Fields Ops - First Look & Hands On Preview

With Monte Cristo's lacklustre War on Terror behind them it would be easy to dismiss the next title to come from Hungarian based, Digital Reality. However Field Ops has a certain degree of history behind it, and a new publisher who has shown a lot of confidence in the project that it's hard not to become embroiled in the prospects.

Billed as "Battlefield meets Command & Conquer" is probably not the best way to get Field Ops noted, however it establishes the rudimentary concept behind the game - that of an Real-Time-Strategy crossed with a First-Person-Shooter (acronym fans can have a field day working out what that means, but for now we'll label it simply as an RTS/FPS hybrid).

Taking the all-too familiar near-future setting, Field Ops scenario finds a secretive anti-terrorist US government organisation named the Special Operations Group in pursuit of a dangerous terrorist cell. Taking place over locations as diverse as Cuba, Ukraine, Afghanistan and the Good Ol U.S of A, both Freeze Interactive and Digital Reality are being coy on the exact details behind the game and the plot, however it's certainly one that needs to be addressed with a careful degree of respect and caution - particularly when suicide bombers are brought into the equation, but more on that later.

At this early stage the integration of RTS and FPS gameplay impresses, switching instantly between one and another stylishly and effectively. Taking control from an RTS point of view provides the typical choice of commands, using a clear interface that presents various unit-sensitive actions on a floating menu. Switching to a first-person perspective simply requires selecting a unit and tapping the Enter key, though the early nature of the build presented to TVG limited this to just three of the eight classes available.

Although strategy and tactics gain an advantage of being able to see more of the battlemap from an RTS perspective, you can still issue commands in the first-person and have a more immediate impact on the action that occurs. This appears to be the nature of the game throughout; one that doesn't try to enforce players to use a particular style, but presents different situations that offer real advantages, such as the need for quick reactions whilst working your way through tight corridors or commanding several units to avoid an enemy attack. When asked about the outcome between an expert FPS player and an RTS player of equal calibre, representatives from Freeze Interactive claimed that they're currently testing all possibilities to ensure the game is perfectly balanced for both sets of players.

Each side within the game consists of at least eight different classes, with Assault, Heavy Gunner, Anti-Tank, Demolition, Engineer, Medic, Sniper and the CIA Agent, forming the core breakdown of the counter-terrorist organisation. Naturally each unit brings different skills and abilities, such as laying down covering fire with the machine gunner, which continues to emphasise the tactical nuance that runs throughout the game. The terrorist faction has an equally "diverse" range of classes to choose from when it comes to multiplayer modes, though TVG expects one or two eyebrows will certainly be raised when the playable suicide bombers become apparent! Each faction also has hero characters to draw upon in times of need, bringing tide-changing actions such as designating a target for an air-strike attack.

Continuing the similarities to the Battlefield series (and several others since), Field Ops presents an array of civilian and military vehicles to use to your advantage. Both forms can be controlled from an RTS perspective, although military vehicles also provide the opportunity to be controlled from a closer third-person viewpoint. Not only will vehicles provide additional firepower but also open up tactical opportunities, with techniques such as using a civilian car to cover a retreating squad or placing a bomb in a vehicle unknown to the enemy!

Technology is a big focus for the game, which initially impresses with an engine that scales between both perspectives effortlessly and a physics engine that manages to serve a purpose as well as being there because everybody else has one, Field Ops also looks set to include a smattering of further touches that continue to make an impression. Keen to promote the physics engine that lies beneath the game, Field Ops features an impressive level of detail for both genres, with completely destructible environments and attention to the smaller details such as a tank turret pushing over individual barrels in a specially designed stage to demonstrate such aspects. It's not just explosions and debris however, with Freeze keen to point out the two levels of AI that run throughout the game, ensuring that it feels and looks correct from both perspectives. We were left impressed by the covering system and general attention that is being paid to the strategy elements of the game. Squads will intelligently move around objects based upon the number of cover "slots" presented, whilst issuing movement commands will also allow you to select a direction to target, providing the scope for highly effective move and cover tactics.

Digital Reality have managed to strike a good visual quality between the rapidly diminishing gap of the two genres, though further work such as fully implementing motion-capture animation will increase the overall style and effect. Tied into mo-cap animation and the physics engine is the promise of a fully localised damage system; though this appears to be the area where the most attention is needed, with seemingly guaranteed headshots proving as effective as shooting yourself in the foot. Thankfully there's a long way to go until the game's release in November, however TVG hopes that the benchmark in visual quality hasn't stretched too far for Digital Reality by this stage.

Given the titles used to draw comparisons it's understandable that the team are placing a lot of the focus on the multiplayer features, hoping to evoke Counter-Strike like passion amongst gamers. With support for up to six players, Field Ops features three different modes that hope to capture and embellish the style of the game. With players divided between the Counter Terrorist and Terrorist factions, Bomb Run challenges the latter to find and defuse a bomb which the terrorists have to defend; VIP finds the terrorists attempting an ambush to stop the other team from working their way across a map; whilst Conqueror takes obvious inspiration from other titles, challenging teams to capture and hold strategic positions on the map. Although little more then name changes in the main, it's multiplayer where Field Ops could realise its full potential and unite FPS and RTS addicts (or maybe not).

Beyond the initial bewilderment and questionable nature of a suicide bomber listed in your squad, TVG enjoyed the brief test of Field Ops in action. Despite the heavy restrictions, such as being largely restricted to the RTS view except for a handful of classes, and the many areas to tidy up including the localised damage system, the game eased our concerns that the RTS and FPS genres can smoothly merge and provide the best of both worlds.