Realistic "tactical shooter" on the horizon : Ground Branch

[NoxNoctum]

It's being made by a small development team, Blackfoot studios, with a lot of ex-RedStorm members. Their aim is apparentally to build on the original R6 games and come out with something even more awesome.

Lots of info if you dig around on the forum:

http://www.blackfootstudios.com/foru...p?showforum=13

Ground Branch Synopsis

Ground Branch is the premiere title from Blackfoot Studios. The term Ground Branch is a little known Military and Intelligence reference phrase for the paramilitary wing of the CIA. Ground Branch is composed of a Command that oversees operational teams which conduct military and intelligence actions in support of the goals specified by the National Command Authority.

These teams are not constrained by the law of land warfare that applies to military units. They operate under the radar and outside public knowledge, often conducting operations in conjunction with Special Operations Forces. Their members are drawn from the best former SOF operators from around the world including US Army Special Forces, British SAS, Australian SAS, Navy SEALs, Delta Force, and GSG9 just to name a few.

Ground Branch often operates in an area where there is no official or allowed military presence and utilizes the most advanced weaponry, intelligence and support mechanisms.

The story in Ground Branch opens with the expanding Chinese oil companies backing a guerrilla leader in Sumatra. The goal is the over throw of the West Sumatran government in order to allow China easier access to the massive oil strata discovered to the west of the country in Sumatran waters. Loss of communication with an advance Intel gathering team along with Guerrilla seizure of oil platforms and a bold move toward the capital of West Sumatra result in the CIA deployment of a Ground Branch 6 man team to gather intelligence and assess the situation in preparation for possible US Military intervention.

The Ground Branch Team enters the fray and the player begins a whirlwind experience where the battlefield evolves and the morality of right and wrong become a matter of choice. The gamer will chase a warlord and an elusive truth across a country while employing advanced techniques such as covert underwater scuba operations and high altitude parachuting techniques known as HALO to surprise a vastly superior enemy.

The basis for the Ground Branch game experience is, like everything else in the title, realism. There are legions of FPS fans that are constantly saying, ?I wish there was a game where I could do such and such just like the real world.? With Ground Branch, they will. All the while getting their hands "dirty" and experiencing the visceral consequences of hard decisions made during desperate situations.

[Moyako]

Sounds good... but i can't forget de disappointing experience of R6 lockdown and lasvegas :P

[SiC-Disaster]

Originally Posted by Moyako

Sounds good... but i can't forget de disappointing experience of R6 lockdown and lasvegas :P

Lockdown and Vegas got made after the original developers where taken over by Ubisoft, and that company is responsible for what Lockdown and Vegas have become.
This is from the original developers, so i have high hopes for it. I just wish they would bring out a preview with some screenshots of any kind though.

[Makabi]

if you register on their forum, you'll have access to their newsletters which have shown a number of weapon and character model renders, as well as a handful of WIP pics, some of which show in-engine environments.

[DraKon2k]

Originally Posted by SiC-Disaster

Lockdown and Vegas got made after the original developers where taken over by Ubisoft, and that company is responsible for what Lockdown and Vegas have become.
This is from the original developers, so i have high hopes for it. I just wish they would bring out a preview with some screenshots of any kind though.

Please don't compare Vegas with Lockdown.

[SiC-Disaster]

Originally Posted by DraKon2k

Please don't compare Vegas with Lockdown.

Why not? Both are hugely simplified.

[Tomcat_ha]

interesting trivia.

beppo of infiltration fame is a coder for this.

[DraKon2k]

Originally Posted by SiC-Disaster

Why not? Both are hugely simplified.

Vegas may be simplified in terms of no planning, otherwise it's still more tactical than most games nowadays. Lockdown however was agreed to be crap.

[D3terioNation]

I'l believe it when I see it tbh

I sense another INS

[SiC-Disaster]

Originally Posted by DraKon2k

Vegas may be simplified in terms of no planning, otherwise it's still more tactical than most games nowadays. Lockdown however was agreed to be crap.

Well both are equally crap in my book.

[Nimsky]

Tbh, I think this will be another America's Army. Let's hope I'm wrong. If it has co-op and a huge map it might be good.

The forums seem active though, so that's a good thing.

Link to screenshots, by the way?

[Murphy]

Originally Posted by SiC-Disaster

Well both are equally crap in my book.

Nah, Vegas looks like a fun shooter from I've seen from it. Not like a Rainbow Six game at all, I agree with you, but still like potential fun. I bet it rocks in co-op.

Lockdown played like incarnated lazyness, from enemy behaviour over the linear level design to the weapons. Co-op was pointless too because of the levels and the enemies - not that those in older games were much smarter, but since you died faster and the levels were MUCH better it didn't matter that much. I bought it for my xbox just to see why everyone was complaining. Played it pretty far too but one of the sniper missions got so on my nerves that I stopped.

[NoxNoctum]

Originally Posted by Nimsky

Tbh, I think this will be another America's Army. Let's hope I'm wrong. If it has co-op and a huge map it might be good.

The forums seem active though, so that's a good thing.

Link to screenshots, by the way?

You have to register on the forums to have access to the "members only" section where they have put up some models etc. (actually "taken" from the game, not just renders)

[Tomcat_ha]

if beppo works on this i have high hopes so should you :G

[Ralfst3r]

And who the cockles is Beppo?

[DraKon2k]

So I just logged in again(I created an account last year) and had a look at all the newsletters/teaser pics. Now I'm really looking forward to this game, graphics are not going to be uber but it'll do I hope.

[The Masta]

The graphics don´t matter as long as the game is good.

[DraKon2k]

Originally Posted by The Masta

The graphics don´t matter as long as the game is good.

Depends, for example I wouldn't play Mafia or System Shock 2(from what I heard really great games) nowadays because of the graphics. That's a bit different with (nowadays ugly) games which I however played some years ago like Half-Life or NOLF, I could still play them if I wanted to. But well yes to be honest, graphics are a main selling point for me as well as for other people. I wouldn't have payed 50€ for BioShock if it looked like Quake 3.

[Nimsky]

I think it looks pretty good, not great, but pretty good. The textures are sharp. But they need to work on the AA, it looks too crispy here and there.

I really really hope the gameplay will be different from America's Army and all the other "SF" shooters out there. We'll see I guess.

[Coey]

Why do fictional elite military units have stupid ****ing names? Rainbow Six, Ground Branch, YMCA etc etc.