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Hammer & Sickle
- Thread starter Lemon
- Start date
Lemon
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2002
- Messages
- 4,858
Character Creation
Selecting a Class and setting my core atributes, Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. I went with 5, 6, and 10 for my engineer. Your secondary stats are auto generated and you will not have control over them. At left you can enter your proper name along with a nickname. The clothing displayed will be your starting kit, there are a number of options with various advantages, some will help you in the city other in the forest. Civilians with guns will raise attention with law enforcement but a soldier with a firearm is perfectly permissible.
Picking out your Avatar
There are at least 12 or heads and then a number of variations with eye and hair colour.
The game opens with a bit of a battle... I'm not sure how well I did in it. All of my allies are dead... they had agreed to help clean up the carnage I stepped into but now - dead - I'm not sure if all these bodies laying about are going to become an issue in the future. At least the doctor isn't too concerned and my commrade will be up and about soon. I should also try to pick that safe when the annoying mechanic goes to bed.
I picked a custom difficulty setting. I chose to give and receive full damage, the AI will be no weaker and no stronger. The game tells me this qualifies as fairly hard. There was also an option for how frequently the enemy will choose to hide... I left it on the second notch. The game is hard enough without half a dozen snipers popping me from six directions.
When you return to the world map (think the travel map in Fallout) you often get Intelligence briefs on events on the outside. Troop deployments, intelligence from Moscow, newspaper articles. They are well done and really bring you into the game.
Sound effects are quite good. Voice overs have been quite competent so far. It easily bests Gothic... at this point my only concern is how many actors they have and if they'll have too many roles carried by the same voice artist.
Combat is a joy... the delight of flinging a few pounds of TNT at an unaware target or perhaps leveling the better part of a house with a stray shot at a propane tank :twisted: Its better in one respect than SS, here you often have the chance to setup your position before firing on a target. That gives you the chance to setup some really elaborate schemes... which are all the more interesting if your supplied with explosives.
Selecting a Class and setting my core atributes, Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. I went with 5, 6, and 10 for my engineer. Your secondary stats are auto generated and you will not have control over them. At left you can enter your proper name along with a nickname. The clothing displayed will be your starting kit, there are a number of options with various advantages, some will help you in the city other in the forest. Civilians with guns will raise attention with law enforcement but a soldier with a firearm is perfectly permissible.
Picking out your Avatar
There are at least 12 or heads and then a number of variations with eye and hair colour.
The game opens with a bit of a battle... I'm not sure how well I did in it. All of my allies are dead... they had agreed to help clean up the carnage I stepped into but now - dead - I'm not sure if all these bodies laying about are going to become an issue in the future. At least the doctor isn't too concerned and my commrade will be up and about soon. I should also try to pick that safe when the annoying mechanic goes to bed.
I picked a custom difficulty setting. I chose to give and receive full damage, the AI will be no weaker and no stronger. The game tells me this qualifies as fairly hard. There was also an option for how frequently the enemy will choose to hide... I left it on the second notch. The game is hard enough without half a dozen snipers popping me from six directions.
When you return to the world map (think the travel map in Fallout) you often get Intelligence briefs on events on the outside. Troop deployments, intelligence from Moscow, newspaper articles. They are well done and really bring you into the game.
Sound effects are quite good. Voice overs have been quite competent so far. It easily bests Gothic... at this point my only concern is how many actors they have and if they'll have too many roles carried by the same voice artist.
Combat is a joy... the delight of flinging a few pounds of TNT at an unaware target or perhaps leveling the better part of a house with a stray shot at a propane tank :twisted: Its better in one respect than SS, here you often have the chance to setup your position before firing on a target. That gives you the chance to setup some really elaborate schemes... which are all the more interesting if your supplied with explosives.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2002
- Messages
- 28,542
Yay. Finally, real information.
Jinxed
Liturgist
I'm working on getting a press copy. Of course, that means I won't be able to review the manual, but oh well.
Lemon
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2002
- Messages
- 4,858
I'll do my best to avoid spoilers here....
One of your first quests is to obtain material X for a buyer... in return he will give the option on his goods and services. You happen to occupy his house at gun point so... maybe your feeling a little bit generous.
However there is also Party B will which will give you Cash up front, they also want to sideline party A and can offer some albiet more limited services. Inbetween the start and the end of this there are several unexpected conflagrations which you may or may not be able to talk your way out of (course you might not want to either).
I'm pretty much of the opinion that Hammer & Sickle rocks.
One of your first quests is to obtain material X for a buyer... in return he will give the option on his goods and services. You happen to occupy his house at gun point so... maybe your feeling a little bit generous.
However there is also Party B will which will give you Cash up front, they also want to sideline party A and can offer some albiet more limited services. Inbetween the start and the end of this there are several unexpected conflagrations which you may or may not be able to talk your way out of (course you might not want to either).
I'm pretty much of the opinion that Hammer & Sickle rocks.
Heh, it gets better 
.
H&S may not be P:T and Ja2 combined, that's for sure, but it does deserve money you pay for it. Great stuff. I wonder if they'll make more... will depend on sales, though, and Russian sales, due to low price, are not THAT important, unfotunately.
And if H&S will continue to be reviewed by people who are damn lazy and stupid... chances may be slim
.H&S may not be P:T and Ja2 combined, that's for sure, but it does deserve money you pay for it. Great stuff. I wonder if they'll make more... will depend on sales, though, and Russian sales, due to low price, are not THAT important, unfotunately.
And if H&S will continue to be reviewed by people who are damn lazy and stupid... chances may be slim
FrancoTAU
Cipher
Is it like the generic metal you'd hear in the Red Alerts? :-P
Anywho, another good review or two by some RPGers and this is a must buy for me.
Anywho, another good review or two by some RPGers and this is a must buy for me.
Jinxed
Liturgist
No, it's like the quake 2 music.
Lemon
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2002
- Messages
- 4,858
Balor said:BTW, a side note (or a shameless PR, if you will):
Creator of H&S Novik loves "Brigade E5" and freqent it's forum.
So, if you liked H&S, you may like Brigade too.
I loved the demo that was released last summer... I heard they're giving it a makeover before releasing it internationaly?
Well, it would be patched - that's for sure, but now they are working on, quoting - "Fixing two main issues with the game: Graphics and RPG elements (storyline)" - that would be in addon.
If great combat system (Hussars, ahem, I mean VD - silence!) is not enought for you, you may wait for the expancion that will undoubtely be great - given the tendencies.
If great combat system (Hussars, ahem, I mean VD - silence!) is not enought for you, you may wait for the expancion that will undoubtely be great - given the tendencies.
Section8
Cipher
I love metal in almost all of its permutations, but I thought the music in the demo seemed entirely inappropriate. It was like the sort of music you'd hear in a FOBOS tralier.
Screaming_life
Liturgist
Section8 said:
The style of music is out of place but the mood fits well i thought.. maybe just because i like it?
Atrokkus
Erudite
Quake2 had NIN, i guess. Real good soundtrack.
And who wrote the music for H&S then?
Section8
Cipher
Quake 1 was NIN, and it was really good. Barely even able to be termed music, it's a collection of subtle melodies and brooding ambience. It may not have arced up for combat encountered, but managed to suit the game, and even stand on its own legs musically. I actually prefer it to With Teeth.
Quake 2 on the other hand, was composed by Sonic Mayhem and to be perfectly honest, it was trash. Quake 2's music was annoyingly generic power chord rock, from memory. Arguably appropriate to Quake 2s utterly bland, generic nature but nothing to get excited about. The theme song was by Rob Zombie, but I can't really remember it at all.
It just seems entirely inappropriate to the setting. I'd even prefer the banal and overused Soule to shitty, soulless guitar rock.
For a good example of how guitar music can be adapted to suitably fit historical/fantasy settings, look no further than Thief. E Bows, ringing out with lots of sustain and feedback overlaid atop ambience. Now that's good stuff.
Quake 2 on the other hand, was composed by Sonic Mayhem and to be perfectly honest, it was trash. Quake 2's music was annoyingly generic power chord rock, from memory. Arguably appropriate to Quake 2s utterly bland, generic nature but nothing to get excited about. The theme song was by Rob Zombie, but I can't really remember it at all.
It just seems entirely inappropriate to the setting. I'd even prefer the banal and overused Soule to shitty, soulless guitar rock.
For a good example of how guitar music can be adapted to suitably fit historical/fantasy settings, look no further than Thief. E Bows, ringing out with lots of sustain and feedback overlaid atop ambience. Now that's good stuff.
The Quake 2 tracks were different than those in Quake 1 but also good. Thought it was White Zombie or Sonic Mayhem yeah but It suited the in-your-face action quite well. Tracks like Quad Machine or Descent into Cerberon should be counted as all-time classics, period. That latter track is still one of the most nifty sounding songs I've ever heard in any game.
Dunno if I'll like it in a more 'calm' genre but who knows, strategy games don't always need classic music (KKnD being the best example of that).
Dunno if I'll like it in a more 'calm' genre but who knows, strategy games don't always need classic music (KKnD being the best example of that).
Well, I don't understand why you think that it's 'inappropriate to the setting'?
I mean, where you see a military orchestra following you around?
You may simply don't like this music - fine. But music, unless it's translated ingame, should fit the action onscreen, not nessesarily somehow bound to be tied to the setting.
It's a plus, yes, but if it's not - cannot see how it can break immersion. *shrugs*
On the other hand, it would be rather fun to have "Holy war" (no, it's not jihad - it's Russian WWII hit) and other patriotic battle marches as combat themes, come to think of it .
Btw, here
http://www.sovmusic.ru/top20.php
you can download most popular soviet marches/hymns and use them to your heart's content.
Utterly atmospheric
I mean, where you see a military orchestra following you around?
You may simply don't like this music - fine. But music, unless it's translated ingame, should fit the action onscreen, not nessesarily somehow bound to be tied to the setting.
It's a plus, yes, but if it's not - cannot see how it can break immersion. *shrugs*
On the other hand, it would be rather fun to have "Holy war" (no, it's not jihad - it's Russian WWII hit
) and other patriotic battle marches as combat themes, come to think of it .Btw, here
http://www.sovmusic.ru/top20.php
you can download most popular soviet marches/hymns and use them to your heart's content.
Utterly atmospheric
Atrokkus
Erudite
It was nothing special, yes. However, I do believe it suits Q2 just fine, because it was not really a horror game, more of just a straightforward shooter, so the more energetic the song the better. OF course, if I were a sound designer for Q4, I would have made a different playlist.
Haven't heard H&S's music score, so I can't judge it relevancy. I believe it is composed by game developers, yes?
ANyways, tactical game sound designers should strive to something like StarCraft soundtrack.
Jinxed
Liturgist
ToEE music was somewhat a surprise and some people complained. But I found it fitting in perfectly. I say it's not a matter of fitting in, it's a matter of it being good or not.
Section8
Cipher
Well, that's kind of it. Just like if I watch a movie that is a period piece, I either expect music appropriate to the period, or something timeless (usually orchestral). It stands out to me, like the very modern slang of the Gothic games. It just doesn't seem right, but it's definitely down to my personal preference.
Well, part of it is not liking the music. It's utterly homogenised and soulless. It sounds like a robot with no capacity for creative expression imitating metal. Secondly, how does it fit the action onscreen? It's a turn based strategy, and there's no much action to be found. Maybe it's an appropriate soundtrack to a shooting/death scene, but it plays constantly during combat mode, when I'm moving around, hiding, and only actually shooting a small portion of the time.
It's not so much that it's "breaking immersion", it's just crap, and as a result, I turned it off. That's not a problem to me, but it's a shame.
Cheers, I'm always looking to broaden my musical horizons. :D
Trash
Pointing and laughing.
Fuck the music. Tell us more about the gameplay. The sort of missions, wheter it's non-linear, the amount of areas, the combat, if you can play as an evil bastard, non violent solutions to problems, etc.
Loved the demo btw, found out that there's quite a few ways to get through it. Even managed to get Fidel out without firing a shot and with full cooperation of the guards. Now, that was a pleasant surprise.
Loved the demo btw, found out that there's quite a few ways to get through it. Even managed to get Fidel out without firing a shot and with full cooperation of the guards. Now, that was a pleasant surprise.
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