E3 2003 –
First Look
Being
the FPS fan that I am, I was like a kid in a candy store with a lot of the games
that are going to be coming to both consoles and PC’s in the next year. I was
really excited to see Shadow Ops for PC, and got to sit down with the developer
and watch the first 10 minutes of the actual game in play. I can honestly say
that I have never said “Wow” or “Gosh” that many times in 10 minutes before in
my life.
The
scene opened with troops dropping from a Blackhawk and into a Syrian terrorist
camp. The visuals of bullet tracers and running enemies, explosions, and sounds
that erupted as soon as the main player and his squad came under attack were
almost real enough to be frightening … and they were all around. There were no
shortages of rag doll effects in many of the games showcased at E3, but Shadow
Ops actually almost took it to a new level using their own creativity and the
UT2003 engine. When the player turned the first corner, a man of a rooftop
assaulted him. A quick shot to the head and he tumbled down onto the top of a
dumpster … then rolled down the slant and crumpled onto the ground. Detail in
the physics were a top priority for the team, and it really showed with that and
some other examples like a man being hung on a fire escape by his bootlaces
after tripping off the roof when shot in the leg. Lights and many other objects
will be fully destructible, and the squads were completely AI controlled and
moved intelligently.
This will also be porting to the Xbox and
Xbox live, and both the PC and Xbox versions will have multiplayer modes for
up to 16 players at a time. If you like FPS or military games, you’ll want to
get this one in the summer of 2004 … trust me.
