CES 2008: Conflict Denied Ops aims at non-existent 'casual FPS' market

Just a few months ago we brought you impressions of an early build of Conflict: Denied Ops. As the newest chapter in the perpetually-lackluster Conflict series, our opinion then was that the game was following in the footsteps of its 4.0 kindred. We were frustrated with the flat look, boring linear gameplay and the use of a needless buzzword – "Puncture-Tech" – to describe destructible environmental elements.

In checking in on the game's progress in a near-release state today at CES, we found that many of these same concerns are still applicable. Eidos and Pivotal Games have stopped using that meaningless marketing buzzword and thrown in a few twists on the A-to-B gameplay, but Denied Ops is basically the same flawed game we saw in October.

So what's the solution for a game company that has an overly-linear title on their hands? Apparently, you start calling it a casual game. That's right: Conflict: Denied Ops is now a "casual first-person shooter." You know: for all those grandmas who have been itching to break into the 'killing things' genre.

The premise remains the same as always: you control two characters (Graves and Lang) in single-player mode, switching back and forth between the two with the push of a button. Alternatively, you can play co-op with a friend. There are simple tactical elements in the single-player game, to go along with the cookie-cutter storyline. (The first level has you trying to find some missing nuclear warheads. Later there is a snow level – wee!) Online modes consist of campaign co-op and small-sized deathmatch games. The weapons are inventive, at least. Both of the main guns has an alt-fire mode. For the machine gun this is a grenade launcher, while the the sniper rifle packs a shotgun blast.

Unfortunately, that shotgun-sniper hybrid is about the only inventive thing in the game (and really, it's just two standard weapons glued together). Playing the game, we got the sense that the developers heard early complaints and tried to address them, but didn't quite know how to do so. For example, since last October, ammo caches have been added to the levels, giving you more objectives than just 'make it to the end of the map.' The ammo caches make some sense since dead enemies don't drop ammo or weapons, but then again, the primary fire mode on your guns has unlimited ammo.

All of these conflicting elements come together in the tagline the people at the Games for Windows booth were using: "casual FPS." The theory is that this is a shooter for casual gamers, folks who don't want to get into the tactical depth of a Rainbow Six or overwhelming action of a Call of Duty. As one of the demo reps put it: "The idea is to make a solid action game, without any unique elements that you'd have to learn how to use. The idea is that you'll already know how to play it."

What you're left with, then, is a game that you've already played. Nothing about Conflict: Denied Ops stands out from any other FPS on the market. Anyone who has ever picked up a shooter before won't find anything to get excited about. As for this 'casual FPS' market we've heard so much about ... um, well, we fear it doesn't actually exist.