Hidden
and Dangerous was the sleeper hit of 2000! It is now 2002 and we are still playing
it!
After reading PC gamers lame ass review (back in 2000), (they gave it 58%) we
decided to check it out. The result? After getting past the quirks, the bugs
and long load times for some levels, we were pleasantly surprised with this
excellent team based game.
We were quite
taken with the immersivness of the level designs, and even though the briefings
had little to do with the missions (which is probably quite accurate of WWII
armed forces intelligence) they certainly were a nice touch to help keep us
interested. One feature I really enjoyed about the levels was the diversity
of terrain (hills with snow, city scapes) and the differing time of days (night
raids, afternoon recon etc).
Talking of features...one
of the best features in H&D is the sniper zoom. It is an analog zoom, which
means you can hold down the right mouse button while sliding your mouse (forward
and backwards) giving you the desired amount of zoom. This doesn't sound all
that big a deal now, because many games have it, but NONE had it back in 1999!
Another incredible feature is the ability to drive vehicles in the levels. There is nothing like hopping into a Tiger tank with your buddies
and blasting the crap out of buildings and the on coming Nazis, or bombing around
in a motorcycle with your buddy in the side car blazing away on the browning
machine gun.
Multiplayer (the stuff that matters):
What makes Hidden
& Dangerous so awesome is it's MULTIPLAYER CO-OP play through out the entire campaign. There are many other admirable qualities but it is the LAN based
team play that makes Hidden and Dangerous a superb game. When Scott, Travis
and I first fired this game up and relaized that we could all play through the
campaigns together and save the mission each night...we couldn't believe it.
No game has come close to this yet.
People get down
on H&D because playing it by yourself sux (mainly because your AI backup
is dummer than a stick)...BUT WHO CARES? LAN based play is where its at and
LAN based cooperative play is unreal. Don't get me wrong here, it is NOT for
everyone. Some people don't like team play, and some are just not capable of
playing on a team. However, to those who have the gift...Hidden and Dangerous
is a "diamond in the rough" and one of the most enjoyable, if the
not THE MOST enjoyable game I have ever played.
