The Regiment

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baff
Corporal
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 9:42 pm

The Regiment

Unread post by baff » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:14 pm

An unreal based game with single player co-op and head to head.

lots of training missions a la Americas Army and then some fantasy anti terrorist mission and also a recreation of the Iranian embassy siege.

Good cheap game this.

If you played Ravenshield or Swat 4 you should have a pretty good idea of the game mechanics. Only this one has a S.A.S. flavour.
here's the website you can find screens and a movie there.
http://www.konami-regiment.com/home.php

I bought it from www.play.com for ?18.
It doesn't use a CD key so I have only needed one copy for my entire LAN which is much welcomed value for money.



I'll cut and paste some other snippets,
Last edited by baff on Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

baff
Corporal
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 9:42 pm

The Regiment

Unread post by baff » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:14 pm

A review
The most obvious conclusion everyone will jump to when they first see the game is that it's Britain's answer to Rainbow Six, and they'd be right. The premise for The Regiment is literally identical, the game design and structure an almost mirror imagine of Red Storm's long running hit series. As with the Tom Clancy series the over-arching goal is to save lives in a series of dangerous situations while attempting to safely lead and command a four man squad through 12 campaigns and 17 'minigames'.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=58545


But while your brain will mutter glibly in protest that it's all a bit of a shameless copycat affair, there are a fair number of promising subtleties and differences to mark the game out as worth keeping an eye on during the run-up to its eventual autumn release. First of all, unlike the Rainbow mob, the S.A.S. can't get away with gratuitously executing terrorists. As Phil McDonnell - producer on the project - points out: "Every kill has to be justified. If you shoot a terrorist's weapon out of his hand they will attempt to surrender. Executing them is a no-no and you'll suffer a penalty."

Another key difference is how the panicking hostages react to you; unlike Rainbow Six they won't just stand there dumbstruck waiting for you to cuff them, but may actually attempt to flee the scene and as such need pacifying. A punch in the face should do the trick, and The Regiment allows you to do just that, somewhat amusingly.

But perhaps one of the more intriguing aspects of The Regiment is the structure of single-player campaign, which plays out the same scenario from three different perspectives. Once Macaleese has delivered his characteristically stern briefing where he talks in the past tense reflecting on the events of the siege in question, the campaign begins. Kuju has decided to put a more authentic spin on each campaign, tackling it as it would be in real life - with several different teams all inserted at various locations on the scene.

Splitting up the roles of each S.A.S. team promises to deliver a fresh way of tackling the whole counter terrorist genre, with a degree of persistence being built into the game. By way of example, McDonnell postulates that whatever you achieve in one part of the campaign will carry forward to the next. As part of the rooftop insertion team, should you shoot a terrorist and send him crashing through a skylight or tumbling off a building then other teams may see that from their position when it's their turn to do their bit. Also, because of the Karma phsyics support, the ragdoll effects will be different every time, with a downed enemy possibly impaling himself on the railings one time, or falling with a thud onto the concrete another. It's a nice touch that we'll be interested to see in practice later this year.

Taking us through the 75 per cent-finished London Tube level, the Unreal Engine 2-powered game has a familiar look and feel that all first-person shooter fans will appreciate. Next to the genuinely next gen titles it might not have all the latest bells and whistles, but at least stands a chance of being able to run on most people's current PCs, while being evidently an easier prospect to port over to PS2. Still, the general ambience and grimy replication of a typical London tube station was pretty much spot on, right down to the correct font, poster detail and Emergency Help Points scattered around. We didn't see any grimy old buskers bashing out a broken acoustic or any eight-year-old boys playing the accordion, though, so it can't be that realistic!

In this instance a terrorist named Zaffer Nasser has barricaded himself and his comrades into the lower reaches of the station, left a few CCTV cameras running and hung a Police Officer by the neck to make sure everyone can see what's going on. Needless to say he's taken hostages, and having killed a few already it's fair to say he's not interested in negotiating. As Macaleese reflects "We didn't have a detailed plan, but we went in with what we had."

Turning the action over to the player, McDonnell asserts "We don't want to bog players down with waypoints, we want it to be quick and accessible," and given the amount of enemies apparent versus Rainbow Six it looks somewhat more action-packed too, with players advised to be careful to "double tap" enemies - shoot them twice - lest they feign death. "Real life terrorists will always attempt to feign death, so we implemented it in The Regiment. If you don't double tap them you could end up being shot by surprise."

Controls-wise it looks - at least at first glance - like a more streamlined Rainbow Six command system, with the familiar central icon allowing players to issue Assault commands with ease. Konami describes it as a "Real-time ordering system: Take command of an S.A.S. assault squad and guide them through brutal close quarter battles! Your mission - to save the lives of the hostages!" Indeed!

Much of the finer details of the game have still to be finalised, though. For example, Kuju is currently deliberating on whether to include booby traps ("there's some debate over whether to have them in as they slow down the progress of the player"), and has recently given terrorists shotguns to play around with. McDonnell also admits the voice work needs to be finalised ("we need to work on some of these screams!" he admits after a prolonged wailing gives the presentation a comical edge), although he says he's proud of the game's EAX 5.0 support that really makes the most of surround systems and gives the game a great deal of swirling ambience as you creep through the murky tunnels of the London Underground.

Also promised is the ability to take down terrorist barricades - a perpetual annoyance that has blighted many a Rainbow Six game (a table blocking a door? Well let's move it then!). Thanks to the Karma physics, the level design will be less contrived than other counter terrorist games, and players can choose to shoot away cover points to allow them to get straight to where the enemy lies. "We're also experimenting with molotovs, grenades, and really making it difficult for the player," McDonnell adds.

The promise of online multiplayer is also on the table for both PC and PS2 versions, and McDonnell admits they are currently "finalising multi player mode, online player rankings and more".

Visit the official site at http://www.konami-regiment.com for more on Konami's entrant into the dangerous world of counter terrorism - British Special Air Service style. As Konami puts it: "In the shadowy world of international terrorism one real name is feared: the S.A.S - the World's most respected and feared counter-terrorism force." Let's hope The Regiment delivers the hit that one of the world's most respected (if not exactly feared) game publishers deserves.

baff
Corporal
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 9:42 pm

The Regiment

Unread post by baff » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:17 pm

Baff's running commentry.

Game won't launch from dvd drive. Anti piracy error message 7000. Gamewon't work from network drive DVD, Anti piracy error message 5000.

Only just found a crack. Finally launched it.

Haven't bothered installing the dual core processor patch.

I'm tempted not to play it until some co-op monkeys show up.

Doing the tutorials in the killhouse now
(Which are annoying because the instructions are not very clear.) but weapons models are sexy.

About to start the Iranian Embassy seige. Mission briefing is a documentry style video with one of the actual S.A.S. guys on the raid. (The scottish one with the tache, Jock McHaggis).

I can see the other S.A.S teams going in on the balcony above me, I think I get to play the same mission as them next.

Two modes arcade and simulation. Simulation for me.

There is no equipment phase. You start with a predefined load out. You can pick up enemy weapons.

This is not historically accurate. I am shooting numerous terrorists in the garden armed with an assortment of big guns, which I can pick up if I like.
In the real siege there was no one outside and no one with an M60.

Movement speed is fine. Doors can be breached with my shotgun, but I must be standing right up against it to shoot out all the hinges.

Downed but not dead terrorists handcuffed.

If you've played Ravenshield or SWAT 4 you should have a pretty good idea of what this game is like. Graphics textures are higher resolution than RVS and SWAT, but very similar looking.

M60 is great but not hostage friendly I notice.

Run and gun is very difficult. The iron sights have "head bob".

Punched the nose of my first hostage. That'll teach him.


The most I have survived so far is 3 bullets. I haven't noticed an penatlies for being wounded, no gimped leg or dodgey aim for example.

Compulsive reloaders be warned, you only have 4 magasines and once you press reload you loose one even if it still has 29/30 bullets left.

There is no reticule in this game, iron sights only for aiming. (perhaps there is in arcade mode).

Move and lean is a good animation, as you shuggy, your weapon lowers. So you can move while peaked, but not in that gay contorted Ravenshield style.

Having almost been killed after a panicing hostage opened the door to a room full of gunmen on me, I have now resolved to punch them a lot more.

Grenades are very dangerous. The throw animation is original. When I ballsed up a throw, my AI squad mates didn't run. I did run, but they are VERY damgerous. We all died.
Grenades take down doors and destroy furniture barricades also.

Ai is the standard Unreal Ravenshield, Swat 4 type of AI, in general the teammate stacking is good and they stay out of my way. But once one jumped in between me and the terrorist causeing us all to die. I intend to play this as a co-op so I'm not too fussed.

Team commands are minimal. They do their own thing unless you ask them to breach a door for you.

Pretty much that's where I want to leave this at the moment. I like playing games virgin, if you know what I mean, I don't want to know the maps before I play it properly with 4 people.

There is no online CD key for this game, but also no dedicated server.
So not yet sure whether there will be many players.

MP adversarial maps begin in a room full of guns.
the options are as follows.

Steyr Aug with scope (short barrel), Colt Commando, MP5K, some kind of pump action shotgun (short barrel), Uzi (for Baff), Mac 10, an HK sniper rifle with bipod, sorry don't know the name. (It's similar looking to the G3).
MP5 with scope or silent Mp5 with scope.
The default weapon is a 10mm Mp5.

No option for the M60 on this Adversarial map I notice.
I found a rack of OPFOR guns in the baement too, tht added the mac 10 and the AK47 to the pile.
The weapons racks have a limited supply of weapons. I haven't tried, but it looks like there is only 1 sniper rifle per team and one Steyr and one Uzi etc presumably on game launch, fastest hard drive gets first choice.


None of them have much ammo. (2 clips or 1 clip)
Some have built in flashlights.
Silenced guns are not silent but silenter
Middle mouse button changes fire mode. Depending on the weapon you get the usual single 3 round burst or full auto. Weapon pulls up and to the right satisfactorily.



All in all apart from the nobtastic Anti piracy issues. I'm pleased with this game.
It's definitely a cheap one, but it plays the way I was looking for and will be a co-op hit at Club Baff I'm quite sure. I much prefer this to SWAT 4.

Disappointed there is no dedicated server. Also I can't find out what firewall ports it requires in the documentation and there doesn't seem to be any tech support of any kind at Konami. There are not very many maps to play, and no Unrealed. Currently there are only 5 servers online.

The weapon models are my favourite in any game to date.

Unlike most of the other games I have played that have had "special operative" advisors helping the game developers, this one actually feels like it.





This is released in Europe and not yet in North America. Hopefully they will add 1 patch before going gold in the U.S.

baff
Corporal
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 9:42 pm

Re: The Regiment

Unread post by baff » Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:52 pm

This has turned out to be my game of the year. Absolutely Ideal for LAN co-ops.

Cheap as chips.
It's a cross between Ravenshield and America's Army.

Ravenshield for the kind of missions, and AA for the single player training.

Tactically it requires a lot of team work. Holding and covering while your mates advance is the key to it.

If you a Brit you might also enjoy the locations. The Tube, Parliament, The Iranian Embassy and some farm.
The bad guys are traditional Brit villains. Iranians, IRA, Islamic radicals and my personal favourite the BNP. I love the way the skinheads in their England football shirts think you are going to be sympathetic to them.

Watch out for the sneaky stuff like trip wires and hostages with guns sellotaped to their hands.

The training missions give you an insight into SAS tactics, and the game is against the clock, forcing you to adopt them instead of the more stealthy Ravenshield sneak and peak methods.

Ammo management is fun. You number of magasines is displayed (max of 4) but not the amount inside. And there is no Auto reload. Click Click happens all to often. And getting someone to cover you while reloading actually becomes an issue.

PVP multiplayer is a joke. And there are no dedicated servers for this game. There is no post production support or expansion planned. What you see is what you get.

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