If you're tired of all the Hollywood spectacle of modern shooters and long for a simpler time without frame-sapping particle effects and or scripted sequences, you might want to keep an eye out for Beyond Enemy Lines: Covert Operations.
An Unreal Engine 4 game which saw release on PC in 2017, BELCO (as nobody is calling it) comes from one-man developer Polygon Art. While it doesn't have the bells and whistles you'd expect find in a AAA shooter from one of the big devs, as you can see from the trailer, what it lacks in looks it promises to make up for with freedom of choice in how you approach your objectives.
The story revolves around regaining control of a satellite that's been hijacked by Soviet seperatists. No points for guessing that the satellite is loaded with nuclear missiles, so it's up to you to James Bond your way in and get the job done in whatever manner you think best - guns ablazin', or all quietly-like.
The press blurb highlights the following features:
8 Mission long Story Campaign with ~10h playtime
Adapted gameplay especially for Nintendo Switch
100% Freedom - You chose the tactics
100% Hardcore - Challenge your skill
Ported inhouse by Polygon Art
While we doubt it'll be troubling the Best Looking category at the 2019 GOTYs, hopefully there's more than meets the eye with this one. DOOM and Wolfenstein II are excellent shooters, but there's a gap in the market for something a bit more tactical.
Does this take you back a generation or two? Do you miss shooters without loot boxes? You know what to do...
Comments 40
Sounds cool, been looking for this sort of simplistic shooter for a while.
Is it a ps2 game? Oh Those graphics and screenshots!
You never know how much you miss something until it hits you. I have no shame to admit to have been blissfully spending a big chunk of time on Gameloft's Modern Warfare Blackout. I will keep this one on my radar... but I think Gameloft already cornered the COD market on Switch.
looks REALLY REALLY bad!
Those textures are sub PS360.
Why can't we just have COD? Just throw the older ones on switch for goodness sake.
Fills a lacking genre element. Graphics bad? I see trillions of retro games with Victorian era pixelization and no one bats an eyelid.
Just give us Modern Warfare 1 & 2
100% hardcore. Wow, what a press release. They'll really snap up the Dark Souls crowd with that line lol
Graphics definitely aren't the greatest, but hopefully the gameplay is solid.
I am more interested in the open-end offerings. I loved MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE on the N64 and the bit of freedom GOLDENEYE offered. (Too be honest I also loved WINBACK. I want that on the WiiU VC!!!)
@NinjaWaddleDee
Because companies like Activision "know" that Switch owners don't want these type of games. All they want are cute platformers, kart racers and smaller indie-like productions.
Right???
If it has stealth elements to it then I am all the way in but if it is just another cookie shooter where really the only way to take down camps or enemies is by going in and loud then no thanks.
@WhiteTrashGuy Winback? Are we talking about the good old classic, Operation Winback?
Jeez... article isn't even a couple of hours old, and the whiners and complainers are already here in full force.
It's a ONE man project, so don't be dumb and start to expect something that can actually compete with COD, Medal of Honor or Battlefield, in the graphics department. That takes development teams of hundred or more people, so that he even managed to make this, is already quite the achievement.
But no, slamming the guy, and complaining about how ugly it is, that's of course much easier to do.
But who knows? Maybe this is actually a really fun game to play, if we take off the judgmental glasses for a moment to wait and see what it's actually like, instead of already dismissing it before it's even released.
@spirit_flame Exactly. Couldn't agree more. And in motion, it doesn't even look THAT bad. People comparing it to PS2 need a new pair of glasses, or need to take the rosy colored ones off...
Sold based on the steam description and reviews. OG tactical, open ended shooter, with good ai. Graphics dont bother me at all, and all the options for infilitration and weapons, have sold me.
I like how the soldiers collapse and fall down after they are shot. This looks pretty darn good for a game made by one person!
This looks like absolute crap...
I don't much care about graphics as long as the gameplay is good.
Not much to go by from an 18 second clip, but the maps appear a bit flat. Where's the verticality? I know this is made by one guy, which I commend his efforts, but he should reconsider his map designs. Maybe take a page or 2 from Valve's playbook, a la Counterstrike or TFC2.
@NinjaWaddleDee that would be awesome. The first cod is still one of my favorites.
Enemy territory, return to castle of wolfstein, really missing the old fps, mostly the network playing
"Do you miss shooters without loot boxes?" - YOU HAVE NO IDEA!
This sounds like the kind of shooter I used to like. A classic style military FPS that you can just play, without having mircro transactions, 20,000 prestige levels online, or a 100 hour grind just to unlock the one gun you want to use.
If this runs well on Switch, I will absolutely pick it up!
The textures aren’t very impressive, but then neither are the textures in CSGO.
@NinjaWaddleDee I bought the original black ops to go down memory lane on my xbox one x. I was waiting for a xbox one x enhanced edition but couldn't wait any longer. But I would have happily bought it for the switch if possible. As long as it has split screen and bots my family would be happy campers.
No one would ever expect me to say this, but I hope this runs at 60 frames per second!
Considering that Activision is highly unlikely to port bo4 to the Switch and is going full EA lootboxes with Black Ops 4. (Yes, it's as bad as I'm making it sound.) We're fine with some Call of Duty Like games on the Switch even if the graphics for this one is not looking to be the best.
Competition breeds improvement and variety, my peeps.
Activision can port a simple COD and I’m willing to put money on it passing a million in sales. This is getting ridiculous!
But I like bells and whistles
@Heavyarms55 something like..battlefield?
@diwdiws Lol EA. Older Battlefield games were pretty good though.
@Heavyarms55 bf4 was the best though i dont know what your complaints are for BF1 and 5, they have no loot boxes, take relatively short amount of time to unlock weapons, all maps and DLC are free (bf5), and microtransactions are limited to cosmetic items which you can easily earn through gameplay.
Funny how Trolls come out of the woodwork when Switch gets a FPS shooter game. Must hurt sitting on the bunghole.
@SwitchForce Why do I feel like every time I see one of your comments recently it has the word "bunghole" ?
I'll be honest, I'm surprised anyone is even bothering pointing a shooter on the Switch unless it has motion controls like the Wii. I've tried a few games on the Switch with FPS mechanics and it's just horrendous to aim at anything on the controller.
...
Well, looking at videos of the 2003 game, they're not too far off visually!
@TAndvig
Oh yes, sir. I bought that game the day it released. My friend Rocky and I believe in our heart of hearts that the laser targeting was the inspiration for RE4. (AND DON'T YOU TELL US DIFFERENT!!!)
@WhiteTrashGuy You have a friend named Rocky???? I like you....And I agree with the laser pointing.
@TAndvig
Unfortunately Rocky passed away a couple of years ago. He was so ahead of the game in terms of video game culture and its place in popular culture. He was the real deal. He would have gone nuts over the new RE2 remake.
Damn, I am sorry for that.
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