Review: Remote Strike v4

Considering that all of the work on this mod was done buy one guy (Romanov), Remote Strike is quite impressive. It’s a simple weapons mut with realism-themed weapons, each of which has a custom model, skin, and animation. The ammo pickups (with the exception of the 15mm pistol) are also custom modeled and skinned. The weapons include 2 shotguns, a MP5-esque smg, a bad-ass pistol (my favorite), a high-caliber rifle, a sniper rifle, and a machine gun similar to the MG42. With an arsenal like that, you know it’s gonna be fun.

As mentioned, the weapons of RS are realism-themed. I guess they have real names, but I’ve never heard of any of them. However, they certainly look like real weapons. The models are done very nicely, but the skins, while decent, leave a bit to be desired. The animations are basic, but considering the weapons, basic is all that is needed. When you go to reload the guns, the animation is that of Goldeneye for N64: gun drops off bottom of screen, and pops back up reloaded. For a solo job, this is acceptable, and its nice that Romanov decided to take the time to even create reloading animation. The skinning and modeling for the ammo pickups is exceptionally good. It’s clear that time and effort were put into making the ammo like nice, which is something you don’t see all the time. Overall, the visuals of RS speak of the dedication and commitment of the author, and make RS more enjoyable.

For the most part, the weapons function like they should. There are a few issues, but I’ll start with the good. First, all weapons use a clip system (clip count indicated by a “chargebar” above the total ammo count). I like this feature, as it makes sense for realistic weapons, and helps to balance the weapons. Second, the ammo supply is such that you probably won’t run out before you can find more (with the exception of the Gauss Hunting Rifle, more on that in a bit). The sounds are alright, but I’d suggest that the MG3 have a one-round-fire sound for each round (fire the primary once and it sounds like you fired a burst). One cool feature is with the sniper rifle. Its horribly inaccurate when you are standing, but crouch down, and its accurate enough for long-range attacks. But my favorite gun out of this whole pack is the 15mm Caseless pistol. It has a 9 round clip, big damage, big sound, and it looks bad-ass. For the first release, the weapons of RS are neato, but hopefully there will be more in later versions.

I do have a few gripes, and only one major complaint. First, the two shotguns are too closely related. One has a “light” for the secondary (that doesn’t work), and the other has a multi-shell burst. I think the author could have one shotgun with a pump-action primary that would use one shell, but reload one shell after firing, and a semi-automatic secondary that would allow for faster shooting, but would require a lengthy reload when empty. Also, I don’t really like the hunting rifle that much. It packs a punch, but with a 10 round capacity (total, not just clip) and slow firing, it really isn’t an effective weapon. Perhaps a little bit more ammo, slightly quicker firing time, and slightly less damage would make the hunting rifle a nasty tool of pain. The other weapons are alright, though. The smg has a neat silenced alt-fire, the MG3 can dish out the pain, and the pistol is just cool #61514;.

And now for my complaint that lost RS a whole point: a damage radius on the projectiles. Bullets don’t explode, therefore they don’t need a damage radius. At first I thought they were ricocheting, which would have been really cool. But no. Exploding bullets!?!?!? I guess its cool when you intend for them to explode, say that they are exploding rounds, and have an explosion, but not when they are supposed to be normal bullets! Whether it was a n00b mistake or a gross oversight, it needs to be fixed, pronto. Make them ricochet once or twice, instead.

Ok, enough ranting, he he. I would like to say, that for a solo effort, Remote Strike is a great mod. Its fun to play, and will hold your attention for a while (if you do decide to play, use something like Worm or SwitchArsenal). If you’re looking for that touch of realism to add to your unreality, Remote Strike should be a great addition to your mutator library. And with future releases, Remote Strike will only continue to please.

-Dade

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