Which is good? I’ve been vascillating between these. They all seem to get decent scores from game sites.
They’re different games?
Brothers in Arms all the way.
It’s more than just a run and gun shooter because you are able to issue commands to the two fireteams under your control. Setting up one fireteam to suppress the enemy while having the second move around and flank is great fun! I’m really looking forward to the third game in the series, Hells Highway. From what I understand, they’re going to be adding in a third squad that has access to mortars and heavy machine guns. Should be a lot of fun.
Enjoyed the original, but can’t recommend the Earned in Blood followup. The AI improvements -namely, less static enemies- should have been enough to raise the challenge and improve the gaming experience. Unfortunately, someone decided to kick it up five notches by throwing LOTS of MP44-toting SS at your squad. That, and more tanks for you to scoot around and shoot repeatedly in the back. BIA’s tank encounters, usually in an artificially constrained space with a handy box of panzerfausts in one corner, are probably the weakest parts of the series and were acute “You are in a game!” moments for me.
Plus, the checkpoints might have been spaced out a bit more in EIB. It certainly seemed that way in some levels.
Red Orchestra if you plan to play online:no bunny hoping nor heavy machineguns fired from the hip, nicely done weapons, great maps, decent tank driving (beware the panzerfausts) and russian cursing.
It’s cheap at Steam.
If you want an online tank sim, you go with Red Orchestra. If you want a realistic feeling online shooter you go with Red Orchestra. If you are into WW2 you go with Red Orchestra. I could go on. So I will. There is basically nothing of what is commonly referred to as cheesiness in RO. It’s cheap too, constantly updated and upgraded for free.
You don’t get to play as an American though. You do get to drive and fire from the most famous and mythical tanks of that conflict; Tiger, T-34 and Panther along with the gigantonormous IS-2 are all in. You get to fire a smg with 70 shots in the mag, the fastest firing machine-gun in the world at the time and the Mauser rifle. No bunny-hopping and no single-player scripted campaign but entrails, brains, blood, tank treads and bayonets. In the snow and in pleasant places like Stalingrad and Warsaw. And smoke grenades. You even get to call in the artillerary.
How is Red Orchestra if you want to play a foot soldier (i.e., you don’t want to be in a tank?)
CoD for the best movie like WW2 experience.
They each have a different focus. MoH and CoD go for the “cinematic” run-n-gun FPS experience: fairly linear, but pretty intense if you like that sort of thing. Between the two, I favor CoD, but MoH:PA was also good. BiA goes for more of a tactical flavor, by giving you up to two squads to control; however, the levels are still linear-ish, so the tactical aspect is narrower and more predictable than it would be in a more open-ended game design. [BiA:EiB has better AI than the first one, but I found it more frustrating to play.] BF1942 is a different beast entirely: more like Team Fortress with vehicles. [Is anyone still playing BF1942 online these days?]
Among other WW2 shooters: Red Orchestra goes for a more hardline approach to realism than the others and is all about the Eastern Front; personally, I don’t care for it, but its fans are quite vocal. Day of Defeat remains a perennial favorite of mine, despite its age; DoD Source is also good, though the feel is a bit different.
Aren’t there demos for all these franchises? That seems like it would be the easiest way to try them out.
Hidden and Dangerous II
Wow. Absolutely no love for Medal of Honor.
Fantastic. Several, if not most, maps are infantry-only with all kinds of different focus and gameplay. From weird mountain maps with steep cliffs everywhere, through forest and fields to the rubbles of Stalingrad. Warsaw and Berlin. Many players only play infantry maps.You can lean your weapon on any object to get more accurate aim, same as going prone and stationary. And no bunny-hopping. There are also a few maps with combined arms; infantry, vehicles and artillerary. To get into it I suggest playing on one map you enjoy as much as you can, I get lost and die-a-lot ™ on maps I haven’t grasped. There are no “fuckin camper” calls in RO. Machinegunners aren’t supposed to run around. They are supposed to put as much lead in the air as possible.
I’ve played them all; BIA and especially BIA:EIB were by far my favorites. Of course, I’m more of a simmer so silly invincible win-the-war-alone games like MOH and COD don’t impress me much and get zero replayability value.
The tactical nature of BIA and the more realistic approach to gunnery (the source of a lot on contention among COD players “waaa where’s my aiming reticle? waaa why does my gun sway? waaaa why do I have to aim my gun down the sight to shoot people accurately?”) increases immersion a hundred fold. EIB, although more dificult, got me as close to watching HBO’s Band of Brothers as I could hope for until they release Hell’s Highway. I would skip the first one just to get to the good AI and more urban environments of EIB, although I have to admit the story elements got a little heavy handed.
Unless you want multiplayer, in wich case bf1942 is good fun (if people are still playing it?)
yeeesss!!
Are there more than four players online at any given time now? When I last checked in, about three weeks after it came out, there was about one semi-active server.
I choose MoH. I thought Pacific Assault was a lot of fun.
There’s always WWII Online.
<stifled laughter>
I went MOH
Brothers in Arms (I didn’t play the first one) was great, very immersive, and had a lot of simness (lack of a reticule, one-shot kills) going for it. One of the best touches is the sound of the weapons - play on a good surround sound system with a big woofer and open up on a foxhole full of ratzis with a BAR - the neigbors will hate you.
I also felt the balance between the tactical and FPS elements was excellent. Full Spectrum Warrior’s tactics and GRAW’s shooting (kinda).
COD is the best cinematic/action shooter, great graphics and fun gameplay. Not so much with the simness. Different games, same settings, both great.
Chet, there must be a problem with the forum software because BF1942 isn’t winning.