With the arrival of NOLF 2 roughly six to eight weeks away, I thought that
this would be a good time to write about the state of the game today, before
we all get wrapped up in the new edition.
During the past four months, a lot of people have asked me to do a column
about the death of NOLF. How it was a really great game, but its time
had come and gone. I heard that Wolfenstein, MOHAA, JK II, SOF 2, Global
Ops, Ghost Recon and, most recently, America’s Army were so much more fun to
play and that everyone was leaving NOLF to play these new games. I read
posts in many of the NOLF clan forums announcing that so-and-so was retiring
from NOLF, because they were so taken with the newer games that they didn’t
have time for NOLF. When I played online, I noticed fewer familiar names
in the servers and at the lowest point, about ten weeks ago; it became hard
to find a server hosting a decent game. It seemed as though the only players
out there were the old-timers like me and a few newbies who must have found
NOLF in the discount bins.
Then something happened around the time the World Championships ended, and
NOLF began a comeback.
The first thing I noticed was the return of many “ retired “ NOLF’ers. Some
of them slowly, almost sheepishly, worked their way back into the game by using
alias’s before attaching their clan tags to their “ real “ NOLF names. New
clans seemed to spring up like mushrooms after a rainstorm and I was able to
find active, well-populated servers at most time of the day. What, I
thought, was going on here?
The conclusion that I came to is this. For all their whiz-bang newness,
the FPS’s that I mention above just aren’t as much fun to play as NOLF. I
know because I played them and found them all lacking in most areas when compared
with NOLF. Most of the new games have a dark, serious feel to them, in
stark contrast to the bright graphics and lighthearted nature of NOLF. Some
of them, most notably MOHAA and SOF 2, took themselves way too far in the direction
of trying to be simulations of actual combat and failed miserably, while the
others just didn’t have the repeatable playability of NOLF. Also I have
the sneaking suspicion that despite all the disrespect professed for CSports,
some people who were highly ranked by them in NOLF couldn’t stand being rated #
12,765 in MOHAA, or some similar flavor-of-the-week game.
There are other factors at work here as well when I discuss a resurgence of
NOLF, not the least of which is the terrific job that NG.com has done in keeping
the NOLF community together with both support for NOLF and news and information
about NOLF 2. The newer clans that have formed play a very important
part in the order of things by giving more people a chance to experience the
game by bonding together. The older clans are busy recruiting a lot of
new players and re-organizing themselves for the future. One of
the brightest spots in the NOLF world is the Nolf Vets clan. NV, although
it’s one of the newer clans is actually, as its name implies, a group of seasoned
players who are dedicated to not letting NOLF die and they are at the forefront
of helping the NOLF community move forward by hosting servers, making terrific
new maps, helping NOLFer’s with technical questions, giving playing tips and
generally setting a very high standard of excellence for other clans to emulate. Some
of the new maps that people are making now are outstanding. Since it
looks like NOLF 2 will only have it’s notorious “ co-op “ multiplayer, until
we get the source code to make mods or until Fox releases an expansion pack,
these new mappers are a godsend. Without them the future of all the clans
would be in doubt. So, cheers to them and keep up the good work!
To me, the single most interesting thing about the NOLF world right now is
the tremendous split between experienced players and newbies. Servers
are full of either clannies or noobs. I’ve never seen such a wide gap
before and that’s good, because it means that seasoned players who have stuck
with NOLF through thick and thin are being joined by a lot of new people wanting
to join their ranks. This is a great sign that NOLF is getting
hot again. Every day I see a talented new player in the game and wonder
if he or she will be the next ColdKilla or Kow. It’s a wonderful
feeling knowing that I’ll get to watch a new top player’s development. I
can tell you from personal experience that all the clans are keeping a watchful
eye on these newbies, just waiting for the right time to recruit them into
their folds.
NOLF today is in great shape and I’m optimistic about what lies over the horizon.
It’s true that some of us have grown complacent with the status quo and look
upon the newbies as uninvited party crashers, but whether or not we like them
now they are the future of NOLF and should be embraced. If anyone has
difficultly with them now they’d better deal with it, because in six weeks
or so after NOLF 2 hits the streets there will be a ton of them to face. Personally,
I can’t wait. G2G, CYA
