Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack

I've played possibly hundreds of games, but there really are only a handful that stay in my mind even years after I played them. H&D is one of those games. It's old, yes, and many of its aspects are really dated. But the game has a soul and at every turn it's obvious how much love has been put into making it. Despite the old graphics, very unbalanced difficulty and even less balanced mission design, you can't help but play it, try again and again and again if you fail, and every time you boot up the game you're smiling, giddy, looking forward to beating another mission or a few. The tactical options are great, even to this date, especially when compared to the simplified mechanics Tom Clancy's franchises have received over the years. The amount of ways most missions can go, and how you can solve them, is probably infinite. Whatever you decide to do will have consequences and new situations will emerge with every step. Perhaps more importantly, since the gameplay is so organic, its unpredictability often results in something hilarious, or at least satisfying in a fun way. Don't be mistaken though, the game is a tactical war shooter, with atmosphere and tension so thick you could cut it. I find it easier to compare it to the Hitman series, which tends to have funny moments despite being grim at the core, rather than the straight-cut serious series like ArmA. The one issue the game has is that the difficulty and mission design is all over the place. Some missions can take hours to get right, while others are just straight-up "crawl for a kilometer and blow something up" 5-minute affairs. Maybe it's for the best though as the game is at least never really frustrating and keeps the player guessing. Coop is where this game shines the most, but I don't know if it's still available in the GOG version as I have the retail CD. Bottom line: if you like tactical shooters, definitely try this series. Just with H&D1 don't expect the polish of the games from the last decade.

There are many levels. They are beautiful, very huge, varied in design and settings, and realistic. So are the situations. When a mission start, you really feel you can take any path, use any weapon and achieve the objectives whichever way you like. This freedom of action is thrilling. You can use the vehicles you will come across. This game is really fun and never boring. The AI of the allied bots is limited. Most of the time, it is better not to rely too much on them, to keep them hidden in a safe place and order them to join you once the map is clear. Still, it is great to have them because you can conquer the map through different angles at the same time. A problem is that enemies are sharp shooters. Except for some rare parts, this will encourage you to play the whole game as a sniper simulator rather than a FPS. Most missions are a matter of weapon range. So you will probably find yourself sneaking your way precautiously, crawling and doing perfect headshots on enemies that are miles away without a gasp of wind or your hand shaking. The initial release had no save/load feature and was ridden with bugs which made the game difficult and frustrating. Of course, this game might look ridiculous today, but it was very complete and ambitious in its time. Worth the try!

Hidden & Dangerous is a squad shooter that incorporated many advanced ideas at the time of release, but was plagued by many bugs that could make it frustrating to play. Yet despite its flaws the vast mission areas, the ability to use vehicles and board airplanes and improvise tactical plans during the mission were excellent concepts that showed great promise and made for unrivalled enjoyable gameplay. The joy was further enhanced by the musical score, the briefings and the cartoonish design of the graphics that provided an unique great atmosphere evoking old war movies. The successor game is far less buggy and clunky, but the original has a charm of its own. Its merits outweigh the inconvenience of having to restart a mission yet again because the player character somehow fell into the abyss.

Let me say that I had both, original in CD form and had downloaded the deluxe which is free. Deluxe, which also comes free with the package, is certainly nice(r) looking but I like more about the original and played directly to the #1 campaings 3rd mission, the railway station, when got this. To be honest, original is ++++ much better than the deluxe, save that maybe some gfx are poorer, but the feeling is somewhat more real. Hidden & Dangerous, as well as Hidden & Dangerous 2 are the classics of RTS and FPS war games and have aged better than one would believe - - - - COD: Black Ops etc. are just shooters when compared to real war operations planning and feeling.

Amazing best game from WW2- Very playeble