Let's play 7.62: High Calibre

[Haba]

After having to restart my game of 7.62: High Calibre due to mod install, I decided to share my wonderful exploits in Algeira. Due to the sheer lenght of the game I probably won't detail all of my travels, but I'll post the best bits here.

7.62 is typical Russian release; buggy, poorly translated and full of that same magic that games of the 'olden days used to be. Despite some obvious glitches, I've been entertained. The game has lots of different mercenaries, more choices and consequences than today's RPG's and most importantly - lots and lots of gunporn.

I'm playing with B.F.X. mod installed, which adds even more weapons from Russian mods, makes the cars more durable and fixes a couple of bugs in the international release. I opted against the Hard Life mod, even though it'd add a lot of great content as it's not translated. Normal difficulty with all the key settings on; no easy money, weapons can jam, criticals on etc.

So let's play 7.62!

Some offers you just can't refuse

Oh well. My previous visit to Palinero (see: Brigade E5: New Jagged Union) didn't go that well. That asshole general ended up as the dictator of the neighboring country and a lot of my mercenary friends died.

War, war never changes. Luckily I made it out in one piece myself. And got the payment up front.

Just when I was enjoying a well earned holiday, a group of "businessmen" approached me. Apparently some dumbass Russian had stolen a lot of money from them, needed to be made an example of.

With my previous experience of area, they thought I was just the man for the job. So I guess my holiday is over. Back to that tropical shithole I go!

So, time to roll a character. I went for the Russian dude since he had cool moustache and a Codexian IQ. Intelligence affects the rate that your skills improve, so it's very useful. Shooting is what I’ll mostly be doing, so I invested my points there. I’m planning to do some sniping with this fellow, so I also put some points in camouflage.

So, now that we've rolled a merc and have landed in Algeira the game can start. The game starts in the town of Puerto Viejo.

Sounds simple enough. How hard can it be to find a Russian guy in middle of latin america?

So, after being dumbfuck'd by my employer, what should we do? Since this game is about gunporn, obviously we'll find a gun store! I'm still wearing my holiday suit and am only packing this pesky Tokarev and a single grenade.

Unfortunately the sales people didn't have anything of interest for sale. I bought a backpack and a vest for carrying loot, but otherwise we're still the same. Doesn't matter that much, at this point the cops will confiscate any large arms I might stumble upon anyway.

I start asking around the town for clues about the guy I am after. Obviously nobody knows him. In the local bar I meet the first fellow mercenary, Caesar. Since he is a twat and won't work without a pile of cash, I leave him be. Note that people who I don't know are labeled in extremely informative manner. Once you talk to them, their name gets displayed.

Being short on cash, I ask around the locals for any jobs they'd have. And I get my very first fed-ex task! Yay!

I think I've seen enough of Puerto Viejo now. Since I have the fed-ex quest on, I decide to head for Campecino.

Just as I leave the town, I'm interrupted by something fishy in the road up ahead. Bandits!

So time for the combat tutorial. 7.62 plays real time, but with free pause. The game can be slowed down or speeded up up to seven times, and certain actions automatically pause the game or slow it down. Every action costs time, and enemies act at the same time. So if you're re-arranging your inventory, foes will pump you full of lead in the meanwhile. Time to waste some spics!

Since it's daytime and I'm experienced mercenary, I lay waste on the bandits. I kill two of them and wound the third one, and he decides to flee.

The surviving bandit surrenders and wants to talk. Nothing useful comes out of talking to him though.

Omg, C&C! This time it's not much of a choice though, since I popped this fellow full of lead earlier. So it's either a bullet in the head or bleeding to death for him. So...

ARRR! Free firing practice! After laying down the smack, my merc makes a fearsome pose for you guys.

Sweet, some loot as well. I'm not planning to go russian gangsta style with sawed off mosin-nagant, so this crap is going for sale.

Thats it for now. When we return, more screenshots of talking heads, more intense C&C and more gunporn!

 

[Squirly]

I"m so part of this. I haven't hankered for a new game in ages and this is giving me sweaty palms.

God damn it, why do I live in the ass end of nowhere?

 

[Noceur]

How's the combat in this game? I mean, it seems like it's RTwP, how's that for a game with firearms? Also, how difficult is it?

I gotta say it looks tempting.

 

[someone else]

Looks tempting to me as well, need more games with guns! GUNS! NOT SWORDS!

 

[Balor]

How's the combat in this game? I mean, it seems like it's RTwP, how's that for a game with firearms? Also, how difficult is it?

I gotta say it looks tempting.

It is about as close to being perfect as it gets. Perfect as 'faithful emulation', some people (like VD) love TB because they see it's flaws as actual strengths! Yea, TB is more manageable - but simply because it does not give you as many options.

SPM (or RTwSmartP) of 7,62 is much more manageable then pure RT, of course. It would be unplayable without it.

As for difficulty... is it customizeable from 'goddamn easy' to 'hair-pulling hard'.

 

[Balor]

@ Haba

Thanks for your effort, oh valiant gun pornographer!

Btw, you should have posted a screen of difficulty selection. I would myself, but I doubt many would appreciate my Russian version, heh.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

"As for difficulty... is it customizeable from 'goddamn easy' to 'hair-pulling hard'."

Sold. This looks sweet, but I was afraid it would be a cakewalk. Though I'm guessing enemies just do more damage on hard.

 

[Pliskin]

Is it still as much of a Silent Storm clone as Brigade E5? Hard to get an idea of combat mechanics from static screenies.

And what's in yr inventory? Looks like a TT-33 (why do these games always start you out with this primitive shit?), 8 mags, a frag grenade... and lipstick? What is that red/blue thing in the upper left corner?

 

[mondblut]

Sold. This looks sweet, but I was afraid it would be a cakewalk. Though I'm guessing enemies just do more damage on hard.

Damage depends solely on weapons (or rather, bullet weights, muzzle speeds and so on, with some fanciful modifiers occasionally).

Difficulty selection is a bunch of triggers such as criticals yes or not, loot bought for nominal price or with penalties, armored vests give full or realistic coverage, AI simplified or proper, etc. It also affects quest rewards and sometimes the amount of enemies per encounter (not sure about that), or number of enemy waves per certain set battles.

 

[mondblut]

Is it still as much of a Silent Storm clone as Brigade E5? Hard to get an idea of combat mechanics from static screenies.

You can't be serious. SS is turn-based, BE5/762 are sophisticated RTWP. SS has grid-based levels, BE5/762 levels are freeform with control-point based pathfinding. SS is a linear string of missions, BE5/762 are sandbox games. The series have nothing in common.

And what's in yr inventory? Looks like a TT-33 (why do these games always start you out with this primitive shit?), 8 mags, a frag grenade... and lipstick? What is that red/blue thing in the upper left corner?

That's a 7.62x25mm ammo box with 20 rounds. And that's not 8 mags but one mag with 8 rounds loaded.

TT is far better than many entry-level guns, btw... it's caliber made it a starting weapon choice, an easter egg of sorts

 

[Pliskin]

Is it still as much of a Silent Storm clone as Brigade E5? Hard to get an idea of combat mechanics from static screenies.

You can't be serious. SS is turn-based, BE5/762 are sophisticated RTWP. SS has grid-based levels, BE5/762 levels are freeform with control-point based pathfinding. SS is a linear string of missions, BE5/762 are sandbox games. The series have nothing in common.

Yah, yr right; I should have said Silent Storm wannabe --- since SS is obviously superior. When does the sandbox part of BE5 kick in? It's the same set of missions on the same set of maps doled out by the same set of NPC's. The only variation comes from the "random encounters" (if you can call the overwhelming selection of 4 map tiles "random") by banditos or policia on the strategic map. And even then, they just charge at you from the same entry zones every time.

TT is far better than many entry-level guns, btw... it's caliber made it a starting weapon choice, an easter egg of sorts

Yah, maybe in 1935 --- or whatever former Eastern Bloc shithole you live in. A "starting weapon of choice" for the rest of the world would be something along the lines of an HK USP or a Walther P99 --- or even a Glock 17. You know, a handgun that's still being manufactured in this century, and likely available in Latin America.

But don't take it too hard, every game of this genre does the same thing: Yr a super-merc with tonnes of experience, hand-picked to lead a team of other super-mercs in overthrowing some evil junta --- yet you have the skill-levels of a retarded 12-yr-old, and start out equiped with nothing but a t-shirt and a pea-shooter. Good luck!

Yah, that's realism.

 

[Haba]

Since I had a boring moment, I guess I can post some more screenies from my adventures before I start forgetting what was what. I'll do a bit more detailed combat run-through later, but in this initial phase of the game there won't be bigger fights.

There will be plenty of them later on ;-)


Chapter 2: Errand boy

Rest of the trip to Campecino went without a hitch. When arriving to the city you're prompted with a map, letting you choose your point of entry. Since I got my ass shot up with the bandits, I need to visit the local hospital and therefore chose the entry point closest to it.

You can recognize a good game from its loading screen. In 7.62 you get random tips and some background information about the location.

In addition to tracking health, the game also has energy system (the blue bar). Available energy is depleted by staying awake and travelling, the longer you keep your mercs up the less you'll have to use. Moving with heavy loads, running and certain other actions use energy. And if you happen to run out of energy, this happens:

Energy recovers by itself, but only up to the current available level. In the coming battles your mercs are going to be spending a lot of time lying down and catching their wind.

Anyways, after I got back up, I went in the hospital and got my wounds patched up. Simple matter of speaking to the doctor and paying 700 eldo. Wounds also heal naturally, albeit slowly. While inside, I also met with an American fellow who looked like he'd have something to share.

Stealing a bride from a rich, corrupt businessman... Sounds fun! Of course I agreed. Clive was overjoyed, and gave me a Desert Eagle to give to his girlfriend.

I also went and returned the fed-ex quest, getting a little spare cash. The vendors in this city didn't have anything useful either. Especially medical gear would be needed, as bleeding wounds will kill you without medical aid.

Before leaving, I also made sure to search the city. In the beginning of the game, you're constantly low on cash and the stores don't have much good stuff for sale. This is offset by all the free stuff lying around in the cities. Funnily enough, you can walk up the local drug baron's home and loot his weapons cache without anybody raising a finger. That's what you get when you pay poor wages to your underlings!

Some of the stuff is randomized and scaled to player progress, so you get better items if you loot the caches later in game. Others, most often the weapons, are fixed. Avoiding those "freebies" can make the game a lot more challenging.

This cache is the real mother lode for early days of the campaign. In vanilla 7.62 you'd find an AKMN assault rifle from here, but since I have B.F.X. mod installed, only its clips show up. Not a big loss, as at this point of the game you can't obtain ammo for it anyways.

I did pick up the Scorpion. It's really crappy toy gun, requiring several shots to kill a single foe, but it comes with a silencer and uses ammunition that is common as dirt. I also picked up a kevlar vest. The early vests aren't the life-savers you'd expect them to be - they don't come with kevlar plates, so higher calibre rounds pass right through them (as in real life). They do help with small arms fire, which is what we mostly facing.

Having armed myself, I decided to try crossing the border for kicks. It's not clearly visible in the screenshot as its nighttime, but there is a dashed line marking circling the cities. This represents the "restricted zone", in which the rebels and bandits roam. The government guards the borders, and trying to cross those results in a checkpoint.

Note the numbers under the two cities I've visited? This represents my reputation; fed-ex:ing has already made my name known in those two.

If feeling lucky, I could try shooting my way through. I don't feel like going against soldiers with automatic rifles in the middle of the day though...

Dumbassed comments didn't really work well with those guys...

My bluff doesn't work out, and the soldiers are acting real agitated. Is this the end of me? Find out in the next chapter!

 

[Squirly]

The suspense is killing me!

 

[mondblut]

Yah, yr right; I should have said Silent Storm wannabe --- since SS is obviously superior. When does the sandbox part of BE5 kick in? It's the same set of missions on the same set of maps doled out by the same set of NPC's.

Let's see... there are 3 sides with a freedom to choose any of them and then betray them anytime, or just kill anyone on sight, while moving across any locations at will. Sounds quite sandbox to me.

 

[Squirly]

Why don't you two get a room, or something?

I'm waiting for updates here and you guys are ruining it.

 

[Haba]

Heh, actually, this thread needs more flaming so we'll get to the second page... Otherwise the pictures are going to kill the loading times.

Chapter 3: Picking sides

In the last update, I was being hauled off by bunch of very rough fellows with automatic weapons. They manhandled me into Artrigo, the government capital of Algeira. And once there... would you believe it? My papers actually checked through.

Oh well, at least I got a free ride. Since my target seems to be hiding inside the restricted zone, it looks like I needed to make a stop here anyway.

So this is where the local government resides. Fancy. Note the soldiers. 7.62 also sports height differences in maps, so higher ventage points are very useful. Inside the fancy building we find a couple of ministers, one dictator and lots of soldiers.

Finally I find my way to the gyu I'm supposed to be talking to.

Wow, surprising. You're not going to just hand me the pass, now are you?

I guess I'll have to make my way to Santa Maria next then. I could also buy the pass for 20,000 eldo, but obviously I don't have such money with me. Some more blah blah, and then I'm off ot Santa Maria.

Remember that quest I accepted earlier? It just happens that the bride I'm supposed to snatch resides in Santa Maria. So I make a little detour before dealing with the thug.

Lets try talking to daddy-o first to see if we can resolve this in a civilized manner as Clive wished.

I guess I failed a SPEECHCRAFT check there. Oh well, time for plan B...

Uh, backdoor entry is guarded by this nimrod.

Yeah, you do that.

Hallo thar bewty! I had to let go of the desert eagle, but I got my first party member in return. How nice, now we just need to sneak out.

Interrupted by the nimrod again. I could just as well shoot my way out, but daddy-o has quite a lot well armed thugs in the room next door, so I'm not itching THAT hard to test my new Scorpion SMG.

Now, since I have a backup of one lady wearing a dress, I can go and confront the scary thug and his minions!

I need your dog tags. And your clothes. And your motorcycle.

This is actually quite important choice here. Though this mangy dog doesn't look like much, he has ties to the second important faction of Algeira - the rebels. Killing him will give us bad rep with them and will limit our options. So lets play it the nice way this time.

Mangosta issue being dealed with, it's time to return the bride and wrap up one quest. Naturally before snatching that desert eagle from her.

Happy endings being over with, it's time to get that pass from government.

Since I'm heading that way anyway, lets hear the guy out.

More bullshit excuses, but I decide to take the quest anyway. The pay is good, after all. Now we can finally cross the border, so lets try that!

Oh no! As I wander in the desert after crossing the border, a sudden surprise:

"Like grim shadows, armed men have materialized around you as out of thin air. You suddenly find yourself surrounded..."

And once again I find myself being carried by not so gentle gentlemen...

Uh, SHE is their leader?

Being the sexy thing I am, I naturally choose to flirt with her. While I concentrate on staring at her tits, I somehow also agree to kill their prisoner to prove my loyalty.

The only problem with that is that this prisoner happens to be the same valiant army captain I promised to rescue. What a dilemma. Maybe talking to the camp residents I can figure out something useful.

O.k., that guy wasn't useful. What about this next one?

A-haa!. I grab myself a blood pack and load a blank shot to the pistol that they gave me for the execution. Now I have a pistol that has one blank and six live rounds.

Time to get the prisoner into the deal.

I could've just headshot him with a live round for kicks, but I decide to do it the proper way. Now he is lying down the grass, pretending to be dead... So the logical thing to do is to loot his corpse!

I also take his uniform, as it may become useful in the future. I bet the guy will have lots of fun sneaking out the camp after nightfall and making his way through jungle, wearing only that...

Time to flirt with the babe some more. She is obviously impresed by my large tool. I also agree to do the other quest she proposed, delivering a note to some guy in some place I haven't yet visited. Got distracted by the tits again, sorry.

So, now I'm best pals both with the government and the rebels. I've got my pass, so I can walk around the restricted zone freely, and the rebels won't be a problem since I've got some influence with them now.

Next up in the story - the first real gunfight!

 

[someone else]

I'm sold, just need to wait for the price to drop.

 

[Korgan]

That's a decent translation. Amazing.

 

[Haba]

That's a decent translation. Amazing.

Well, they had a full fan-made translation of the game to compete against ;-)

There are some small mistakes here and there, but so far it's been quite good. Some annoyances come from the translation though (like that "Enemy was hit Haba in slightly!" in combat logs). Fans have made quite a few fixes to those though, and I myself corrected some errors in my own copy.

Really looking forward for the Hard life mod to finish, as we'll hopefully get a translated version of it as well then. From what I've seen so far, the game has quite a bit of potential for modding.

 

[pipka]

Are there any cool mercs with cool personalities (a la JA2)?
Keep up good work. I'm intrigued.

 

[CarnivalBizarre]

This game crashes like 1/3 of the times I get shot. Unstable as hell, it's not taxing the system much but still dies alot.

Lucky it takes just seconds to load when the movies are turned off...

Looks interesting but for me, basically unplayable in the long run...

 

[mondblut]

This game crashes like 1/3 of the times I get shot.

Hm, weird. Does it say anything in particular in the log?

 

[JarlFrank]

This game crashes like 1/3 of the times I get shot. Unstable as hell, it's not taxing the system much but still dies alot.

Yeah, started playing it now too and experienced a crash after I got shot. Weird.

 

[Squirly]

How is the stealth in this game? Can you take out a platoon with knives?

I'd really like to take out a platoon with knives...

 

[Haba]

How is the stealth in this game? Can you take out a platoon with knives?

I'd really like to take out a platoon with knives...

Well, in theory it is. If you use silenced weapons, camouflage kits and sneak about, you can get to shoot people in the back of their heads. Enemies even tend to divide themselves into smaller "patrols" so it's a tad easier.

I've heard some claims that the camouflage is bugged (that once you're cover is blown, it's over) though. Haven't really tested this aspect myself, I prefer to find a good spot and set up an ambush there instead of skulking around.

About bugs; well, like said earlier, I'd check the logs folder if I were you. Might be that some file has been corrupted. I've not seen any crashes myself, with the exception of the memory leak, but that's once every 2-3 hours or so.

This thread might be useful, there are fixes for a couple of translation related bugs at least:
http://www.strategyfirst.com/forum/show ... hp?t=40253

I'll do another update once I come home, this time dealing about combat and the mercs.