When I started this challenge for myself, I went through the whole 1001 list multiple times, checking out which games I had, where I had them, which titles I would need to look out for, which would be easier to emulate instead, which ones could only be emulated... the possibilities for playing more than a thousand games are quite considerable.
Wishlists were filled, and charity shops would interrupt anything else going on in the area, just in case a bargain could be snapped up for later down the list. I was on top of things, and given the number of times I'd gone through the list, there was eventually a reasonably good chance of me knowing whether a game I saw somewhere was on the list or not before I even checked. Sometimes you just know, you know?
And then I blogged about Viewtiful Joe and had a look at what was next. Hidden & Dangerous 2. What the hell is Hidden & Dangerous 2? PC, squad-based, third-person, Second World War... why haven't I got this? It's been on Steam for years. It's been in all the sales. Why has it escaped my sights for five years?
I can't answer that at all. It just happens, I guess. The SAS sneak up on you out of nowhere, before dispersing into the silence once more. Or will this game make some noise?
Fun Times
A lengthy cutscene depicts some professionals at work. An English squad emerges from underground, on the hunt for something in this place, but a whole load of German troops isn't the 'something' that they're looking for.
Silently, efficiently, and with lots of explosions and gunfire happening off-screen, they deal with the problem and escape back into the sewers before reinforcements even know what hit them. These men are hidden, and they are dangerous. Two.
The game can be played in a number of ways and over a spread of difficulties, but the traditional way to play is to take a squad of four soldiers into the campaign and have them survive the harsh realities of permadeath war, completing missions behind enemy lines that will, I guess, change the course of the war.
Each soldier has his own stats that will dictate what battlefield roles they may be more suited to, along with how much they can carry and how straight they shoot, and so on. Many of them have terribly British names, don't they, Jenkins?
Frustrations
But Basil here is having problems with teeny tiny ladders.
Hidden & Dangerous 2 is a third-person affair with an awful lot of buttons on the keyboard finding a purpose. Moving, jumping, crouching, crawling, leaning... that's just the physical side of things, before maps and commands and inventory windows...
It reminds me of Arma but is - or was, until this ladder - quite a bit easier to grasp.
My problem, I believe, was the way the camera was looking, and the game interpreting 'forward', as in 'up the ladder' to actually mean 'into the wall', which wasn't getting me anywhere. I don't think that was what was actually happening, but that's what it felt like.
After crawling on top of the barbed wire, instead of underneath it, Basil completes the obstacle course and can move onto weaponry.
Oh dear. That was unexpected. As was the ability to skip the training from here on and just start playing, which I do.
So Basil Elliott is our first casualty of the playthrough, utterly failing to make it through boot camp. He's gone. He's not coming back. That's what happens when you make a mistake. It is recommended that I make it through the rest of the training with anyone else who is still alive, but I hope to be able to wing it and crack on.
Further Fun Times
After a cutscene showing a reconnaissance plane taking photos of what is clearly a secret underground base with a decoy facility above (one of these days, I want to see a game get its information completely wrong), we're told of our first mission.
It is a standard one, as far as video games go. Meet up with a local guide, eliminate sentries, infiltrate a base. This shouldn't be too much of a problem.
After drafting in a replacement for Basil, I hit the 'Recommended Selection' button to have my squad automatically stock up with weapons and equipment. This game seems deep on the simulation side of things, and I'm already nervous, especially having not gone through all of the basic training. But, that was my own decision, so all the blame lays on me.
Further Frustrations
Heading east, I kill a couple of guards, or watch them die at the hands of my squadmates, it was hard to tell, before wondering just why I'm up here alone, and all the others are back at the start of the level.
It turns out that Hidden & Dangerous 2 doesn't assume. If you want your squad to follow you, you best issue a command to follow. Where and how do I issue commands... I'm already cursing my lack of training.
The number pad springs into life, but it looks like commands are dependant on range or line of sight or something, so I can't easily correct things here.
There was a command window view thingy, which shows what orders each squad member is following, but I have literally no idea how to use it. I really should have stuck around in training.
You can tab between squad members to control each one of them individually, but that'd be a right pain in the arse, so I run back and issue a command to follow me, and make sure that everyone heads east, keeping an eye out for our local contact.
At one point during the run, I tabbed, either accidentally or not, and ended up losing someone, resulting in me tabbing back to them and legging it through the forest. Your speed is on the mouse wheel, like in... that other game where I thought it was impressive... damn, what was it? Ugh, what kind of gamer am I? Anyway, scroll, sprint, catch up, switch over, issue another 'follow me' command, and we're back to where I want to be.
Further Fun Times
The AI squad members, when issued the correct commands, are very competent in their duties. They will often see, shoot, and kill someone before I'm even aware of what they've done, and usually, if I spot someone and start to line up a shot, they'll gun the target down before I'm able to. Saves me the ammo, I guess, but I'm the only one infiltrating enemy territory with a silenced weapon in the dead of night...
The mission briefing suggested that the contact would take us in one of two ways, suggesting that levels have multiple approaches for different playstyles. Heading up to the truck, I even see that you can hop in and drive it.
This one didn't move, either because it was stuck in the snow or because I didn't know what the buttons were, but it looks promising for future levels.
After sweeping the perimeter, we make our way inside, unfortunately losing Smith to an enemy I never saw. Sorry about that. I really haven't quite grasped the severity of the situation we're in.
But the mission must go on, and death nor weird fences that can't be walked through will get in our way.
Further Frustrations
A second death will undoubtedly slow us down, though. Jenkins is gunned down by Germans, despite getting the drop on three of them. Gunfire fills the air. We're not so hidden any more. We need to be very dangerous.
I tab over to Tatnell and hope to put the Bren gun to work.
It doesn't fire, and Tatnell dies, his killer is gunned down at the same time by the only surviving member of our squad, Sergeant 'Flash' Burton.
It occurred to me, after the fact, that the Bren gun can only be fired once it is set up on the floor, such is its weight. If that's the case, then the attention to detail in Hidden & Dangerous 2 can be added to the lengthy list of 'reasons why I failed in Hidden & Dangerous 2'.
It's all up to you, Flash.
What luck! A secret underground research facility! Time to steal its secrets and blow it up. Preferably after I escape, but given the success of getting here, I suppose Flash is on a suicide mission at this point.
I spot a scientist and an officer and hope to be able to kill both with one shot.
That doesn't work, and the scientist runs off to trigger the alarm. I'm spooked and know that this is the end of me, but nobody runs in. Nobody seems to care. It's like the alarm means nothing to these guards, and even in the middle of the most well-lit room I've seen in this game so far, the guards don't see me, and I can continue to pick them off and make my way through the base.
I've got no explosives. Was that because the person carrying them has died, or because I haven't found any to use against the Germans yet? Probably both. Mental note, then. We'll come back here later.
It's important to note that Flash doesn't have a silenced weapon. He's just crouch-walking through this place popping people with his Springfield. Until I notice that I'm out of ammo. Right when a scientist with a pistol turns around. And a guard approaches.
In a comedy of errors, I back up to desperately work out the controls. I find the previous/next weapon button, but can't select anything in my list. A pistol with 6 bullets is no use if my highly trained SAS soldier doesn't know how to hold it, let alone fire.
I start to really run away, but more and more problems come around the corner - slowly, menacingly, as if I'm not really a problem right now, but they're coming.
With no ability to smack them all in the face with the butt of my rifle, I am killed by a scientist and fail. I am no longer hidden. I was never dangerous.
Final Word
I was not prepared for the reality of this game. You are expected to know a lot of controls, and then to coordinate your squad so that nobody dies. If someone does, you better know how to deal with the loss of manpower, firepower, equipment... I suppose that with as detailed an approach as this that you could take things from your fallen friends and carry on, juggling the inventory as best you can, but that's a last resort.
In a game where a single bullet can ruin your entire plan, you best be prepared if you want to do well in Hidden & Dangerous 2. Yet despite all the problems and utter lack of skill, I enjoyed it.
It doesn't look fantastic, and everyone sounds overly British, bordering on parody, but there is so much game for you to think about. This isn't a third-person war game with a squad, this is squad management, military simulator. It's gamier, and less simulation than the likes of Arma, but it is no walk in the park.
I'd have had a much better time had I made it through basic training, most definitely, but I'd have had a better time if I knew what I was in for before I started, too. Going into a map with a plan, and making sure to get on top of your foes before they even know you're there, is an entirely different way of playing a game than doing so by reacting to things as they develop, or twitch shooting your way through tight spots.
Hidden & Dangerous 2 has surprised me by appearing on the list when I didn't expect it, and it has surprised me again by how it plays and what type of game it is. I want to know some more about it. I probably want to drop the difficulty and complete basic training, but after that, I want to try and make some progress through this game.
It clearly hasn't got the recognition from players today, and I've no idea how it was seen back in 2003, but I like what I'm seeing. Apart from the failure, obviously.
You should try it out for yourselves, especially if it looked like a title you'd pass on for one reason or another.
Fun Facts
The game takes place in a variety of theatres of war, including those not really seen in gaming, including Norway, Libya and Czechoslovakia.
Hidden & Dangerous 2, developed by Illusion Softworks, first released in 2003.
Version played: Hidden & Dangerous 2: Courage Under Fire, PC, 2003(?)