scene, this mission just screams professional.