Denied

My first aquaintance with the Conflict series dates back 6 years ago when I first got my Play Station 2; among my early collection of games back then included Conflict: Desert Storm. Although I am a military fanatic, it was strange that I didn't bother much about Conflict: Desert Storm back then for some mysterious reasons. However as I grew older and mature (ahem...I think), so did my interest in global conflict and politics. When Game Trailers (the usual gaming website I often visit) announced that a new Conflict installment entitled Denied Ops for the Play Station 3 was bound to hit the shelves in the middle of February, I was excited mostly because of the political scenario and also the military tactical nature of the game. Consequently, I knew that Conflict: Denied Ops would be one of my anticipated military games this year for the Play Station 3, apart from Rainbow Six Vegas 2, End War, Battle Field: Bad Company, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Front Line: Fuels Of War. When the game was released in stores about a week ago, I contemplated about buying it as I wouldn't want to flush $57 down the drain recklessly. Consequently, I searched for the game's review on several gaming website only to be disappointed with the unavailable reviews as the game was still new. I went on waiting a couple of more days and I managed to find a review about the game on a foreign gaming site which I couldn't really remember the name. To my surprise, Conflict: Denied Ops was a flop according to the reviewer due to poor graphics, Artificial Intelligence, and gameplay. Knowing that reviews are not totally trustworthy, I decided to try the game myself. The only problem was, it would be an expensive waste of money for me if the reviewer was right about the game, thus instead of buying it, I rented the game. After 2 days of Conflict: Denied Ops, it is a shame that this game has been DENIED from my list of favorite games.

Conflict: Denied Ops revolves around present day Venezuela which is thrown into a violent civil war between the democratic government and the Ramirez regime which is spearheaded by rogue General Ramirez. As civilian casualties sky rocket throughout the civil war in Venezuela, the U.S. government decides to help its troubled neighboring country in the south with military aid, only to be threatened by General Ramirez who wouldn't hesitate to launch nuclear missiles into U.S for meddling with Venezuela's internal affairs. With the nuclear threat on the table, the United States is choice less but to mobilize its CIA Special Activities Division (SAD). The SAD is a paramilitary clandestine unit that specialize in covert special operations. Members of this division comprise former members of U.S. Special Forces, Delta Force , Navy SEAL, FBI and SWAT. These operatives do not equip themselves with any weaponry, gears or accessories that would associate them with the U.S. In the event that these operatives are apprehended, their existence will be officially denied by the U.S government. The game features a fictional world conflict scenario and a covert CIA division which is plain simple yet interesting enough to attract gamers (like me).

In Conflict: Denied Ops, players will be placed in the boots of Lincoln Graves and Reggie Lang whom are members of the CIA's Special Activities Division. Lincoln Graves specializes in long range weapons which pits him as the partnership's sniper. A former U.S. Marine and Delta Force operative, he played a major role in America's covert operations in Afghanistan, operating secretly against the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Unlike Graves, Reggie Lang's profile revolves around the law enforcement sector; shortly, after the September 11 attacks, he joined the FBI's Critical Incident Response Group which was responsible for the capture of many high profile Al-Qaeda terrorists suspects including Abu Zubaydah in Pakistan. Apart from his profile, Lang's combat specialty is the exact opposite of Graves' as it can be demonstrated by Lang's advantage in Close Quarter Battle (CQB). Like most military or espionage game which features tough looking heroes with an impressive military resume, the characters in Conflict: Denied Ops aren't special or new; however they are not necessarily dull as both of the characters interaction with one another in the game can be very dramatic.

The game play in Conflict: Denied Ops has its pros and cons. The positive aspect of this game is its character swapping feature which allows players to swap between Graves and Lang during the missions to fully utilize their respective combat capabilities. Although this character swapping feature isn't new as it is also offered in Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for the Play Station 2, yet such feature makes the game unique as it test the player's ability to decide which character to use depending on the mission's current situation. For instance, when the enemies are needed to be taken out from a distance with utmost stealth and secrecy, the player will swap to Graves as he specializes in sniping and stealth techniques. On the other hand, when the situation requires heavy fire power or close combat, players will utilize Lang's heavy machine gun. A variety of scenarios in the game that necessitate the players to use both Lang and Graves fully utilize the character swapping feature in the game. The controls are decent and the aiming system is very accurate. Although the players will initially confuse themselves with the zoom in button for Graves' sniper scope and gun camera mode which can be slightly annoying, eventually the players will get the hang out of it after repeatedly playing the game. As the players complete missions and fulfill their secondary objectives (which usually consist of protecting an important figure that bears Intel), they will be rewarded with awesome weapon upgrades like the gun camera, silencer attachment, grenade launcher attachment, shotgun attachement, bigger magazine, faster firing rate and weapon stock. Furthermore, the players will be rewarded with a variety of grenades like the flash bang, incinedary grenade and a trip mine which is capable of stopping infantries and light armor. The enemy AI in the game is surprisingly smart and intelligent seeing that they know when to take cover and are aware of the dangers of staying in one spot for too long. Here comes the bad part; unlike the enemy's intelligent AI, the player's partner can be ridiculously foolish. Constantly, the player need to issue his or her partner the "follow me" order or risk leaving his or her back up far behind. During missions which require either one of the agents to wheel a tank or a hovercraft, it would be a waste of time to have the player's partner to take charge as he will do nothing. The enemy's marksmanship which is highly accurate regardless of the shooting distance can be frustrating and annoying; this only spoils the realism of the game as well as the player's interest to further continue the game. Often times, the player will be struck by enemy rounds from all direction throughout the game even behind cover thus making it a hair ripping experience of frustration.Throughout the entire game, the players will be only restricted to using a machine gun or a sniper rifle. Seeing that it is impossible to pick up the fallen enemy's weapon, the variety and the liberty of weapon selection in this game is highly compromised. Although the aiming system is accurate, the grenade tossing format of the game is flawed. It is difficult to throw a grenade at a closer range as a single tap on the R1 button will automatically lob your grenade kilometers away from you. With plenty of flaws, Conflict: Denied Ops fails to provide a solid game play experience.

The graphics are just mediocre. Although the graphics are highly detailed and the explosion seems very realistic not to mention blood stains and smoke fumes can be spotted on the player's face, the glitches that often appear in terms of the enemy's gun sinking right through his(there's only a "he" in the game) supporting palm just look awful. The enemies movement which looks very bouncy makes them stiff and unnatural. Nevertheless, such graphical flaws are forgivable as the game's strikingly sharp detail and great lightings outweighs the game's graphical flaws.

Conflict: Denied Ops prevails in terms of its soundtrack and music scores. The game's soundtrack is similar to those from Hans Zimmerman and Harry Gregson Williams and it never fails to remind you of those Michale Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer action movies. The music score in the Rwanda level clearly reminded players of Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. Another amazing aspect of the game's soundtrack is that it provides different music scores depending on the scenes in the game. A violent gun fight and the race against time to complete a certain objective will trigger a heroic fast paced music score. On the other hand, in a calm environment with the absence of gun battles, a slow music score will accompany the scene. The soundtrack for Conflict: Denied Ops deserves both thumbs up.

Voice acting for Conflict: Denied Ops is at its best. The dialogs among the characters are well scripted and also dramatic, keeps the players fully entertained. Every line is expressed with utmost enthusiasm and also a variety of emotions, authenticate the game very well. At times, the dialogs can be comical especially among Lang and Graves whom hardly get along, loosens the players once a while from the highly tensed and volatile political story premise. The awesome voice acting in Conflict: Denied Ops enforces the game's style and presentation.

After 2 days of Conflict: Denied Ops, it is a shame that this game has been DENIED from my list of favorite games. The game has a lot of potential as it can be illustrated by the intresting story premise, great sound track and awesome voice acting; however it is a shame that its poor game play restricted Conflict: Denied Ops from reaching the top. To sum it up, Conflict: Denied Ops scores a 6 out of 10.

Lincoln Graves specializes in sniping.

Reggie Lang prefers to take it to his enemies up close and personal with his heavy machine gun. He is also an electronics expert as it can be shown above by the wiring he is busy with.

Your weapons of choice throughout the game: a machine gun or a sniper rifle...quite limited huh?

Take your enemies out from a far.. At this point, it is best to swap to Graves since he is more skillful with long range combat.

Hey sniper, any hostile ahead? You might wanna get behind cover like me before some sniper have your ass.

Some missions requires you to gather Intel

...while some obligates you to destroy them. Shown above is Graves rigging the enemy's data dump with a C4.

Graves going for a kill...Not really a pleasant sight, though.

Your enemies are not limited to infantries but also helicopters, tanks and jet fighters (No,I'm not kidding)

One hell of a combined assault.