The LZ is hot! Unfortunately, the game is not.
Conflict: Denied Ops was doomed from the start. The core gameplay isn't good. From there a series of uninspired levels were slapped together and some ugly graphics were put in place and a budget title was born. And it was dead on arrival.
The game follows the travails of special agents Graves and Lang as they attempt to avert all manner of WMDs from being unleashed on the earth at the hands of a Venezuelan dictator. One is black and carries a machine gun and says things like "bro" because he is "hip." The other is white, prefers a sniper rifle and doesn't like his rookie partner. What both of them can agree on is their weapon of choice. They love them so much that they literally can't put them down. That's right, you can't switch weapons in Conflict: Denied Ops. Each agent gets special attachments and upgrades to add a small amount of variety to the game as you progress from one level to the next, but what you start each level with is what you get. Graves has a sniper rifle. Lang has a machine gun. End of story.
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Each mission follows a string of cookie-cutter gameplay concepts. There are explosive barrels everywhere, nuclear or chemical weapons must be disarmed, and the majority of the stages end with a hot LZ (landing zone) that must be cleared before you can exit. The enemy AI is suspect at best, the animations are downright terrible and the dialogue is atrocious. Some bits of the environment are destructible but everything looks so bad that it's hard to care. It begins as a game that feels like a guilty pleasure shooter -- one where you just blow things up and ignore the low production value -- and then takes a nose dive. Occasionally you'll get to hop into a vehicle for a few seconds. That is the game in a nutshell.
Of course, with an odd couple pairing in the spotlight, co-op gameplay is the primary feature in Conflict. You can team up with a friend through a LAN or the internet to battle straight through the game or take on an individual level that you have previously cleared. In this way, some people might be able to find some fun in Conflict: Denied Ops, but with so many better gaming options, it's hard not to be disappointed at every turn.
You may not be able to find a friend that will suffer through the entirety of Denied Ops with you which will leave the controlling of both Graves and Lang up to you. This is bad. You can swap between the two with the touch of a button or deliver basic commands such as to rally to your position or move to where you're looking. If you don't, you'll find your other half almost completely devoid of AI. He'll shoot a bit at things around him, but he won't follow you unless told to do so ad nausea and he generally tends to just stare at a wall. Here's a fun example: In one stage you get to take command of a hovercraft with a mounted machine gun. One person drives while the other shoots, only the AI is so nonexistent that it won't drive if you get in the turret. He'll just sit there in the driver seat like a complete idiot while enemy fire rains down on his stupid face. In short, your partner a constant liability and annoyance.
And then it's over after roughly four hours. Even if you could delude yourself into thinking the game is fun, it won't last long. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
If it's possible, things get worse when you venture into the multiplayer "game." Ostensibly it's a game, though that word typically denotes some sort of fun which Conflict: Denied Ops is lacking on all fronts here. There are just three modes (deathmatch, team deathmatch, and conquest), none of which are original in any way other than the fact that, like the campaign, you can't switch weapons. Everyone plays as either Graves or Lang which makes about as much sense as green-lighting this project in the first place. The competitive outing supports up to 16 players (if you can find that many poor saps to play with) and it runs, so there's that I guess.
Closing Comments
Do yourself a favor and ignore this game. The appeal of a co-op experience is oftentimes strong, but there is essentially no merit to Conflict: Denied Ops. It offers nothing unique and has almost no production value. Shooters are a dime a dozen these days and most have this game beat at every turn.
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