Rocky Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 World War 3 Fight For Freedom Author : Mr. Pibbs Authors Email : wwiiifff@hotmail.com Reviewer : [JTF-3]Iceman, Rocky Reviewers Email : matthew.friesen@sympatico.ca Download Required : Ghost Recon, Island Thunder, Desert Siege Introduction WWIII is a little different from any other Ghost Recon mod you have played, with perhaps 1 or 2 exceptions. There are a couple of cool missions, but what makes it different is the way Mr Pibbs has tried to make the whole campaign more immersive, and film-like. To do this he has made extensive use of movie cut scenes - to the extent that some of the missions are almost wholly site-back-and-watch movies. Whether you appreciate this or not will be down to the individual, but we enjoyed it! In addition to the innovative use of movies, Mr Pibbs has gone to an enormous length in the scripting to offer the player a new challenge - and boy is it a challenge! If you have ever wanted to take on hordes of enemies, take a chopper ride down the river and through the woods then this mod is for you. This mod is so well detailed that the cutscenes look like they were directed by a veteran filmmaker. I am still stunned by the amount of goodies that Mr. Pibbs has put into this mod that I could probably write about it for a month but I will try to keep it as brief as possible. Many actors are used to enhace the battlefield atmosphere.. for example here's a breakdown on the characters to give you an idea... Mission 1. 100%cinematics mission. 56 allies 63 Enemies Mission 1. First combat mission. 52 allies 82 Enemies Content As a member of the United States Military it is your job to stop the Russian invasion and slaughter of its own people. Since Russia set in to a high state of depression a new military leader has emerged from the ranks to make the country better than it ever was before. The problem is this new leader is hardly a leader and more of a crazed lunatic (aren't they all?) and has bigger plans for Russian than everyone had thought. Your job is to go in and stop him. World War 3 The Fight For Freedom contains new camos, new insertions, redone maps and a 5 mission single player campaigns to date. 8/10 Maps The maps are all good ole Ghost Recon maps...with a twist. The maps in this mod have been modified just a bit to resemble a battlefield..and they do. The maps have minor alterations with different objectives which always makes it fun. The helicopter insertions are amazing and makes it feel like you are actually in the middle of the battlefield. 8/10 Camos Enemy camouflage has been upgraded and looks better than ever. The Russian Spetsnaz that come calling the earlier missions look great and well detailed. This mod could have used some new camos for the allies to add to the fun. 6/10 Video The cut scenes in between and even during some of the missions were great and well coordinated. One thing that amazed me is that the entire first mission was a movie! You watch a team of grunts moving through the "Battlefield" map and get beat down pretty hard. Although the videos are quite enjoyable, the sound in almost all of them is a little lacking. There is a cool music soundtrack, but some radio chatter, or voice comms to help the movie(s) along it could have made the movies even more enjoyable. 9/10 Missions The missions in this mod are very specific and down to the point. In the second mission it's great fun running over a hill and across a hayfield into the incoming heavy machine gun fire and trying to take down a built in group of Russians who are intent on keeping you back. The addition of artillery fire into the missions is also a nice touch. As you make your way across fields incoming artillery shards rip your team and if not careful yourself apart which is always frustrating - the clever thing about this mission is that you have to make an attempt though. What happens is, that from the start you are supported by 3 platoons of friendlies. The first group immediately moves in to assault the Russian lines, now it is tempting to sit back and keep your characters safe, while the friendlies engage. The problem with that is you are likely to see them wiped out! If you allow that two happen, two things become clear. The second friendly platoon is called in to support, and suddenly you are left with major casualties from platoon 1, and also platoon 2 casualties! These battlefield losses makes the following objectives doubly difficult. It's clever stuff, that makes you really feel that things are working dynamically and in reaction to what actual happens during the mission. The only problem with having so much going on at one time is the computer slow down. I run a GeForce 4 MX440 128MB Video Card and have a Gb Of ram and I still experience some slowdown. Those of you with older video cards may need to turn your settings down for this one. 10/10 Of the 5 included missions, the entire 1st and 3rd missions are movies (expect for a short run across the map to pick-up). They are quite long, but very cool to watch - especially the end of the 3rd mission which actually flies you into the next mission - that was very cool. The playable missions (2,4 and 5) are varied, from heavily scripted and complex missions to basic but cool clear-the-map firefights. I found them all a good challenge, but one downside was the effectiveness of your platoon - they really were not up to the task, quite often being ripped apart by the enemy. For this reason I'd love to play some of these missions online in a cooperative game, that would be a real test for any squad. 9/10 Conclusion World War Three The Fight For Freedom is an excellent showing of what a skilled Ghost Recon modder can accomplish with a little know-how and elbow grease. Although there are no new weapons or any new sounds the mod more than makes up for those 2 omissions. On the downside the full mod is over 100Mb for what is essentially on 3 playable missions, however Mr Pibbs did release a smaller version at around 20Mb and all that is missing from that smaller version is the music files, so we are not going to mark the mod down for the size/content ratio. Having seen some of the work that went into this mod Mr Pibbs has to be congratulated on the sheer amount of thought and work that went into this mod. Overall a definite mod to be downloaded and one that will be on my hard drive for weeks to come. Congratulations and thanks to Mr. Pibbs for his excellent mod. 8.6/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
talib_killa34 Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 Well said! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inc_Doc Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 I would say that that was a fair review of this mod. It was fun, although the first mission confused me..lol..Just sit back and watch it. One thing I did find was that when there was a bunch of AIs firing I seemed to get laggy, but this might have been my computer. The score you gave was a fair one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Ledanek Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 I give him 10/10 on the camera angles, i.e. the opening cinematics, when the Russian broke thru the line and one scence where the camera was the opposite site of a door entrance and you see the Russian troops coming into view, then one goes thru the door, seemingly doing a recon, then firing at someone. Very chilling. Suggestion Mr Pibbs, if you can, give us a cut scene like Ridley Scott(director of Enemy of the State/BHD/Crimson Tides, etc) to do like a fast-moving camera during an assault, i.e. Saving Private Ryan Omaha beach assault. I can't comment on the mission yet, but if you put this much on cinematics, then I can't wait to really dig in to your game. Congrats. btw, r u the same Mr. Pibbs for Max Payne 2 mods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gulf01 Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 (edited) I really liked this mod too!my down side was,the campaign was too short.the movies were hot!whens part two coming?can't wait!Very good mod! Edited February 15, 2004 by gulf01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.pibb Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 Thank you Ice Man and Rocky for the very informative review and for the good rating. Its nice to finally see some peices of the missions described to show what is really going on with this mod. To address the multiplayer possibility, I have finished converting the 2nd mission for multiplayer and it just needs some testing. As far as the 2 other combat missions, I am debating wether or not to enter into the realm of converting them, because of issues with the cinematics and the helos in MP it looks to be a good bit of work and my time is limited. I intend to soon release the 2nd mission for MP. Cpl Ledanek, to answer you bout that other mod, musta been another pibb out there I guess. This is my first mod ever. Once again I want to thank especially Rocky for putting up with all my sometimes very lengthy e-mails and the whole staff at ghostrecon.net for making my mod not just avaliable but for giving it the credit it deserves, and you guys just alike myself and all the other modders here give your own personal time to make this stuff happen(I know, I almost got fired from my job like twice during the making of this mod ) . See y'all around Christian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunraa Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 Great mod. I still have some bandwidth so fell free to DL it here. Its a small version without sound. I just love the cinematics and second mission. Try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zulu9812 Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 (edited) Does anybody know of a mirror for the latest WWIII patch? Every time I click on the FilePlanet link it I get the "Click here to log in using GameSpyID" page (which is normal - usually I click that link and I get taken straight to the download page). But this time when I click on that log-in link I get taken to an-almost blank page that just says "Object moved to here" (with 'here' as a hyperlink). I click on that link but the page just refreshes. I do have an account with FilePlanet, but it's not co-operating. So, does anybody know of a mirror? Edited February 15, 2004 by zulu9812 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunraa Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 http://www.ghostaholic.com/page.php?id=121 but you need to register. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted February 15, 2004 Author Share Posted February 15, 2004 Every time I click on the FilePlanet link it I get the "Click here to log in using GameSpyID" page (which is normal - usually I click that link and I get taken straight to the download page). But this time when I click on that log-in link I get taken to an-almost blank page that just says "Object moved to here" (with 'here' as a hyperlink). I click on that link but the page just refreshes. I do have an account with FilePlanet, but it's not co-operating. I just tried it and it worked first time, that's the annoying thing with FP, sometimes it just plain refuses to work. Usually hitting refresh once does the trick for me, but I have never seen what you described before. If it happens again please let me know I'll look further into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.pibb Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 (edited) The first mission that includes well over 200 hundred enemies, 75+ allies, enemy artillery, friendly tanks heavy machine gun emplacements and even helicopters, this may remind you of Operation Flashpoint. Hey, I was taking another look at the review and noticed that the actor count for the first mission looked way too high. I have taken a look at the actor count in Igor for the first two missions just to be sure, and the highest count is 134 actors on mission2, and 119 actors on mission 1(cinematics mission). Christian Want to add here Rocky did correct the actor count in the review; Thanks Rocky Edited February 17, 2004 by mr.pibb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zulu9812 Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 @ Rocky It could actually be a problem with the Opera browser. I tried it in Avant (an IE variant) and it worked fine. I've also noticed that it's impossible to find WWIII and Op. Stabilise using FP's search function, or even browsing through the Ghost Recon Series section. Wierd. Anyway, I was able to download successfully using the Avant browser, so problem bypassed. Back to the mod It does, indeed, rock. It's great to actually feel part of something larger than just your team. That sense of scale is something that's always been missing from most mods, and GR itself to some extent. So well done on filling that niche in the market Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.pibb Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 (edited) Hey Golf01 Thanks. I am beginning work on the second chapter, although right now I am concentrating my modding time on getting one of the missions from the first chapter Multiplayer Ready. The city map is ready, and I have the plans on paper-heh-I am thinking of actualy asking for some help with the second chapter to decrease time to release, but I can say just by looking at the plans I have drawn up that the city will be a realistic and dangerous place to be. As much as I despise the Kosovo conflict that occurred, it will be much like that, with a very strong Russian presence and with resistance fighters trying to make the lives of the invading Russian a little harder. You wont be walking carlessly down to many streets, and tanks may be doing more than just spitting bullets at you too. Christian Edited February 15, 2004 by mr.pibb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.pibb Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 It's great to actually feel part of something larger than just your team. That sense of scale is something that's always been missing from most mods, and GR itself to some extent. So well done on filling that niche in the market Thanks Zulu9812 The idea behind it all was to include the results of the successes (and failures) of the users in a more or less concrete way rather than just in numbers and decorations. If you just busted yer butt for an hour or so on a tough mission isnt it nice to be able to kick back for a while and see yer hard work pay off in the next mission rather than just gettin thrown into another conflict that you may not have the motivation left to deal with at the time. I enjoyed making the cinematics in one particualr mission end up with the player being able to interact with the situation as the allied forces continue their advance, and yes, I too have shot a number of allies(especially during the chopper ride) so dont feel too bad if you did too. I think alot of missions, especailly the hard ones should have more of a payoff than just the completion factor. OFP was definetely an excellent reference for such rewarding, where after a major battle you find yerself hanging out at base camp with yer fellow soldiers, seeing trucks and jeeps rollin in and out, it made the whole experience feel very alive. Thanks again Christian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted February 15, 2004 Author Share Posted February 15, 2004 I've also noticed that it's impossible to find WWIII and Op. Stabilise using FP's search function, or even browsing through the Ghost Recon Series section. Yes, it is because I have a fast track way of uploading to FP, it gets the mods up in a day instead of a week or a month, but it doesn't appear in any FP listing, only here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bus Driver Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 The thing i love about this mod, is that it involves large scale battles. Not many games out there these days deal with large scale units. Especially GR revolving around a 6 man squad. I loved it, i give it 2 thumbs up, 5 out of 5 stars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.pibb Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 The thing i love about this mod, is that it involves large scale battles. Not many games out there these days deal with large scale units. Especially GR revolving around a 6 man squad. I loved it, i give it 2 thumbs up, 5 out of 5 stars! Thanks Bus Driver for the 5 star rating! The draw back is that the process takes like three times longer with the large volume of actors, when you get down to the nitty-gritty its really important to know what each actor is doing and why to create a realistic battle enviornment. The mission "The Russian Front" taught me alot about how to make Igor get the best out of a large sized battle, and its all being applied to the 2nd chapter , beware! Cya Christian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bus Driver Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 I loved the mission with the spetnaz and the river, the ambush set up was great. Like shooting fish in a barrel. I can't wait for #2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.pibb Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Thanks again, Good to hear the enemy got taught a lesson in trail sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Operator Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 This mod was great! I agree the cinematics were very professional, but the other missions were very good, too. The last one, in the nighttime village was awesome. So many tanks, so few M136... The little touch I really liked was the mission after the big battle, when you wait for a chopper. The armor convoy gave a great sense of build-up, large scale operations. The SAS strolling by were just too cool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.pibb Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Thanks Operator, gotta tell ya that avatar rocks! Very nice way of describing without revealing much, thanks again Christian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.pibb Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Hey, Just wanted to let everyone know that the converted MP mission is ready, and it should be avaliable soon, its already been submitted to Rocky(the busiest man on earth) . The mission will be included in the new wwiii2-2-patch, along with the previous fixes also and it will replace the old patch. You can just install the new patch regardless of wether or not you already have the old patch installed, it will just quickly re-install the old fixes and will add one Multi-Player coop mission to your selection while in Multiplayer mode-The Russian Front. The mission has been altered a little to make it sea-worthy for the MP use, which is why it is a seperate MP only misssion. Changes are: No intro music No outro music or cinematics Player Platoon does not crouch at startup There were a few other internal changes that had to be made as well, but they are un-noticable. Lastly this is the biggest mission in the mod, so I highly recommend that the connections are good for Multi-Player use. Thanks to El_nino_Foxhound for running the mission through the mill with me online. It was funny, out in the feild I see him standing there while we were messaging each other then all of the sudden an artillery shell lands right on him ! For the most realistic results IF you use the respawn option I recommend to set it to only one or two respawns if any at all, the mission was designed to be tough, to bring out the best in the player to succeed, we set the respawns to infinite just for testing and blasted through the mission in like 15 min or so(after dying like ten times). Thanks Christian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted February 17, 2004 Author Share Posted February 17, 2004 (edited) Patch 2.2 here. Edited February 18, 2004 by Rocky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.pibb Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 (edited) Thanks Rocky! Christian Edited February 18, 2004 by mr.pibb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zulu9812 Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Are there any SP fixes in the new patch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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