OpFlash Producer Happy to Let EA & Activision "Duke It Out"

[Andy Chalk]

OpFlash Producer Happy to Let EA & Activision "Duke It Out"

Operation Flashpoint Executive Producer Sion Lenton says he's happy to let EA and Activision "duke it out" while Codemasters works on attracting gamers who are tired of the same old thing in the military shooter genre.

The battle for the military shooter crown isn't exactly an epic clash of the titans. Activision dominates the market so utterly with the Medal of Honor [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Xbox-360/dp/B003JVKHEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301935030&sr=8-1] series amounted to little more than throwing rocks at tanks. Nonetheless, the most realistic hope of loosening Activision's grip on the genre lies with EA and while that story plays out Codemasters is quite content to keep its head down and stay out of the way.

"I think we've got a longer game plan. If I'm being honest I'm going to step to one side and let EA and Activision duke it out," Lenton said in an interview with CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/296721/news/ill-let-ea-and-activision-duke-it-out-operation-flashpoint-dev/?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-General-RSS]. "I'm actually much more interested in being in a very different space from those guys, hence the co-op side of things and also that kind of authenticity that we have here which is almost that reportage style, a gritty documentary style."

Lenton described Operation Flashpoint as a "more cerebral" game, saying that rewards come from learning how to deal with situations rather than simple reflexes, and that the necessity of teamwork rather than movie-style tales of individual heroism "is the bastion and central premise of the game."

"I don't know about you but I've started to sense a little bit of genre fatigue, for want of a better word, and I think - I know I am myself - people are yearning for something a little more different," he added. "Something that challenges them a little more, I think that's the kind of thing we're trying to offer here."

Operation Flashpoint does have a decidedly different feel than most shooters; it's slower, tougher and, as far as I'm able to judge such things, more realistic than the heavyweights in the genre. But the last release, Operation Flashpoint: Red River [http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Flashpoint-Dragon-Rising-Pc/dp/B00009P50V/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1301934969&sr=8-9], which comes out in June for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, will do something to address those technical shortcomings.


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[Armyguy0]

Operation Flashpoint is ok but its no ARMA
Ps. ARMA is spiritual successor to the 1st Operation Flashpoint
Pss. my Captcha is Pπi fershoul

 

[Darth Sea Bass]

Good luck to them i know i'd rather play op flash than either CoD or MoH.

 

[Two Angels]

Operation Flashpoint: DR was one of the more fun games I have played in a while and I didn't really notice any glitches that ruined the game. I am looking forward to this after being let down by Homefront, Bulletstorm & Crysis 2.

 

[mjc0961]

Operation Flashpoint Executive Producer Sion Lenton says he's happy to let EA and Activision "duke it out" while Codemasters works on attracting gamers who are tired of the same old thing in the military shooter genre.

My mind follows this up with a "OH NO YOU DI'INT!", complete with the moving of extended finger and head in a Z-shaped motion.

Honestly, all this talk of "we're going to try and make our game different than that same ol' Call of Duty every year" just makes every dev who does it look stupid when their game sells peanuts compared to Duty.

 

[TheScottishFella]

Operation Flashpoint: DR was one of the more fun games I have played in a while and I didn't really notice any glitches that ruined the game. I am looking forward to this after being let down by Homefront, Bulletstorm & Crysis 2.

How come you were let down? Homefront I understand by why Bulletstorm and Crysis, just curious.

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

I'm all for differentiation (lord knows we need it in the FPS genre especially), but there's a reason the mass market loves CoD. It's polished and not full of bugs, generally speaking. It may be boring, but it's predictable in quality. Same reasoning behind fast food. I guess CoD is the McDonalds of the video game world. You can have the best idea in the world, but it isn't worth squat if you don't have a good execution to back it up.

Best post I ever read on the subject: http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2005/08/ideas_are_just_a_multiplier_of.html

 

[MrShowerHead]

Codemasters....why don't you just quit doing Flashpoint games? Dragon Rising was... well, it was crap. You destroyed my favorite gaming series.... Ugh..just stick to racing games, okay?

Okay, got to calm down...

Operation Flashpoint is ok but its no ARMA
Ps. ARMA is spiritual successor to the 1st Operation Flashpoint
Pss. my Captcha is Pπi fershoul

Hell yeah, man!

High Five!

 

[Irridium]

Operation Flashpoint: DR was one of the more fun games I have played in a while and I didn't really notice any glitches that ruined the game. I am looking forward to this after being let down by Homefront, Bulletstorm & Crysis 2.

How come you were let down? Homefront I understand by why Bulletstorm and Crysis, just curious.

I can't speak for him, but I also can't pass up the oportunity to say why Crysis 2 disappointed me.

For me, it was the multiplayer. The multiplayer was made by the guys who did Timesplitters. And instead of getting a multiplayer thats totally awesome, unique, and intense, we basically just get a Call of Duty clone where the only differences are how high you can jump and you can cloak at will. Thats what disappointed me the most.

Story was pretty fun though.

 

[Two Angels]

How come you were let down? Homefront I understand but why Bulletstorm and Crysis, just curious.

The glitches in Crysis 2 ruined it (Guys running in circles or just standing still as their team mates get gunned down) and another factor was that even on Supersoldier this was an easy game (even though it didn't give me the achievement for completing it on this setting, annoying damn glitch!). The Stealth power was just way to powerful too, you could easily ghost your way through most levels. On top of all that the multiplayer is just horrible! Compared to Halo, Bad Company or Homefront I just don't think it will stand the test of time and provide the level of fun that these do.

Bulletstorm multiplayer is one of the worst I have played, it might as well not be there or it should have been done so that you don't have to hit a specific score to progress. The campaign had very little replay value and the story was a bit bleh, I just didn't care about it after the first few cutscenes and the characters were annoying and one dimensional. Plus some of the skill shots were a pain to pull off or sometimes you'd think you'd got it but your companion or something else would screw it up.

TBH a game with Crysis 2 looks, Homefront Multiplayer & Bulletstorm fun level would be awesome IMO but seperate all games just don't seem to be worth the cash that is asked for them. Luckily trade in means I get most of that money back but it's the principle!

 

[koroem]

Codemasters is crap honestly.

Their MMORPG branch is a joke beyond argument with customer service worse than NC Soft (and that is atrocious), Their big "action" titles aren't that big at all, and their racing games are very niche.

Great for them if they want the gamers who like "progressive people" need something different from the masses just because it is different, but it doesn't make shoddy quality any less forgivable.

 

[Bob_Marley42]

Well, good luck to them. They'll need it - thier market nieche of the so called "thinking man's action game" (though sadly the game that coined the phrase has fallen by the wayside. If only we could have another real Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon. Oh Red Storm, how did you fall so far?) has some stiff competition, most notably from Bohemia Interactive's ARMA series. And I know which sequel I bought (along with the expansion pack and the DLCs. Now only if they'd stop putting those damned helicopter missions in the campagins!). And of course the excellent mods produced by Black Sands Studio's Project Reality team.

I wish codemasters luck, but I don't think they'll do fantastically well - from what I understand OFP2R was too complex for those who'd play CoD/MoH and not realistic enough for the fans of the original and best Operation Flashpoint (and its sucessors).

 

[Armyguy0]

Operation Flashpoint is ok but its no ARMA
Ps. ARMA is spiritual successor to the 1st Operation Flashpoint
Pss. my Captcha is Pπi fershoul

Hell yeah, man!

High Five!

*High Fives*

 

[TheScottishFella]

Operation Flashpoint: DR was one of the more fun games I have played in a while and I didn't really notice any glitches that ruined the game. I am looking forward to this after being let down by Homefront, Bulletstorm & Crysis 2.

How come you were let down? Homefront I understand by why Bulletstorm and Crysis, just curious.

I can't speak for him, but I also can't pass up the oportunity to say why Crysis 2 disappointed me.

For me, it was the multiplayer. The multiplayer was made by the guys who did Timesplitters. And instead of getting a multiplayer thats totally awesome, unique, and intense, we basically just get a Call of Duty clone where the only differences are how high you can jump and you can cloak at will. Thats what disappointed me the most.

Story was pretty fun though.

I will always remember the studio as free radical, but apparently because of this, they are looking back into timesplitters 4.

 

[NLS]

ArmA II is still better though.