My first impression - I rate this release
6/10... This may change when I get to play online, but till then... Definitely 6/10 - solely on my experience with COOP.
The breakdown...
The Plus++The new howitzer shell and mortar shell sound.
+++The fact that a CTD wont give you a shader bug or cause you to have to reinstall.
+The new tank damage and turret traversal
+The new Shader effect.
++The new explosions and the dust settling, along with even more shards and bits flying
+The Germans in their new gear.
+The new American face
+Love the mortar smoke shells
+The new maps. There are some real interesting effects and its So-o well done
+New aircraft handling and replaced plane mg sounds.
++Love the Stuka dive architecture and horn.
++The m1a1 carbine sound
++Bot Artillery fires even further!
+New death cry.
+Removal of 'grenade' shoutThe Negative---The new sounds for the most part.... After playing that fan-modders stuff on Creative XFI Fatal1ty, its hard to listen to the old rifle sounds and not get pissed.
I love the sound of the American m1a1 carbine, but its a far-cry from everything else. Many sound stop abruptly, many lack reverberation, and almost all still sound gamey. I want to hear, both in 1st and 3rd person, what my mind tells me is how each gun sounds irl. A sudden blast, and the uniqueness of each. It doesn't matter if its someone else, it should be loud. Tank cannons aren't bad, but they really shouldn't be so quiet. And the distance tank sound, although cool at first is meh after a while, and even a bit disheartening, because it sounds so far off for tanks not that far away. Explosions aren't bad - But again, after the minimod, an HE blast and a grenade explosion just dont measure up imo. FH2 can feel ALOT more realistic simply by virtue of the choice of sound samples. I really am not getting that, and the new 1903 Springfield sound actually makes me sad, and the bomb-drop sound is still cartoonish.
-No way to use the commo-rose to shout 'grenade'-Weird Animations and bugs - The 76mm M3 gun has the guy standing all the way somewhere holding air, and the Italian truck doesn't have a driver in 3rd person view.
--The new browning .30 cal sound - Its loud alright. But it sounds nothing like I imagine it should, and its barely a gun sound.
---Terrible feedback - With ALOT of mg tracers gone, in combination with practically NO whizz and whip, its hard to tell you are getting shot at, even by an mg until it kills you. What is more, the sound of bullet hitting flesh is also gone, AND suppression has totally been removed
(I am at least glad hit detection still exists, but I wish pistols had crosshairs. You can't have close range pistol shots and be guessing where it is going)
--Single-player support. I loved the fact that we got bot support for Meurse and the other map, but I really wished there'd be more maps with AI support. Having to wait another 6 - 9 months for those made me slump when I first started up the game tbh. The worst part is that few, if any bugs got fixed between the last patch.
Bots still dont fire down the sights, tanks still have difficulty moving, although admittedly its improved somewhat, pistoliers still stand idle, mg42s still dont know how to fire from range and are easy targets... And the lack of maps, ofcourse...
Still, thoroughly enjoyed Falaise, moreso than Aserafimov's... Although, I noted that all the mortars are gone, and maps like Sidi Rezegh dont benefit from the facelift its CQ counterpart enjoyed - What's more, bots still run around with AT guns, bail tanks for no reason and die, and dont spawn on mgs, mortar positions etc -
In fact, in both new maps, the bots hardly spawn back at base to use their tank, so the whole Bulge effect of heavy tanks rolling over a thin defensive line is lost, for what is mostly infantry-only combat supported with arty... Still grateful for what is there, but I feel a tad deflated because there was little we SP-fans could do but sit and wait till now, unlike leading up to 2.3.