Well, I've played 2x serious sessions of SQUAD this week, total of maybe 6 hours. Since it's still alpha, I think I'll stick to the bullet points here and do a quick initial reaction review. I'm only going to comment on the basics, as I haven't sunk my teeth into Squad Leading or base building yet.
For the past 5+ years all my FPS trigger time has been on Arma 2, Arma 3 and Project Reality (PR), and during this entire report, I will be stacking SQUAD up against these great games!
Unreal 4 engine
This is my first time playing this engine, and it is going to take some time to get used to it.
But, even for alpha, the game runs really really smoothly, on full settings (only shadows dialed down, at developers recommendation) with an aging system.
i5-2320 @ 3.00GHz
8GB RAM
NVidia 670 3GB GPU
Win7 64bit
You get used to a games engine and environment over time, and learn how to distinguish friend from foe, and spot movement at distance and within terrain. Jump into a new engine and you feel.....blind. The unreal 4 engine feels and looks a little "light" (for lack of a better word) to me, but it's a very very refined engine so far.
As with any of these huge open world shooters, it's the draw distance that takes away from the immersion. Sure I can see the hills 5km away, but they are barren, no trees etc. But that's splitting hairs...nothing we can do about that right now.
Maps
There are 4x maps right now, all of which are WIP. Initial impression is, they are getting it right, and either have consultants/devs who have been in Afghanistan, or they really did their research. I've only played on 2x of them, and have not fought in night conditions yet. I am confident the maps will be as amazing and as varied as PR.
Can't wait for
Fallujah!
CQB/Moving & Fighting in Buildings
Huge improvement over the ARMA series, god how I hate fighting in ARMA buildings. It's still not as fast/smooth as PR, but that's not a fair comparison.
On the plus side, there are none of the clunky, unrealistic engine/object restrictions here that you face in PR. Example, you can crawl prone over a door threshold!
Player Movement
Your character moves and feels really good already.
You can lean (missing from PR) but there is
NO FREELOOK! Huge disappointment there!
The devs have commented vaguely on problems with the models/engine right now, but it
sounds like they are going to work on implementing Freelook at some point. In my opinion, it should have been right at the top of the list from the start.
I'm sure there are lots of new features to come, and I would really like the ability to rest my SAW on a wall for additional stability...which I think will happen.
Weapons
Excellent already, but selection is limited.
Recoil is realistic and challenging, sound effects are good if not great (the M4 sounds a little off in my opinion) but the SAW and AK's are bang on. As a Squad Leader backer, I get custom skinned M4 & AK...can't wait!
Damage/hit boxes
might need work, but so far I've made 6x confirmed kills, and they all felt perfect. The guys I've wounded (there is blood splash from what I can tell) felt right too.
Impact effects from rifles into terrain and buildings is really really cool.
Visual Effects
Grenade explosions and RPG impacts are stellar. When you are engulfed in an explosion, there is a great little spark effect that no other game has picked up on. I can see some really cool explosion effects in the future...I predict the 50cal is going to be a thing of fearsome beauty.
Tracers are really good. I found myself hugging the earth in the middle of a poppy field last night, enjoying a vicious light show taking place inches above my head!
Audio Effects
I use a decent headset, and the bullet cracks are awesome! You will flinch at your keyboard, I kid you not. The distant chatter of rifle fire is excellent.
There doesn't seem to be much in the way of ambient sound yet, but I did find my way to a river last night, through thick scrub brush, by using the sound of running water only, pretty cool.
3D directional sound, in relation to the player needs a lot of work, but I'm not worried.
Radio & Local Communication
The radio model is basically the same as PR, where I would much prefer to see an ARMA2 ACRE audio mod in place. ACRE is hands down, the greatest ARMA mod of all time.
You can use local chat to speak to guys next to you without tying up the radios, but that's nothing new.
Overall Impression So Far
I have complete confidence in this dev team, and am ready to give them as much time as they need to get this right, because like Project Reality (and the Combat Mission series for that matter) I know I will take countless hours of enjoyment from this game over years to come.
This is the team who gave us Project Reality, and continue developing that free mod to this day, for a very small community, for little to no pay. Now they are taking the next step, and have run one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns, and I wish them great financial success!
I shelled out nearly $90 CND, and it's already worth every penny in Alpha state! I'm not interested in new FPS's that come and go, I want a game that I can play for years like I did with PR.
Bottom Line
If you like realism shooters, go buy this game right now. Alpha is very playable, and you will be supporting a relatively small developer create something really special.
Squad Leader is $70 USD right now, which gives you instant access. Or wait a few months and buy in at $30 for early access on Steam, but you won't get the badass Desert Tan M4!
Hope to see a
FGM SQUAD unit in the near future!
