GROUND BRANCH

I don't normally write reviews, but this game just grinds my gears in a way that I have to warn others. Ground Branch is such a rip-off its not even funny. 1.0? What a joke. I came back after half a year for this supposed 1.0, but was met with what feels like an alpha. Stay away, there are far better options out there. Let me recount my experience so far, and then I'll give a run down of the general state of the game. [h1] My experience [/h1] I started the game up yesterday and was struggling with the first mission because despite being 00:30 and I need NODs to see anything, Muhammad in his flip-flops has Allah whispering in his ear about my exact location. Skill issue, I guess, so I put it down and tried again today. Well, right off the bat, I got soft locked in the spawn area because all the doors were locked and I didn't bring the heavy breaching charge, and there are no other breaching options like kicking or picking. So I had to pop off a few rounds with my unsuppressed pistol to get a guard to open one of the doors. After that, I managed to clear the compound slowly and carefully. This is also when I found out that sound does not travel from inside to outside, as an enemy was shooting at me from three feet away on the other side of a window and there was zero audio. After clearing the compound, I could not progress the mission any further, because I couldn't find the HVT, nor could I find the intel. Turns out you have to interact with the guys head, and that doesn't work very well when it is in a tight space like the corner of a shower. As for the intel, it only spawns after you confirm the target. Nice! Anyway, I ran out of time before reaching the extract and was met with a mission completed screen, green letters and everything. I clicked "next mission" and was greeted by the same mission. I cannot play the next mission! So is there no next mission? Did I actually fail? Who knows... [h1] General feel [/h1] It is rough, to say the least. Movement is just... weird. Despite using high graphical settings, the image still appears smeared and the IR laser was ghosting like crazy. I'm honestly not sure about the FPS as I didn't check, but it felt consistent; I didn't notice any chopping or stutters, but maybe the smearing covered it up. I also had to use VSync despite not needing it in any other game and having a FreeSync monitor; I kept getting tearing on the lower third, and it only happened when using NODs. The weapon customization is decent, but to be expected in this genre. It is still quite limited for some arbitrary reason. There are predefined slots that you can only put certain attachments in, and I kept getting clipping errors despite the two objects not actually touching. Scopes also do not (more like no longer, as they did before) respect eye relief. The Elcan Specter for example, has a relatively tight eyebox of just a couple inches. I put that thing halfway down the rail and could still see through it just fine. Also, the optic moves closer to the camera when crouching/prone, so you'll get your optic set up in a good spot and then crouch and now its an inch closer. I could see the scope sliding up and down the rail as I stood and crouched. The Elcan is also designed to work with night vision, but does not in the game; so lack of detail there. Also, only accessories can be customized, so sights, lights, grips... There are several AK variants taking up space because there is a different one for each barrel length and furniture (like long/wood, short/wood, long/rails, short/rails, and then each caliber). I guess that is more of a neutral design choice, but other games do it better by allowing the furniture and barrels to be switched out. As for the AI, they are both superhuman and mentally incapacitated. In the short time I played that past couple of days, I've had them: get hung up in a corner stairway, just standing there menacingly. Instantly snap onto and one tap me. Look directly at me for several seconds before turning away and then 180 no scoping me. Forget that bullets come out of the gun rather than eyes and magdump a wall while angrily staring at me over the windowsill. Attempt to shoot me through a doorframe. Prefire me as I'm clearing pitch dark rooms. Throw several grenades over a wall and right at my feet. Throw a grenade at a location I was undetected at a few minutes ago and then never again. [h1] Final thoughts [/h1] Don't.

The game has been in development hell for 8 years as I understand it. It looks like it's going to continue to be in development hell for at least a couple more. The recent 1.0 release is a fairly blatant lie. We're still in early access, folks. AI are still braindead terminators and it feels like this recent update actually made them even worse somehow, the campaign only has two missions and the scripts appear to be AI slop, and the game as a whole still kind of feels like a tech demo. It's not a bad gun sim, but the guns and barbie kitting system aren't good enough to recommend the game as a whole, because there's not enough game aside from them.

Ground Branch is as it stands an early access game that was pushed to 1.0 only to make MicroProse more money, lacking basic stuff that was promised, or even removed ages ago, like a full campaign or AI-team mates respectively. The weapon customization is kind of nice, but also too restricted (and unrealistic lol), not letting you attach multiple lazers or 15 iron sights, forcing you to be le-serious-tier1-operator even when playing solo against bots. The AI bots are either terrible shots that lets you run and gun the whole map, or aimbot users, with no real in-between. They also tend to get stuck at doorways and stairs on certain maps. All assault rifles, MGs, and SMGs feel the same, with the only difference being where you can place attachments due to their rail configurations, and magazine capacity. There is also a wordfilter for you tag, so no three letter word combinations that might offend anglo sensibilites, and only the english alphabet is allowed, even in singleplayer. Might even extend to text chat, who knows, I won't reinstall the game to test it. The worst part is that such a content thin video game is 99gb, but was 40-ish gb before the 1.0 "update", and even that was kinda much for how little is in the game. It isn't a Takedown: Red Saber, or Epsilon in how broken and unfinished it is; but honestly I would much rather have Red Saber installed than GB as it stands, as they only serve the same use at the moment; a quick way jump into a map to run and gun in a "terrorist hunt" without booting up R6: Vegas 2 or giving Ubisoft money.

The ol bait and switch. Do not buy

As much as I enjoy the gunplay and CQB, I heavily dislike the fact that they "release" a game with barely any campaign (despite stating that they have shifted focus - possibly just recently) while taking up almost as much storage space as newer Call of Duty entries.

Very tough, have to play it slow and use comms. With a good group though, it offers a lot of sandbox flexibility.

games still ahh