Gamespot E3 2005 first hands-on impressions article

Spec Ops 9 noticed that Gamespot has posted a very interesting Operation Flashpoint 2 E3 2005 first hands-on impressions. Here are some parts of it, you can read the full article here.

One new aspect to battles is just the sheer number of units that will be available on-screen during the game. Battlefields will be around 400 square kilometers in size, and literally hundreds of soldiers and vehicles will be able to coexist on them.
One example of this was shown to us, and it was quite impressive watching huge groups of allied soldiers march across a battlefield with tanks and other vehicles following along.
Whereas the original Flashpoint took place in 1985 during Cold War operations, Flashpoint 2 will take place during a fictional near-future conflict in the year 2010. You’ll be able to play in three different areas, including Southeast Asia, Central Europe and Africa, and you’ll play as three different soldier types during each section of the game, including a Marine Corps solider, a US Army officer and a Special Ops operative.
As you play the game, you’ll be able to upgrade your squads and soldiers through what Bohemia refers to as something of an RPG-like leveling system. In another nod to RPGs, you’ll also be able to chat it up in real time with NPC allies, and learn valuable reconnaissance intel from them.
A big part of the visual upgrade is the damage modeling, which is fully dynamic across the many set pieces you’ll find on the battlefield. The developers showed us one example, where when driving a tank, a nearby building was targeted and fired upon. The first hit did a little damage, but nothing too devastating. The next hit took a big chunk out of it, and the next one practically eradicated it. The developers state that no two explosions will look quite the same, as the debris will always fall dynamically.
Of course, Flashpoint 2 will feature online multiplayer. Bohemia wasn’t able to provide exact details of what kinds of modes, or how many players you’ll be able to compete with or against, but they stated that they plan to make the multiplayer a big part of the game, and will try to squeeze in as many players as they possibly can. One notable improvement over the original Flashpoint’s multiplayer is that in this game, you’ll be able to join battles in progress. In the first Flashpoint, you’d have to wait for an open server, or sit in the chat lobby waiting for your friends to finish. That won’t be the case, here.
Another thing that Bohemia wanted to emphasize was that they recognize and appreciate the fan communities that have developed from Flashpoint and its expansion packs. While not the biggest game in the US, the game certainly had its fans here, and internationally, Flashpoint developed a big mod community. Flashpoint 2 will once again include a robust map editor for committed players to mess around with, and like the first game, Bohemia fully intends to support the game with new content long after its release.