As per usual, at 17th August 2021 which is 76th anniversary of my beloved country: Indonesia. Thus I play "militaristic lone wolf" game. This time is Teyon's Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear (2015).
Fairly good main menu. According to credit roll, they use real photo like in here. I don't think i ever saw soldiers taking documentary picture of their peers. Not even in movie or documentary show. Maybe they use drone to do the documentary here instead. Soldiers don't carry camera around. Or do they? Unlike in previous occasion where i picked game that considered retro, i pick this rather modern one just to break the tedium .
Soon after i hit the "Play Game" menu, this narration appears and it has voice acting! I don't know the thing about conflict between Iran and USA. Some said there's nefarious reason or whatnot behind it. But let's take it with a grain of salt and just assume that the war in the game is fiction and the protag does something heroic and right.
Then there's bit of story: our spy manage to steal top secret nuclear plans but Iranian army corner him on Birjand town and he has no choice but to fight back. I kind of don't understand about him being out of white flag means. Do spy negotiate or bribe his pursuers? His pursuers are most likely dedicated men only want him either captured or dead. No way that they can let him slip off with just some "dough".
In case you wonder how the spy looks like. There he is. As why he let his beard grow so thick? That's because...he's too busy escape from his pursuers so he doesn't have time to shave it. The top secret plan must be on that small backpack of his.
This (the one and only) loading screen gives you the game instruction. The control setting is like half of the control in FPS. I assure you that this is not FPS. It's...
...rail shooter game. It's pretty rare case of the genre that you can see weapon that you currently use but i remember that House of The Dead 3 show my UZI gun only when i reload it. It's funny that i shoot that green beret in torso but looks like i break his nose instead.
The spy goes to upstairs while his chasers are hot on his trail. Luckily there's pile of crates at the end of the staircase and he shove them all to his chaser. Who put crates there? They're just accident waiting to happen. By the way, this is cutscene. I'm not controlling him right now. If i controlled him, i would just leave the crates alone. I'm reluctant to do underhanded trick like that. Honest.
Reloading animation takes lots of part of the screen but fortunately the reloading process is pretty brisk. Besides you can't shoot while reloading anyway.
If there's arrows in the center bottom of the screen, that means you can move to direction on related direction by holding the direction button. The mechanism is akin to Time Crisis where you need to keep holding the button to remain under cover or aiming besides the main screen. Moving left or right doesn't necessarily means you take cover to the left or right. In later part of the game, you turn to left or right to other part of the screen where more enemies stationed. This could trick your sense into safety but you find more enemies aim at you. It goes without saying that to make progress in level, you must kill all enemies on the screen.
Suddenly QTE time! Press "W" key to jump to window! I did it fast enough. Scout_goodjob02.wav
The game tells me to "Collect medkits in the field". There's on the right with spinning blue cross symbol which is the standard symbol of medkits [Medium Sarcasm].
As in every rail shooter game, you have to collect the medkits by shooting it. It fully restore my health which is great blessing for a game that can be unforgiving like this.
All of sudden, a pickup car with mounted gun gets in my way. The light machine gun along with man that operates it, is well protected with that steel cover. But unfortunately for him, the car is not impervious to bullets so i blast at the car instead and it went kaboom along with the gunner. Soldier_KaBoomAlts03.wav
Explosive barrel with red color? How cliché. destroying the barrel is certainly easier than the pickup car so do that. Demoman_specialcompleted11.wav
Eventually, the spy get his hand on this car and drive away to Afghanistan border. There's no process of hacking (i don't know the real term to start the car without the key so give me a break, alright? :I) the car. I thought his escape route is just random but it seems he's on his way to this car that he happens to have the key (also not destroyed by my trigger-happy havoc). As why he doesn't park it near his hideout? It's for safety reason but it's kind of convoluting. Or this car is the second getaway car. That's make sense!
Because i successfully control the spy to safety, i'm promoted to Corporal. Soldier_thanks01.wav
Alas! Our spy has been captured by Afghanistan rebels and according to first narration Iran support them so they are in good term which means not good. The spy is currently held on a dam which happens to be their big HQ. Question is: why they make the dam which is important national infrastructure as their HQ? Surely, the government will surely take it back no matter what the cost For either irrigation or electricity supply. And those rebels will be smoked out by local government long before our attack.
Now you get to play as Will the narrator, the member of USA's army 75th ranger regiment. I hope you don't get too excited over this mounted gun and eager to fire it right away because first moving thing on the screen is your comrades on inflatable boat and the second one is allied chopper. You get to fire this sweetheart thing, champ. But not right away.
At first i thought this is machine gun. But its fire rate is noticeably slower and it fires explosive rounds. Maybe this is 40 mm grenade launcher. Demoman_battlecry04.wav
Somehow in this weird angle, i manage to shoot at truck and the game gives me bonus score "Wiggle Wagon". Also i kill that guy along with that pile of barrels. Like in turret section in FPS game, the mounted gun has infinite ammo but you have to watch the heat bar and you must pause the barrage once in a while to let the gun cool down a bit.
All that rafting tooting shooty
section must comes to an end as i disembark and on my way to get inside the dam
on foot. Thus here i am with Colt M4A1 carbine that has limited ammo!
Intolerable! I kind of miss that. At least i find ammo cache that i can grab
shoot to fully restore my ammunition bag. See that small box with yellow symbol
on center near the enemy who's kneelled down? That's the one that i'm talking
about.
I'm low on health. Those blue lamps have the same color as the first aid symbol. The game really teases me. Sniper_jeers05.wav, there's actual health pickup if you look closely near the barrel of my gun and i only notice now when i'm writing and not while playing the game. Sniper_jeers05.wav
Beyond that door is checkpoint but there's no medkits and i desperately need it right now. Even though i have decent cover in this section, i have to take damage because there's so much space that i have to cover to aim those enemies.
Then Will decide to stare at ceiling and draw his last breath. It seems pointless to return to the last checkpoint because the game also record the health bar at that point. So i choose to restart the level.
On the second try, i'm doing worse. Look at my health bar that only has magic pixel of health left. That friend of mine has worse cover than me but he remains strong and well. I envy him. Obviously, he can't hit any enemies because that's make the game too easy on me.
Finally on 3rd try, i get my eye on you, you tricky medkit. It seem i don't need it right now as my health bar is ± 80% so maybe i'm getting good at this game.
I manage to secure the inside of the dam and end up on top of it but disaster happens. The rebels are deliberately blow the dam themselves to cover their escape.
Press "W" key to jump on allied helicopter! Success! You see that truck with open tailgate there's our spy being transported. We can do nothing for now which is good for me as i only have 2 bullets left on my assault rifle. I notice that dam that i met in video game always ends up in miserable fate like the one in Command and Conquer Generals.
Finishing that dam stage, earns me upgrade point in this armory. Faster reload is fine as i see reload animation takes significant time as oppose to go instantly in any rail shooter. Replacing Colt M4A1 Carbine with SCAR rifle (that i knew from Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfare) also tempting. As i experience that i almost out of bullet in very previous moment, i decide to get more ammo clip instead.
Good news is our intelligence manage to track down the spy here at Lakari Village. After some brief moment of manning turret on humvee, i set a foot and shooting rebels and pot for funsies. If you like breaking pot in Legend of Zelda, you might like this game.
Suddenly roof falls as i step on it. Press "D" key to dodge remaining roof. I thought it was "W" key again so i don't do it fast enough. Dead. Heavy_paincrticialdeath01.wav
As Will bursts into interior, he decides to change his own weapon with Franchi SPAS-12 not that i complain though. This shotgun is awesome as i can hit multiple enemies with single shot. Also it has unlimited ammo. The only drawback is the reloading time is pretty long as you know from how conventional shotgun reload works. You insert the shell into the shotgun one by one and such. The sound of shotgun i terrible like some kind of small firecracker unlike satisfying "Bang!" of shotgun in Area 51.
There's machine gun nest on the top center but we can barely see it thanks to the sunlight. To make things worse, there's enemy behind left bush that barely visible. The game isn't shy to use underhanded visual trick at you.
I bust this door and kill those captors. Don't hit the bag-headed guy. That's our spy. Good thing, Will doesn't switch my weapon to shotgun otherwise, my chance to hit the spy is increased in this situation.
There he is, he looks fine like the last time we saw him. Now he becomes one of my allies that can barely hit anyone yet is not allowed to get hit. At least, i don't need to protect him throughout the mission. Funny thing is: i never get to see how Will looks like even after finishing the game. By the way, we're on our way to evacuation chopper.
There's section where Will decides to take night vision goggle. The rebels who don't wear any night vision goggle, can shoot me accurately so what's the point? Other than the game shows off what it can do but in rather pointless way.
I find out that once my assault rifle out of ammo, i switch to pistol with unlimited ammo. This. Is. Brilliant! I usually complaint about the usefulness of handgun in some modern FPS such as Call of Duty or Crysis 2 because of the limit on how many firearm i can carry there. Putting handgun in "side" slot is just the brilliant solution and it's related to real warfare too. It won't take slot of your shotgun, assault rifle , sub machine gun or what have you. You can use it spare your main weapon's ammo for breaking destructible object, taking out small enemies, or what have you. Anyway, this pistol is actually as good as the assault rifle because enemies still die in one hit but you probably have harder time to dispatch pickup car or other heavy target with it.
Next level, i take control of AC-130 Hercules plane and provide Will's group with support fire. People within rectangle is Will, the spy, and his co so don't shoot them. While the people within circle is the immediate threat to our heroes and you have to kill them within limited countdown. Hitting them with your machinegun is more challenging because your shot isn't hitscan and there's definite projectile's travelling time so you have to lead your shoot properly. You can also launch missile with faster projectile speed by pressing grenade button. I forget to demonstrate grenade while i'm on foot but it's not so worthy because it's not screen-clearing bomb. It behaves like real grenade that can bounce on any surface (and even enemies) and explode only when the detonation time's up.
Then i have to destroy fortified guns on that hill. I think they're supposed to be anti air gun then it begs question: why they don't prevents me killing their men and pickup cars? Scout_taunts09.wav
My reflect tells me to shoot those guys on left although they're from evacuation team and they provide Will and Co with fire support. I though i only need to refrain from shooting at Will's group. Anyway, evacuation success. It seems i call it a day except not. The Afghanistan rebels manage to shoot down the evacuation Chinook chopper but don't you worry! Will and the spy survive. I will skip most section forward because the rest of the game is pretty much the same. By the way...
...the spy is down much later after that. But he only got shot on his leg nothing fatal unless you fail on this QTE where you drag him to safety. I will avenge you. my friend.
With this newly-acquired KSG
Gauge Pump Action Shotgun. This weapon is freaking awesome! It has smaller
magazine and slower fire rate than M4A1 Carbine but it has bigger hit spot. I
can more easily hit enemies with it and even a couple of them within a single
shot. The bullet spray feels narrower than Franchi SPAS-12 so you can shoot
more accurately. Plus the reloading time is significantly faster. With this shotgun i barely switch to handgun. Amazing! But i kind of miss using my sidearm for the sake of breaking the tedium.
After we get the Iran's top secret nuclear weapon plan, we decide to strike at Iran. Starting from Strait of Hormuz. I'm taking control of an attack chopper and blasting destroyer ships and naval base. I like this section.
Now i'm in city of Yazd, on our way to warehouse where they store the nuclear warheads. There's sniping section by using Barret M82A1. You may think that i rake lots of headshot kill in this section. You thought wrong. This is the only headshot kill that i manage to pull off because i suck at sniping.
Then i'm fighting Hind chopper. If Solid Snake can do it, why i can't?
Once we retrieve the warheads. We're heading to base on Shir Kuh mountain which is Iranian's ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) launching facility. I'm inside a tank but those fools keep shooting me with their assault rifle. Ludicrous! On the other hand, fighting against other tank, is very intense. There's a thin line between life and death because their cannon can kill me instantly. So you have to blast them first before get blasted. This experience reminds me of Tank Force, very much.
Eventually, we infiltrate the underground ICBM facility. I hope you don't get thrilled over final confrontation because this is all you get. Press "W" key to activate self destruct on already launched missile and that's it! You save the day! Congratulation, soldier!
Then you get this epilogue narration. I must give the developer some credit for authenticity of that George Orwell's quote. Also i can feel strong patriotism from that last part of epilogue. Godspeed, Will!
Then the game offers me New Game+ mode with increased difficulty but will earn me the rest of upgrade points. I hate to say this but my interest for this game is already worn out. Most of the upgrades are not either interesting or worth the effort and the game is pretty easy (although there's case where i have hard time getting the medkit). It's the opposite problem that i have with Ghosts 'n Goblin Resurrection where the skill tree is interesting but the game is hard and super tedious. Anyway, I will just retire as Second Lieutenant. I'm happy with that.
You should think Teyon's Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear (2015) as rail shooter of Call or Duty rather than common arcade-y rail shooter games because there's so many uninteresting design in gameplay department such as: destroying breakable object only for extra score, enemies that die in one hit, grenade is workable only in very strict condition, lack of power up, etc. Maybe enemy soldier won't die in one hit if i play at veteran mode. But before reaching that, the game already worn out its welcome for me. This game is certainly inferior than Sega's Ghost Squad, Operation G.H.O.S.T, and Rambo (2008) mainly because in those game enemies don't die in one hit except by headshot and CQC section. The former two have action trigger that allow you to lockpick on hostage's handcuff or issue a special order to your allied AI squadmate. While the later one has super bar that allow you to become invincible and get more powerful weapon. HF:SS feels too realistic and less fun to those Sega's rail shooter games. At least they should put boss fight for God's sake! But that doesn't mean HF:SS is bad. It has some variation on the gameplay such as: AC-130 Hercules section, snipping section, tank section, and using M72 LAW to defeat hind, tank or BTR (Bronetransporter). The upgrades are mostly boring except for better weapon and the faster reload is good. They should put more interesting upgrade such as better grenade, health/ammo boost when reach checkpoint, or chance to dodge enemy's attack. Speaking of checkpoint, it's kind of harsh. As i mentioned before that i don't have enough health to fight beyond checkpoint and there's an occasion where i incidentally throw grenade right after checkpoint while squadmates run ahead of me. Thus they are blown out by my grenade. Reloading the game from last checkpoint only makes them killed over and over again. The move to cover/turn mechanism is functional but there's some section where you don't get to cover at all thus you are forced to bit bullets .The music is not so catchy. The sound effect is fine except for Franchi SPAS-12.
Despite all that flaw and the mediocrity, Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear (2015) is fairly good arcade-y game and worth your money for quick fun. It takes like more or less 6 minutes to finish each mission. From its setting and gameplay, this game seems not related to our independence fight in the old time. But there's word "Spear" on title and our symbol of fight for freedom is sharp bamboo which is makeshift spear. So there's some relation right there. :P
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