/ Previews / Shooters / Spec Ops 2 / Page 1
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the world as a gun-toting terrorist...  Article by Jon Blakeley (11/7/99)	teaser created by Joel Steudler

...Some insane hero-types had to come along and bust up your party with extreme assertiveness. Nowhere on earth is safe these days from these guys. You can run all over the earth, even Antarctica, but there is no place these guys won't go for a lil butt-kicking action. What kind of psychotic people would live their lives this way? None other than the Green Berets, who are the new special unit in Zombie and Ripcord Games' upcoming 3d-tactical shooter, Spec Ops 2: Green Berets, the sequel (in case you hadn't figured it out) to Spec Ops: Rangers Lead the Way. Spec Ops 2 will have many of the features of the original, but also be hopped up on crack to make it way better and lure in all of those sour-pusses that didn't like the original. Much more care has also been taken to ensure that this game will be smooth running and more fun than finding out just how many ways there are to skin a cat.

One of the coolest things about Spec Ops 2 (SO2) is how cool it actually looks and feels. The development team put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into the environment of SO2, and for good reason: this type of game just wouldn't work if it didn't feel realistic. Otherwise, people would take it home, and wonder why stick figures were killing them. They would have nightmares about it and have to seek psychiatric help if they ever wanted to be "normal" again. Not that not being normal is a bad thing, in fact, we here at 3DGN are not normal either... then again, no one ever tries to emulate us... so maybe being normal is a good thing. Back to the topic at hand, environmental issues. No, not Green Peace! I'm talking about eye-dazzling, nerve-searing, bajeezzus scaring details! SO2 pulls no punches when it comes to making everything look and feel so damn good that you swear you were there. When you fire at a helpless civilian and miss him (Not that I'd ever do that. Missing is unforgivable) you will leave bullet holes in the objects that you do hit.

Ok, story time: I was running through some dimly lit German dockyards after accidentally killing my three teammates. Suddenly shots rang out around me and I jumped to the ground, not being able to locate where I was drawing fire from. After a short period, the shots stopped, as they must have assumed I was dead. I looked behind me at the wall and there were dozens and dozens of bullet holes there. I was stunned! Those guys were terrible shots! Little details like that really make you feel good about a game. When I fired some volleys back at my unseen assailants, my shell casings dropped to the ground, not to disappear, but to stay there and remind me that I was wasting ammo on someone I couldn't see.

Lots of games feature shell casings and bullet holes though, so nothing really new, huh? WRONG! Throwing grenades (which come in many varieties) will leave not only the accustomed scorched flesh, but also scorched ground! Vehicles can be destroyed, leaving insurance nightmares and unhappy enemies. My favorite environmental issue is that almost every single light source (barring the sun) can be destroyed, plunging your world into darkness and granting you precious cover to roam around in. Sadly, you cannot raze buildings or villages, and destroying massive amounts of foliage is also out of the question because Agent Orange is just too heavy. I was hoping this would be made up for by being able to poison enemy water supplies, but it looks like I'll have to wait until Spec Ops 3 to do that. Too bad, I was really looking forward to that.

Similar to Spec Ops, SO2 will feature massive outdoor settings. In one campaign, you will be trouncing around on the Ice Plains of Antarctica, searching for a downed satellite that provides pr0n feeds for millions of Americans and the Argentineans are looking to nab to keep their own populous satisfied. Then, since the government isn't totally heartless, you will be sent into the deep jungles of Thailand, where you can recuperate in the warmth of the jungle and grenade blasts. The great outdoors not good enough for you? SO2 has the added feature of interesting indoor scenarios, such as missile complexes, research labs, and of course, the airfield hangars. No tactical shooter would be complete without hangars, they are just one of those things that pops into your head when you think of tactical shooters.

What good are all these things if the graphics engine isn't good enough to make them look good? No good at all, that is why the Viper engine has gone through some major overhauling and now gives the gift that keeps on giving. The models are smoother and consist of a higher polygon count so they look as lifelike as can be. Dynamic lighting has been added, creating real time shadows, and a neat new particle system has been implemented so the explosions are realistic enough to make you shield your face in fear of burns. Heck, the soldier animation was even taken from motion capture data of a real Green Beret. Talk about realism, if a Green Beret can't move like a Green Beret, then all hope for civilization is lost. I believe that the Viper 2 engine will support this expansive environment quite adeptly, and let you feel the excitement and fear of running around killing or avoiding gun-toting baddies.