All right, before we make any more rash statements let's look at what the review actually said in more detail. I've taken the time to translate it as best I could.
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On January 21st the mod “Eastern Front” was released. For those who waited eagerly for the mod, it is finally here. The release of this mod brought about two kinds of fans. The first, foaming at the mouth types, exclaimed incessantly the awesomeness of the mod. The second camp, the supporters of the original game, tried to open the eyes of their misguided peers. We also could not sit idly by and distance ourselves from the mod. We support those people who are speaking out against the mod. Let us preserve CoH’s purity of blood and not let it be replaced by an amateurish attempt to replace the original. Although we thank the modders for putting in a titanic effort into the creation of this mod, let’s start at the beginning lest our fans burn up in a fit of rage.
First impressions.
Our first doubts about the quality of the mod appeared during installation. A picture of Soviet soldiers dismounting from a T34 suddenly appeared, followed by the background cacophony of battle. This aroused some curiosity but we later realized this belied the fact that the game lacked the charm of a serious piece of work. This was but a trifle, however, which really isn’t relevant to the actual game.
And so upon launching the game we are greeted with the unsightly mug of a commissar (clearly taken from Call of Duty 2). The background music being very pleasant (used from the soundtrack of the film “Hunt for the Red October”) it still was out of place and fit in with the general substandard quality of the mod. With impatience I create a game and choose the USSR. With surprise I note that the Soviet faction was strictly added [translator’s note – I assume he meant that it was added as a completely new faction and did not replace any of the existing factions]. The “Ostheer” will be added in the distant future. With the players gathered – we could begin.
After the game loaded it felt as though we were watching a rerun of “Enemy at the Gates”. Hmm…interesting, interesting…With a few clicks of the mouse we had at our disposal the proverbial “Russian Horde” ready to be used as cannon fodder. While the troops tore at our eyes and emitted incomprehensible sounds, we sent them to look for MG42s or anything that might bring about some action or epic battlefield drama. It is worthwhile to note that the USSR has access to everything. Tanks, artillery, air support...All of this is in abundance and costs almost nothing. In fact, an artillery barrage does not even cost any resources, the same for grenades and other things that bring about happiness in one’s life. A certain feeling of discomfort arises from the fact that the player can experience four long years of war in one single match. One quickly gets accustomed to it however and ends up giggling nervously while obliterating swathes of Wehrmacht forces. Winning my first match with my partner left me with a positive first impression, ignoring the nagging feeling that a lot of the mod was still rough around the edges, the mod after all is about us. Having said that we should not celebrate yet since first impressions can be deceiving. Now let’s look at the mod a little bit closer.
Enemy at the Gates…Really?
We’ll begin with the fact that Russian voiceovers are completely lacking. We have instead a mishmash of Soviet and Wehrmacht voices – a little strange isn’t it? Moreover, we were disappointed to find out that Russian soldiers can’t retreat or man heavy weaponry. Not one step back? Yes it’s here (unfortunately)… Meanwhile we have the cheapest unit in the mod “conscripts”. Here we have another little curiosity. Half of them are not armed and can’t even fight in hand-to-hand combat. Modders, could you at least decide on the period during which all of this takes place? I’m not even talking about the fact that there are symbols of communism present, commissars are everywhere and some squads even have standard bearers (what the hell?) To put it briefly: While the infantry was drawn very well – there nevertheless lingers a strange odor about the mod.
The SU tanks are quite dangerous while the IS-2 is worth its weight in gold. There is a diverse selection of tanks that await us in the game which clearly cannot be bad. But some of them were a bit disappointing…For example the “Zveroboy”. Even a shot from this tank fails to inflict any serious damage to a panther which should be destroyed in one shot from an anti-tank round. We were glad to see the T34 which could carry tank riders into battle. However the modeling of the tank itself was…average. Destroyed tanks seem to have the same burnt-out model which isn’t easy on the eyes. Especially when the tank is facing the right but when destroyed, ends up facing the left.
The artillery – this was something. It was a lot of fun and greatly amused us, but the unsightly modeling of the Katyusha spoiled the party so to say. The model was taken from “” [translator’s note: does not say, I assume one of the Axis vehicles]. The artillery could definitely use some more work.
The creators of the mod did not limit themselves to just creating a new faction – they also made some maps. To tell you the truth, it’s hard to call them maps. It would be better to say they were hastily drawn and simply looked good on the surface. Some maps simply were redrawn from the original, for example “Leningrad” shared a 90% similarity to the map “Battle on the River”.
In conclusion…
In concluding our review we’ll say one thing – the modders clearly played “Call of Duty 2” a lot and are fans of “Enemy at the Gates”. On the whole the mod is targeted towards degenerates and lovers of spam. For the average player the mod will provide two, at most four, days of enjoyment. There is a massive dissonance, it feels like the mod is unfinished and is in need of serious additional work. We’ll wait a bit and see what happens when the Ostheer is released.
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I have a response to quite a few posts in this thread but I'm a little burnt-out (pardon the pun) from the translating ;)
Last edited May 30, 2010 at 7:38 PM by thebomb