Eastern-European Game Developers Hate Everyone
It’s true. They do! Well, perhaps not. But they sure know how to make some damn harsh games.
I’ve played my fair share of Eastern-European games, and some of the games coming from that area are both refreshing experiences, damn good, and excellently made. But damn, are they harsh.
Probably the best example of this is Operation Flashpoint or Armed Assault. From Bohemia Interactive Studios, based in the Czech Republic, both of these games are probably the most harsh representation of war you could ever play. Death is a bullet away. And it is so harsh.
Original War was one of my favourite RTSes when I was younger, and I’ve started playing it again. It was by Altar Games, also from the Czech Republic. But it’s harsh. So, so harsh. With so few people (who die easily, and who can’t be replaced) the loss of one means your mission will be much, much harder to complete. Even with a full crew, missions are rock hard. OW is $6 on gog.com now, and I strongly suggest you play it, as long as you’re prepared to put up with a tough time. But aside from that, it’s a truly amazing game - the storyline is brilliant, and the intros to both campaigns (USSR one in particular) are absolutely genius. But it’s a tough game.
Soldiers: Heroes of WW2 is a game from Best Way (who are from Russia, I believe), is also rock hard. But it’s also a fresh take on the WW2 RTS and is also well worth a look. Faces of War, the sequel, is much easier, but still has harder difficulties. (it’s also on GOG, as is Operation Flashpoint). I can’t wait for the 3rd game in the series.
Mafia is one of the greatest games ever made. But it too is from a Czech developer. And guess what? It’s hard as nails. So, so hard. But it’s still an absolute classic.
I’ve been playing Stalker: Clear Sky and that too is really harsh. I didn’t enjoy the first Stalker but I decided I’d give this a shot and it’s pretty good once you get used to it. But it’s hard, even on the lowest difficulty setting. It’s harsh - there are lots, and lots of things out there to kill you, and the busy HUD and lack of notifications means you’ll be running around draining health without noticing, and before you know it, you’re dead. It demands a lot of attention from the player at all times, and there’s a lot to manage.
IL-2 Sturmovik and Lock On: Modern Air Combat are flight sims from Russia. And guess what? They’re hard too. But then again, they’re sims.
I definately don’t meant to say I hate any of the games here - OFP/ArmA are probably some of my favouritest games ever, and Original War is an absolute classic. I’m enjoying Stalker: Clear Sky as well, as much as it is possible to do so.
But maybe all of the games here are ’simulations of real life’? Maybe it’s not that they’re harsh, but what if they’re realistic? I certainly wouldn’t disagree that any of the games here are unrealistic, while I would say a game like CoD4 is unrealistic. Maybe all of these games stem from their drive to make gritty, realistic games, even if it means the player has a hard time? I like that outlook.
But is having a hard, harsh game a bad thing? I mean, a game like CoD4 is a blast, but unless you play it on Veteran it’s not exactly the most hardest game around. It’s almost as if western devs are scared of making games hard in the fear it’ll drive players away. And it does, in many cases. But it’s nice to have some refreshing ideas from eastern europe, even in such a way as to make a game hard. All of the stuff coming out of Russia and Eastern Europe is both excellent, imaginative, fresh, and a new take on many of the things Western Devs take for granted, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with in 2009.
