INITIAL<-- (key word) ImpressionsI got the chance to play around on this map about 4 or 5 times so far. 4 times with the full 100+ player experience
and on both teams. All 4 times resulted in a german win with the allies not being able to get to the second push part of the map. The one time was late tonight with about 30ppl playing and the Americans easily capped out the Germans.
BalanceMap balance is something that nobody can give anything more than a first impression on at this point but I think Odium hit the nail on the head; most of what I've seen and heard in-game gives me the impression that some extra tickets for the Americans can make this map balanced and fun for everyone. And some more defilades on the beach in the form of craters couldn't hurt at all imo.
From what I've seen the Americans have all the assets to grab a foothold on one of the first 3 WNs; SL spawn, ship artillery, smoke, 30cal gunners on the LCVPs. If all these things are used properly the Americans are more than capable of taking hold of a bunker and eventually locking the first sector. From what I've seen the Americans were literally only seconds away from locking that first sector before their tickets ran out. Eventually Americans will find a good system and realize that they need good teamwork to take the first 3 WNs and wont get slaughtered nearly as much in the first phase. But a ticket increase would give them more time to do that and give them time to complete the second part of the map.
I think time will tell if ONLY a ticket increase is needed to perfect this map. But I def think it's a good place to start
LooksThis is easily one of the best looking maps in FH2
AccuracyThis has to be mentioned because of how amazingly accurate this map is while still having the potential for great gameplay. I think this is one of the best examples of a balance between historical accuracy (literally almost 1:1 scale) and the gameplay to fit that accuracy. The level design on this map is VERY good imo.
FeelNothing, I mean nothing, comes close to describing how mind numbingly awesome it is to coordinate a beach assault on a historically accurate Omaha beach map
. Not, videos, not screenshots, nothing. You HAVE to be there to get the full experience of this map. SPR obviously wasn't 100% historically accurate but what it did was give you a great 'feel' for that battle and how it played out. I've never seen a game represent that same 'feel' with this amount of historical accuracy and I honestly have to applaud every dev that contributed to this map. This was probably the hardest challange a level designer could face and honestly I believe it's only a few tweaks away from being perfect.
At the end of the day my first impression is; this map is one of the best things to happen to FH2. I've lost this map twice and gotten killed a millions times without firing off a shot and honestly I've never had more fun doing so
almost EVERYBODY who plays a WW2 game wants to assault Omaha Beach. In this way it brings in more casual players, and old vets can't complain about a historically accurate beach landing map
Only time will tell but imo this map just needs a bit of fine tuning to turn it into a great map.
Bugs/miscSome limited kits don't say "limited" in the spawn screen. (American Recon kit for example; also some German kits)
Personally I would add some loud(er) ambient gunfire to the edges of the map on the beach. Kind of like the ambient sounds on Omaha Charlie sector in FH1. 128 players provided plenty of noise; but when player numbers die down and there's only 40 or so people on the server, those ambient sounds might be a big help in 'tricking' the player that there's more people assaulting the beach than there really is. The 'feel' of this map plays a big role in how enjoyable it is imo.
Honestly tho I wanna thank every dev who helped make this map. Mr Cheese, Remick08, Ts4EVER, Stubbfan and anyone else who put time into this, you guys all collectively did a GREAT job imo.
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I'll keep trying to provide more input and feedback on this as I get more time in.