Bahger

I am not sure which is more naive: expecting squad AI to be reintroduced via user-pressure or assuming it would be there in the first place. I am guilty on the second count, not on the first and saddened by what I think amounts to a "final" break with the core tactical gameplay from the original games in this series. I am not convinced that tactical gameplay is at all possible in this emphatically cinematic version of the game unless you get a full complement of coop players with voice comms. How doable/enjoyable will it be to solo these missions in the absence of friendly AI, do you think? I know the AI in Wildlands was goofy but the sync-shot feature was vaguely tactical and it seems a bit of an immersion-breaker to be solo-ing missions that should obviously be squad/team missions. This latest act of dumbing down seems both regrettable and final to me, however much lip-service the devs — including the ex-Green Beret on the dev team — pay to tactical gameplay. I suppose I will give it a try in the Beta.

Is this best played in SP or COOP?

Very impressive! I think the extraction would have been a little more stylish if you had given your teammates a ride in the helo instead of bugging out solo but that's just a very small thing!

I doubt it, Zeealex, sadly. I'll bet you 50 Ghost Coins that they don't do a PC Beta for the next Splinter Cell either. It costs them too much in proportion to the significance of the PC market to their overall profitability. They do not release PC versions of their games so much as throw them at us, "here it is, be grateful, pay us $60 and play at your own risk". I don't see this changing any time soon. GRO is the place for PC players to go.

B0TA16, GRO friend request incoming.

Hmm...let's see if I can find you. Oh, wait, "Bonnie Scotland", you're playing in the Euro server, I'm in North America and never the twain shall meet. it's a bit of a frustrating limitation but it's to optimise game performance. If you like, PM me with word count and whatever other guidelines you can think of (such as screenshot resolution, for example) and I could write a preview of GRO as Open Beta starts, probably next week.

Mexicobob, they've implemented a fix for that, I believe. Check the web site. As with all PvP shooters, you will often get your butt handed to you by someone insanely quick and agressive but situational awareness and coordinated team maneuver can counter that in GRO. Although the in-game voice comms are good, the mini-map and virtual tethers are even better for tactical SA. Smart use of cover, teamwork and the powerful situaltional awareness tools that the game provides level the playing field, making it possible for tactical players to compete with the hard-chargers.

Hey Rocky, I'm Strummer in-game if you want to friend me and fireteam together. Because this game is built for the PC -- and having played GRFS (which I like, with significant reservations) -- I'm convinced that GRO represents the true GR legacy. FTP/PvP gaming isn't for everyone -- most mature tac gamers I know prefer coop because there is less posturing -- but this is something special and I urge you all to sign up for the Open Beta.. Closed Beta vets will have had a week to level up to new weapons and armor by the time the OB starts next week so ping me if you'd like me to help ease you into it. (And Rocky, if you want a preview for GR.net, let me know, I'm your man.)

is an impressive team performance that I was fortunate enough to capture with FRAPS. This firefight gives a pretty good impression of the gameplay dynamics, combat gameplay, weapon performance and special ability deployment. Note use of: - Oracle (teammate) to identify enemy positions, briefly outlined in red - Cloak (player) to advance into cover undetected - Aegis (teammate) to enable fireteam to advance while shielded - Virtual "tethers" when teammates are in proximity to each other, to enhance situational awareness and assist in identifying enemy positions I think this sequence demonstrates, among other things, the high quality of the game and the genuinely tactical nature of the combat. Video quality is downgraded by FRAPS to avoid affecting framerate while capturing DV/sound. My native resolution is 1200 x 1920. ...and yes, I know I got lucky not being killed by the frag in the doorway but that's what armor inserts are for!

Rather an intelligent post, I must say.

Papa6, It's often this way with ports, but, in this as in other areas, the GRFS PC port triumphs over most others for sheer laziness and stupidity. Hey Rocky, it appears that, if I select Mission 11 and wait for it to save, that save will then count as my Campaign progress save...but who knows? I've done this before, by playing through the previous mission twice. You'd think it would let me re-start #12, having unlocked and half-completed it, wouldn't you? This port really is dumb as a post. Sigh.

I was playing the final Campaign mission last night but the FPS was exceptionally slow compared to the game's performance in other missions so, without thinking, I exited after a save and played a little of another, unlocked mission to compare. I forgot that the wretched game can only hold one save at a time, does not save Campaign progress independently, and won't even let me start at the beginning of the last mission. Because my last Campaign save is now in Mission #6 and the final scenario is #12, it looks like I might have to start the campaign again by replaying Mission #11, or, God forbid, proceeding from the save in #6. Can anyone advise, or possibly even get me a savegame file (with advice re. where to put it) for the final mission? Many thanks in anticipation.

Well, good. Even if it deprives us of their sloppy ports in the future it would be good for Ubi's nose to rubbed in this mess of their own creation, I think. They are going up against the COD series and other established action-shooter franchises; it might have behooved them to make an honest tactical game instead.

Yup. We're irrelevant I'm afraid.

Yup, I played through two Campaign missions with one buddy (linked by third-party voice comms) and two AI. I must say, it worked flawlessly and was quite enjoyable.

How do you know it hasn't sold well on console?

I'm not denying that they've been lazy; I'm saying they can get away with it because pleasing the PC constituency is simply not profitable for Ubi, so you won't find them spending money on beta testing for the PC nor spending any more than the bare minimum on their ports. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that this will change because it has now become Ubi's culture. Even if we all voted with our feet and refused to buy their next sloppy port (the Splinter Cell game) it would not make enough of a dent in their profits to motivate them to change their ways. They do not take pride in making good games for the PC any more and they probably think we should be grateful for the sloppy seconds they serve up to us; in fact, I would not be surprised if, after this latest debacle, they decide to cut their losses as stop porting their games altogether. I've been enjoying some of the action-game aspects of GRFS, just as I enjoyed some of the faster-paced stealth action in SCC. However, I realise that it's essentially empty calories compared with the satisfaction to be gained from well made PC tac-shooters. We will have to look elsewhere for those.

It's not laziness, Papa6, it's their business model. There is much, much more money in consoles. No large game publisher canafford to develop primarily for PC these days. I don't blame Ubi for this but I do hold them responsible for pandering in their game design and for cynical profiteering from sloppy ports, which include not just the GRFS debacle but also SCC. PC users might not be at the top of the consumer food chain, but we made the franchise what it is and deserve to be treated with more respect.

One thing's for certain (and I say this as someone who agrees with all the above sentiments while confessing to having gotten a certain amount of guilty pleasure from GRFS PC): The nature of this game and the dismal quality of the port bodes ill indeed for the upcoming Splinter Cell title. However, has GRFS been successsful as a console game and, if so, does this justify Ubi's strategy (and preserve the franchise, albeit in a debased form?)

I find the firefights to be a guilty pleasure, I must admit. I don't like being led around by the nose, chanelled, funelled and scripted, but I like the combat dynamics, i.e. movement, cover, AI fireteam support, weapon modelling. And yet even where it shines, it never even approaches the quality of GRO.

Eh, found it. Seasoned PC gamers do not instinctively hit "Enter" when there's no prompt.

Yes, I have exactly that bug. Among others, of course.

Thanks, but where in mercy's name is either Gunsmith of Firing Range to be found (if it's PC)??

I admit I must be missing something very simple here so I am prepared to look stupid but this is driving me crazy: The only time I see a Gunsmith icon is within a mission briefing, when you can't click to open it but an eqipment menu opens instead, offering a very small range of guns and no apparent customisation interface. Similarly, I've read about a Firing range Module and Character Builder; can't find those, either. I simply cannot figure out how to access these aspects of the game. I see nothing in the root Campaign menu, nor nothing in the main menu. I was told they are in the Campaign menu, but where?? Are they only accessible when you start a new Campaign? Surely not... PS I could find no reference to any of this in what passes for a manual. Please help me so that I do not tear what's left of my hair out over this. Step me through it if you could and, in this instance at least, assume you're dealing with a dim bulb. Thanks! PS I cannot find references to any of the above in what passes for a "manual".

With references in the PC version to Xbox360 controls, I'd say that's a pretty accurate assesment Well, in fairness, you can get rid of that overlay and substitute keyboard/mouse control hints in the HUD...but only after you've disabled all your controller drivers and physically unplugged some, or all, of your controllers! However, I've never seen such stupidity in a modern console port; most of them are smnart enough to recognise and distinguish between different control input sources without requiring any of them to be disconnected.