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(Review Completed) [CAMP] Grunt ONE (OUC 2)

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Mandoble:


Version needed: OFP 1.96
Type: SP Campaign
Islands: Everon, Malden, Kolgujev and Nogova
Addons needed: Mikero's editor update
Number of missions: 16
Languages supported: English

Sripts by others:
FireEffect.sqs by General Barron

Brief introduction:
This campaign tells the story of Stuart Patterson, later known as Grunt ONE. At the beginning they were three brothers and their sick little sister. Trying to save his sister's life, Stuart's one is going to change drastically.

Grunt ONE Homepage

Version 2.2 OFPEC Review & Download from the Missions Depot.

Cheetah:
Before losing a lot of posts to the Great Digital Unknown (tm bedges) I posted in this thread saying that I would review this one. But, as I haven't got a lot of time lately (not for the next few weeks probably) I don't know if anyone else of the mission staff would like to review this one?

If not, I'll try to review it in the spare time I find, but it won't go fast and smooth that way.

EDIT: I'll review this campaign.

sharkyjoe:
                         Review 1

Well written readme and thanks for the Mikero's 103 update( is it really called that??) included in the unzipper part.

Intro- Nice, sets moods well done.

Break down- My review is quick and what I remembered to write down and what i remebered as I write this. I also skipped some of the missions because I was so close to the end and I died.

Brothers- Cops and robbers cool I can do this. The Helio appears out of now where. Try to get away die from missiles a lot and finnally give up and go with the police.

Forest- Well its weird. Did not like this.

BlueFlag- fun interesting great work here. just right.

Corpals- Ok, it was just there. To be Honest I just had everyone drop there Mags. and shot all the ammo out. Pick a guy F4 and he was my sharp shooter. Lucky I guess.

Everon's Coup- Aaahhh the meat of the whole campaign. I had no probems here( no show stoppers). Hard to do. Skipped some here.
One thing here was that the "Id the tanks because A10's are here" didnt work well I Binoc'd all the Tanks and it would only get a few Id and they only took out 3, until I actually got really close to town and risked life. 
Oh ya the mission(Take out the Arty) where the hostages of resistance they didnt join me(should have because my group was shot up and lost 5 men) but they joined the fight anyway and helped out. The Tanks came to fast.

Second Phase- dont remember this one. Interlude to the next Island??

1st contact- Fun a lot things going on. 1st island is fun to do and bmp on the second Island was taken out by gernades and then for good measure again with the Civy Idea.

Beach Head- neat Idea, the light was tuff to do.

General Yazov- the fuel out was a pain in the rear. some of my men were SPF and regular Tankers?? Made it to the General. "I" Took him out from a distance...Then all of a sudden I died or appeared to die. It said the General was dead and was starting whirl around and then it ended with me as standing up. No retry here. Is this a bugg. Is the ending trigger ok here??

Outro- dont know stopped the campaign here.

My Take- My veiw is that there is 4 separte mission/campaigns here. Cops and robbers. An Outerspace/Haunted mission campaign. The fist Main rebels. Then the Russian Rogue General. Some of the cut scenes/ transittions are a little long. I realize your telling a story here but waiting to play next mission lets the Air out of tire here if ya know what I mean. The campiagn goes flat..excitment dies down.
Get Rid of the Haunted mission.
Try to show the Rogue General, way earlier in the campaign recruiting Rebels..he gets arrested and then breaks out later.
Some of the Sub-missions seem to be a bit long.
The killing of the general needs to be looked at. I was standing up with in the dead screen doing its thing and the general dead.

I loved some of the things you did here. The flag on the men fun and neat in the resistance joinning in the fight. The some cut scenes were nicely done.
I really appreciate all the hard work done here. Soooo Many things that are nice gems in here that I know are not easy to incorparte in a No-add on mission.
Just re- think the Story Line Here. You have a good missions/campaign here and it will be a Great Campaign if you Iron-Out some it. Keep it going. ;)
 

Mandoble:
Hi sharkyjoe and thanks for the quick review.

Second Phase is second part of Everon's operations.

About the Yazov's dead "bug", may be it is not exactly a bug. You were ordered to capture the general, not to kill him. If you kill him there is no way to interrogate him and continue the campaign. But I cannot use a loose end here, so I "kill" the player (not really as you will see you are alive, but the mission ends here) and you still can retry from your last saved game. With a "loose" end you would not be able to retry from last saved game and you would be forced to repeat the entire mission. Or is that you were unable to retry after killing Yazov?

As a side note, Grunt ONE has several parts, the operations previous to Yazov's intervention, the arrival to Urup Island and then the fight against Sons of Twisted Cobra organization.

Cheetah:
File: Grunt ONE v2.2 (7mb)Version: FinalRequires: OFP:R 1.96Author:  MandobleScore:  8Type:  CampaignAddons: Mikero's editor103 (included in mission zip)Description:You start as a criminal, fail and join the army.
Review: by Cheetah

Overview
In a campaign the overview is a minor thing. Every mission overview has a picture taken from a particular scene in the mission, fine.

Cinematics
One of the things that shouldn't be overlooked in a campaign are the cutscenes. Mandoble did a good job in the cinematics department, telling the story in his own way. The cutscenes are to the point, generally without dialogues, and are meant to show the strategic movements of the Army. Dialogues are there, but they are spread thin and are of little value to the overall feeling of the campaign. Most of the cutscenes are action based: ships are being sunk, rocket systems fired and aircraft delivering their deadly loads get a close up. The cutscenes do their job, they suck the player deeper into the action.

Of course there are some things which could've been done better. Several camera angles could've been improved or scenes shortened, some good dialogues are missing and there is no voice acting present in the campaign. Overall, a lot of well made cutscenes, but few great ones.

Briefings
Briefings are important when cinematics are lacking, in Grunt ONE most of the story is told in its missions and cutscenes.
This means that the briefings can be to the point and in fact are. Plans are rarely longer than one page and many notes sections consist of just a few lines. Most briefings don't add much to the overall feeling, but don't do wrong either.

Missions
There is a large variety of missions in Operation Urup: Grunt ONE. Sixteen missions are waiting for you in this campaign and they're all linked together and about of the same quality, which is something a campaign needs. Objectives go from investigating weird sounds to capturing high ranked enemies. In one mission you'll be commanding your squad through a training area, whereas in another you'll have to keep them sharp to prevent damage to a SCUD. The missions can be divided roughly into three categories, Training, Urup Operation and Covert Operation. Do not make the mistake to misjudge the difficulty of any mission. You don't want an avalanche hitting your truck loaded with a chemical warhead, nor do you want a rivaling company to win the shooting contest.

Usually a campaign features lots of short missions, not with this one. Mandoble brings to you a fine selection of missions with an above average playlength. Numerous times a mission seemed to end, but didn't. This can cause frustration, but gives more joy upon completion. This campaign will keep you busy for roughly eight to ten hours, maybe more. You'll notice that a lot of work has been spent on the details. Fountains are working, civilians walk and drive everywhere and the number of objects used in some missions is enormous. A lot of towns and places have been redone. Take a look at for example Petrovice or the airport in the southwest of Nogova. The lag factor is non existent in most missions, in only two missions it could be a problem for older PCs.

Many missions are challenging and full of additional stuff. Civilians reveal ammo depots and important information which can be used to complete a mission in a different fashion. The author also added a lot of details, for example, pay attention to hostages. One wrong grenade can make a husband pretty angry and your uniform won't stop him from attacking you. You'll notice the large amount of scripted events, like awesome missiles and a bus system. Missions can be challenging because of timers, hard objectives or well placed enemies. Some may find it hard to complete missions, be sure to check all possibilities and speak to civilians for information.

Special
By using the radio you can do special things. There's a limited number of savegames available in most missions, as well as an option to skip a mission. What I found useful at times was the option to request a repeat of the last order, it's not available in later missions though.

For me, the story of a campaign has to be discussed here, in the special section. Everything starts in a hotel, red lights, with three men sitting at a table discussing their plans. The atmosphere is set and can be creepy at times. The story is pretty good, although not much attention is spent on the personality of most characters. You get a pretty good feel of the character you're playing, the others remain flat. What may disturb some people is  "The Forest", a mission where you do a routine guard. Love it or hate it, but don't let it stop you playing the other missions. I'm glad that the campaign story is decent though, some players may not like some (semi)-endings, most will.

Conclusion
In short, the campaign plays like an exciting and well filmed action movie. With lots of video material of decent quality and lengthy missions keeping you occupied for many hours. Objectives can be accomplished multiple ways which opens up more possibilities for the player. A lot of details have been added and may keep surprising you during play, but won't cause severe lag.

Custom voices would definitely make this a very high quality campaign, but getting lots of actors is almost impossible. The story seems odd sometimes, but all works and fits. Upon completion I was satisfied, some may not like the end but you'll find that out after having played 15 entertaining missions. I definitely recommand this campaign to everyone.

Scores
Overview - 7
Briefing - 7
Scripting - 9
Camera - 8
Overall - 8/10

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