Here's an interview with the Producer of Ghost Recon 2. Heather Chandler
http://interviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/827/Ghost-Recon-2-Heather-Chandler-Interview/p1
Following are my comments specific to this interview, so it's probably best to read the interview first.
Enjoy
First a screenshot
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My comments:
Well, apparently my worst fears seem to be confirmed, and more added.
Ms. Chandler begins by answering the question: "what are the main goals in creating this game?" Her answer is: "more interactivity with vehicles." Hmmm... *my* definition of interactivity with vehicles is you get in them and drive them or fly them." Well, since the vehicles in GR-2 are non-drivable, her definition I guess is: call in a bomber or tank to do your job for you. WOW! So that's why they're making GR-2!
But even worse, far worse, is their second main goal which is to give your teammates "personality" so that you will "care" about them. Along with giving you a complete set of each one's baby pictures, and 6 albums of family photos and videos, you get to spend every mission enjoying... I mean cringing, at every stupid line possibly imaginable as they try their hardest to convince you that they are the genuine stereotypical idiot from New Jersey, or Boston, or any other stereotypical region; and of course no tactical shooter is complete without the stereotypical "old geezer" always interrupting the mission to say: "Well, sonny, when I was your age we didn't even have.... blah, blah, blah." Be sure to outfit yourself with plenty of barf bags on every mission (and an extra bullet for when you can't stand it any longer).
Now that she's got you feeling kind of sick it's time to punch you in the face as hard as she can with her answer to the next question: "How have you addressed user feedback from the first game?" Ms. Chandler proudly replies: "We're going to give them 'voice commands'!" Yes, boys and girls, Ms. Chandler has paid close attention to what tens of thousands of us have been clamoring about on these forums and has decided the answer is to include some totally insignificant technology that has been in use for well over five years!
Next she takes the butt of her rifle and rams it right into our stomachs with the most incredibly lame answer any developer could possibly say regarding the question of why they took away player control of the other team mates and had them just follow you around instead.
Her answer was: "because you might miss seeing some action if you weren't with the rest of the team." Oh my God! That would be unthinkable!
Ms. Chandler, please allow me to inform you about the most important aspect of tactical military shooters and Ghost Recon 1 in particular. The greatest thing about these types of games is that you can design and execute an infinite amount of ways to accomplish a mission. When I want to attack an enemy position, I can become any and every one of the team members and set up traps and crossfire's by moving them to anywhere on the map that I want to. Then, when all my team members are in place, and I have gone around and saw through my own eyes what they can see from theirs, and they are all precisely where I want them, then I can begin the attack at my command from whatever position that I want to. This way I can see how good (or poor) I did at setting up a successful assault (or defense). And if it didn't go to my liking, I could replay the mission as much as I wanted using different weapons and positioning my team differently, and begin my attack from a different player, and see how that assault played out. And since each assault designed differently, each result is different.
And you're telling us that "real" tactical shooter immersion and gameplay is accomplished by simply being where the most noise and explosions are? And that I would be missing out on it all if I weren't? And that, combined with seeing a player giving a hand signal is your idea and plan on how to make Ghost Recon 2 the most immersive tactical Shooter on the market?
She then goes on and on about how fantastic the graphics are. Well, we've seen the screenshots and the graphics look like ****. They my be acceptable by console standards, but by PC standards, they are at least 3 years back.
Which brings me around to Ms. Chandler's final maneuver which is the thrusting of the knife into the backs of PC gamers. She didn't even mention the PC; all she talked about was X-Box. X-Box this, X-Box that, we're making sure everything is just right for the X-Box and the greatest thing to happen in this century is the X-Box Live and that's what GR-2 is all about.
The "Real" reason for all the changes you've done to the game is to a make game what "you" think pre-teen console gamers will buy. You've taken the reputation of Ghost Recon, which earned recognition as a premium realistic tactical shooter, and changed it into a mediocre console arcade 3rd person shooter with big explosions and Star Wars tracers. You have stripped it of all its core elements, simplified, and dumbed it down as much as you could so it would be easier and cheaper for you to make. And because it will be released just before Christmas, and carries the Ghost Recon name, you'll sell a million of them before anyone realizes what you have done.
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http://interviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/827/Ghost-Recon-2-Heather-Chandler-Interview/p1
Following are my comments specific to this interview, so it's probably best to read the interview first.
Enjoy
First a screenshot
-----------
My comments:
Well, apparently my worst fears seem to be confirmed, and more added.
Ms. Chandler begins by answering the question: "what are the main goals in creating this game?" Her answer is: "more interactivity with vehicles." Hmmm... *my* definition of interactivity with vehicles is you get in them and drive them or fly them." Well, since the vehicles in GR-2 are non-drivable, her definition I guess is: call in a bomber or tank to do your job for you. WOW! So that's why they're making GR-2!
But even worse, far worse, is their second main goal which is to give your teammates "personality" so that you will "care" about them. Along with giving you a complete set of each one's baby pictures, and 6 albums of family photos and videos, you get to spend every mission enjoying... I mean cringing, at every stupid line possibly imaginable as they try their hardest to convince you that they are the genuine stereotypical idiot from New Jersey, or Boston, or any other stereotypical region; and of course no tactical shooter is complete without the stereotypical "old geezer" always interrupting the mission to say: "Well, sonny, when I was your age we didn't even have.... blah, blah, blah." Be sure to outfit yourself with plenty of barf bags on every mission (and an extra bullet for when you can't stand it any longer).
Now that she's got you feeling kind of sick it's time to punch you in the face as hard as she can with her answer to the next question: "How have you addressed user feedback from the first game?" Ms. Chandler proudly replies: "We're going to give them 'voice commands'!" Yes, boys and girls, Ms. Chandler has paid close attention to what tens of thousands of us have been clamoring about on these forums and has decided the answer is to include some totally insignificant technology that has been in use for well over five years!
Next she takes the butt of her rifle and rams it right into our stomachs with the most incredibly lame answer any developer could possibly say regarding the question of why they took away player control of the other team mates and had them just follow you around instead.
Her answer was: "because you might miss seeing some action if you weren't with the rest of the team." Oh my God! That would be unthinkable!
Ms. Chandler, please allow me to inform you about the most important aspect of tactical military shooters and Ghost Recon 1 in particular. The greatest thing about these types of games is that you can design and execute an infinite amount of ways to accomplish a mission. When I want to attack an enemy position, I can become any and every one of the team members and set up traps and crossfire's by moving them to anywhere on the map that I want to. Then, when all my team members are in place, and I have gone around and saw through my own eyes what they can see from theirs, and they are all precisely where I want them, then I can begin the attack at my command from whatever position that I want to. This way I can see how good (or poor) I did at setting up a successful assault (or defense). And if it didn't go to my liking, I could replay the mission as much as I wanted using different weapons and positioning my team differently, and begin my attack from a different player, and see how that assault played out. And since each assault designed differently, each result is different.
And you're telling us that "real" tactical shooter immersion and gameplay is accomplished by simply being where the most noise and explosions are? And that I would be missing out on it all if I weren't? And that, combined with seeing a player giving a hand signal is your idea and plan on how to make Ghost Recon 2 the most immersive tactical Shooter on the market?
She then goes on and on about how fantastic the graphics are. Well, we've seen the screenshots and the graphics look like ****. They my be acceptable by console standards, but by PC standards, they are at least 3 years back.
Which brings me around to Ms. Chandler's final maneuver which is the thrusting of the knife into the backs of PC gamers. She didn't even mention the PC; all she talked about was X-Box. X-Box this, X-Box that, we're making sure everything is just right for the X-Box and the greatest thing to happen in this century is the X-Box Live and that's what GR-2 is all about.
The "Real" reason for all the changes you've done to the game is to a make game what "you" think pre-teen console gamers will buy. You've taken the reputation of Ghost Recon, which earned recognition as a premium realistic tactical shooter, and changed it into a mediocre console arcade 3rd person shooter with big explosions and Star Wars tracers. You have stripped it of all its core elements, simplified, and dumbed it down as much as you could so it would be easier and cheaper for you to make. And because it will be released just before Christmas, and carries the Ghost Recon name, you'll sell a million of them before anyone realizes what you have done.
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