Hi all,

I know quite a few members are concerned at some of the AI shown in recent preview videos, but I feel that the vast majority of you are missing one vital point.

All of the preview videos you’ve seen recently from Gamescon etc have been played in normal difficulty with all the HUD elements turned on, meaning that enemy soldiers will appear as red dots on your compass towards the top of the screen. Obviously this makes the game quite a bit easier and gives you a phenomenal advantage over the AI as you know in which direction they are located. I’m sure that in real-life as well with an advantage such as this you’d find it a lot easier to eliminate an opposing force than you would without it. It is also entirely possible that god-mode may have been switched on in some of the videos as this was presented to people as an option at Gamescon if they wanted to use it.

In the hardcore difficulty mode, which I’m sure a lot of you here will be using, the compass is not present. Meaning that even when enemy troops have been spotted by yourself or your other fireteam members, you won’t have any visual HUD aids to help you in locating them other than your own eyes, and also the map if you have the time to use it. The enemy AI in the game use cover well and are in general very well concealed, and this has been stated over and over by numerous people from both press and public who’ve played the game, and I’m sure you will find it a challenge in the hardcore mode.

I’m not just saying this as I’m a CM employee, I’ve played the game myself and know first-hand how difficult the game can be. More often than not the first time you’ll know that an enemy is nearby is when you hear them firing at you, see tracer fire flashing past your head, bullets hitting the dirt near to your position, or the “you are dead” screen

**As an aside, I’ve just found out that there is an OFP: DR 4 page hands-on feature in the next edition of PC Zone UK (Nov 09). Here is “the lowdown” from the article.

+ Huge Map
+ Improved AI
+ Not Dumbed Down
+ Massive Draw Distance
- Very Easy to Die
- No chickens or sheep

- Ian ‘Helios’ Webster
Community Manager

Well it seems as if Sion has yet again been taking our feedback seriously and the hardcore mode has been altered to the effect of godliness. To see the news please visit here.

Snippit: “You lot are a bunch of masochists but, you’ve got it; the hardcore mode in Operation Flashpoint will contain no HUD/UI elements at all other than radio chatter subtitles. That’s right, no crosshair, no compass, no gun or ammo displays…Nothing…

There will be no objective markers, no bleed meter, no direction of fire indicator, no enemy location highlights and no damage indicators. Nothing!

To show you what we mean, here’s an example for you all taken with the new hardcore settings.”