Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising
Novalogic forgot to include the guy throwing rocks at the ground…
Tags: Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising Categories: PC Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Andrew on Sep 15th, 2004
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising (title page) | 1+ | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| First Person Shooter | Yes | ||
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Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield: Vietnam gave us a true measure of large scale multiplayer combat, but they are stuck using antiquated technology in antiquated combat situations. While the next Battlefield title is scheduled to come out with an emphasis on modern combat, Novalogic beat them to the punch with Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising. The formidable engagement ranges and multitude of detection devices, combat – even for the infantry – is very much a game of avoiding detection and striking first as much as possible rather than trying to survive an attack. Typhoon Rising gives players a taste of such modern combat where actions are short, sharp and quite lethal.
A back story establishes Indonesia as a site where rebellion has festered and a UN task force is charged with trying to deal with this. This is at least an excuse for the combat, the story serves almost no real purpose in the game, as JO:TR focuses on large scale action, and lots of it. Players should get ready to die a lot, to have 30 plus guys working together and to have very large explosions, and very annoying snipers, from start to finish.
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Using a similar graphics engine to Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, Joint Operations has players in combat, with teams of up to 32 players a side, spread over maps several kilometers wide. With 64 people on a server, the combat is never too far away, even without riding vehicles into combat. This is very much Novalogic’s answer to games like Battlefield 1942, and the game mechanics share a healthy degree of similarity. Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising is almost purely an online game with a number of training missions available to play in a single player mode. While these missions are fine to introduce players to the games controls and various vehicles they can feel a little unrewarding due to the games heavy online focus – where the game really shines.
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JO:TR offers four different game types. The usual Co-Op missions; Team Death Match; Team King of the Hill; and Advance and Secure (where players are required to take control of several key enemy bunkers while defending your own from the opposing team). While these serve as little variety, the proof of the game is not the match types, but the action and enjoyment out of such simple rules. Matches themselves can become pretty intense as some of the game servers available to play can support up to 150 players
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Typhoon rising comes complete with 30 maps with some of them measuring over 50 kilometers, so even in matches where there are 150 players (most servers only allow 64) players can at times feel a little isolated. However, NovaLogic has concentrated much of the action in a few key positions, so unlike similar games, players aren’t running around randomly taking shots at anything that moves. The vast amount of space available in the maps can lead to some excellent sniper opportunities. The sheer size of the maps means it can be a little tiresome traveling to where the action is, so catching a lift in a vehicle on occasion is vital, especially when playing the larger maps.
The maps also offer a fair amount of variation thanks to day and night cycles, which can offer a completely different playing experience on the same map. On the night setting things can get pretty dark especially in thick jungle where the moonlight fails to shine through. Players are at least equipped with night vision goggles and this effect has been done very nicely.
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The soldiers in JO:TR are broken into 11 different varieties with 5 specific classes. The forces available are as follows: US Delta Force, US Seals, US Green Berets, British SAS, German KSK, French GIGN, Russian Spetsnaz, Indonesian Kopassus, Australian SASR, Indonesian Ex-Military and Indonesian Separatists. These are further broken down into different classes: Rifleman (A generic all around assault player), Gunner (Walking tank), Engineer (Missiles, Mortars, Stingers, all around type), Sniper (duh!), Medic (everyone’s friend when they took one to the groin). There is also a large variety of weapons available. Each class starts with a basic load out, but it can be personalized or, during a game, it can be changed out entirely. Here is a run down of some of the weaponry/equipment available: Shotgun MP5, M4, M16, M21, M60, M249, M240, Rocket propelled grenade, PG, AT4, Stinger missile, M224, Mortar, Claymore, Satchel Charge, Flashbang, Frag Grenade, Smoke Grenade, Med Packs, Binoculars and Night Vision Goggles. Needless to say there is enough variety of weapons to choose from, and that doesn’t even cover the vehicles.
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There are 29 forms of transport and vehicle combat, ranging from land, air and sea. Every one of these has support for multiple people, such as gun stands and other seats, however due to the solid engine it is possible to just jump on board anything with room without actually pressing the “attach” button and seamlessly move with it where ever it goes. On another note, the helicopters included are fantastic to control, it is easy to master practically every function; take off, hovering, landing etc, which is a relief as often in online games, aircraft such as helicopters can cause more deaths than the enemy due to inexperienced pilots, it is quite possible to feel comfortable flying a helicopter in Joint Operations only after one or two previous attempts.
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Visually Joint Operations is not really anything to write home about, most of the textures are pretty low resolution and animations aren’t overly impressive, however other aspects like explosions and models offer above usual quality. One great addition to the visuals and the environment is that when players are attempting to go prone in grassy environments, thet are actually effectively camouflaged, providing real advantages for stealthy game play. When coupled with the right character skin, for example the US sniper, it becomes even better, adding to the game’s overall realism.
One aspect which isn’t so great however is the system performance, for a game that I would consider slightly below average in the visuals department, it taxes even high end systems to a reasonable extent.
Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising is a decent to great game that unfortunately is too much of a clone of battlefield 1942. That being said, it offers a large enjoyable environment and has great battles. While it is way too easy to die in the game, it is still varied enough to be one of the top multiplayer games out there.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Huge Maps + 150 players + Weapon and vehicile assortment |
7.9 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Buggy - Too easy to die - Takes too long to get to battles |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| A major improvement over the less then stellar Black Hawk Down game, way to go Novalogic. A defenite choice for online players. | |
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Tags: Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising
Posted by Andrew on Sep 15th, 2004 and is filed under PC Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
