I really wanted to like this game. I really did. After the silliness of Battlefield 1942, and after reading some of the reviews of DoD, I thought my longing for a realistic WW2 FPS would finally be relieved.
Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed after only an hour or so.
As advertised, DoD has nice weapons, somewhat dated graphics, and the potential for teamwork and realistic play. However, it all goes down the toilet, because for some reason in the FPS world soldiers can run laterally as fast as they can run forward. Not only that, they can shoot accurately while doing so.
Apparently, the theory is that this fantastic mode of locomotion makes DoD and the rest of these games more fun. To me, it simply makes them childish, fit for trigger-happy pre-teens for whom "circle strafing" is almost as enjoyable as "circle jerking." The reality is that this isn't realistic in the slightest, and utterly destroys any potential realism in DoD. There's nothing quite so idiotic as lying prone, waiting for an enemy to come through a doorway, your sights trained on the spot, knowing he's coming... and then he just rushes past me laterally at top speed, blasts away, and of course nails me because he's a moving target and I'm not. This is the exact opposite of what would happen in the real world -- and ruins DoD!
A related problem is that the putative teamwork rarely develops. The game rewards aggressive play, and everyone pretty much just speeds away from their spawn points, individually, and either kills or is killed in a surprise one-on-one encounter. Realistic peripheral vision is sorely lacking in all FPS games -- all the more reason to slow down soldier movement.
If only player movement were more realistic, DoD could've set a standard for a fun, realistic FPS. Players *would* play as a team, use sensible tactics, engage in pitched battles, etc. Too bad.
Create an Account
Member Login
