Name: Vympel BETA
Size: 30MB
Type: Equipment Mod
Developer(s): Earl, Specforce
Requirements: None
Download Location: None, Closed BETA
Review by Pyro_Monty
Introduction
This new BETA from the Baconbomb mod team allows Ghost Recon players to take their place in the elite Russian special operations group, "Spetsgruppa Vympel." It adds a host of Russian weapons and equipment as well as soliers.
First Impressions
As this was a closed BETA, there was on readme with the mod. The BETA group consisted only of those with a background in playing mods, so the risk of newcomers getting lost with the mod was marginal. When I activated the mod and started up, I was immediately greeted by a Russian sniper complete with SVD sniper rifle... Which was nice
9/10
Mod Features
As mentioned above the mod is a partial conversion mod containing all the tools and personnel of the Russian special forces.
- The weapons... wow, Earl has done an amazing job here. There are approximately 90 kits and 30 new weapons, primaries and secondaries; assualt rifles, submachine guns, pistols, sniper rifles... the whole lot. Each weapon has its own new model. These models are perhaps the sweetest eastern bloc weapon models I have seen for any game, let alone Ghost Recon. The texturing surpasses proffesional level without having excessively large .rsb files. Make no mistake... if you have ever made a Kalashnikov model in 3DS Max and have thought to yourself "hmm, this looks OK," this mod may not be for you... it will put your own work to shame. The sounds may have let the weapons down a bit. A lot of the weapons used original GR sounds though this was something Earl had already explained. The weapons that did have new sounds (or they may have been from IT) were usually very well done, like the PKM and 9A-91.
- The skins and actors included are also very impressive. The whole roster of 250 names has been replaced with a team of Russians. Kudos goes out to the team for this - thinking up 250 names is hard enough but 250 Russian names must be even harder! Some interesting names turned up, Makarov and Kalashnikov being good ones
And I bet you didn't know that Uriy Gagarin was Russian SF. There is variation amongst the classes meaning that you could pick two or three riflemen, all with individual skins.9/10
Mod Gameplay
The weapons were all very well balanced, and seemed realistic. Some weapons would have a large magazine capacity which would be kept in equilibrium by a short scope zoom, like the Bizon. There were some very satisfyingly destructive weapons like the V-94 anti-material sniper rifle which could blow enemies off their feet like the MaNiaC Biker Dude M82A1. However, I noticed some of the support weapons having quite long-range zoom. While this may have been justified by the scope modelled on the weapon, it made it feel more like an assault rifle.
9/10
Multiplayer
Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to review the mod in MP so can't comment on this aspect. I sure would love to though...
N/A
Bugs/Issues
This is where the mod loses points
In the original release of the mod, there was a glitch invlolving the selection of DS operatives whereby the game would crash. This was promtly fixed with a small patch but a few bugs remained. The PSS pistol, whenever fired, would cause the player's primary sound to mute. This was fixed by switching to another actor, firing their weapon and switching back. No big deal but would be off-putting in MP. The Groza weapon sound differed depending on whether you selected the version with or without the GP-25 underbarrel grenade launcher. One of the new RPG launchers was also without a texture. Of course this is only a BETA the point of which is to seek out these bugs, so hopefully we will see them fixed for final release.7/10
Conclusion
I have to say that this mod has worked its way to the number one weapon mod, in my opinion. I sincerely hope that Earl and co. go the whole hog and make it into the finest total conversion mod seen yet for Ghost Recon... I know they are capable of it.
However, the one thing that really disappointed me was the fact that this mod is simply too good to be played "only for comical purposes." LMAO
Overall Rating - 85%
Very good job, guys.
The eye candy:
"My 9A-91 has more attachments than yours!"
Another shot of the 9A-91.
AK-74M, note the blue duct tape holding the magazines together.
The OTs-33, Russia's answer to the Glock 18.
Edited by GiWeDa, 16 September 2005 - 04:58 AM.
