Conflict: Denied Ops

Conflict: Denied Ops isn’t going to set the world on fire. The game isn’t worthwhile by yourself (mostly because the little friendly AI issues add up and the enemy AI’s annoyance factor is multiplied when you’re dealing with it alone), but if you’re going to play it with a friend, it provides a guilty pleasure.

It doesn't exactly harness the power of the PS3, but Denied Ops is one of this spring's pleasant surprises. [Apr 2008, p.80]

It will scratch that itch if you’re looking for nothing more than some mindless gunplay mixed with dangerous doses of testosterone, but there’s nothing going on upstairs. And for a tactical shooter, that’s not going to cut it.

This isn't as cinematic or exciting as "Call of Duty 4," but for people who want to clear rooms instead of triggering events, there's a lot to enjoy. For bullet-junkies jonesing for a fix, it's a perfectly decent form of violent methadone. [Mar 2008, p.110]

Denied Ops offers the bread and butter of deathmatch, team deathmatch, and conquest, but nothing about this tacked-on feature set stands out. I suppose you could say the same thing about the entire game.

Conflict: Denied Ops really feels like a game that was thrown together hastily.

A little dumb and a lot dated, yet still marginally enjoyable if you're into retro shooters with lots of kabooms.

This could, and indeed should, have been a market leading game, blowing people away with clever tactical shooting action. Instead, it’s flawed and with the exception of the co-op mode, has nothing to make it shine.

With Denied Ops, the fifth installment in the Conflict series, Pivotal Games chose to focus their attention on co-operative gameplay, and while there are some interesting elements found within the game, they’re overshadowed by a series of poor design choices.

Conflict: Denied Ops isn’t a very good game, but it’s hard to actively dislike because the co-op mode can be a lot of fun even if you have to cope with the game’s other failings.

Conflict Denied Ops offered some highs and some lows in my experience. Overall, it is far from the best of the PS3, but it is also far from the worst.

It's doubtful the developers set out to reinvent the FPS wheel, but in even the basic areas-controls, story, co-op-the experience comes off as subpar.

With a tedious single-player campaign riddled with monotonous action and online play offering a bare-bones experience, the best that players can hope for with Denied Ops may be to simply deny having played it.

This game could've used another few months in development so as to iron out the flaws and little glitches, because this entire production feels rushed.

Conflict: Denied Ops could have been a huge step in the right direction for the series. With so many years spent on one series, it’s a shame to see Pivotal Games at a lost of how to enhance the future of the franchise.

A disastrous entry for a previously well-regarded franchise. Not even for "Conflict" nuts. [Mar 2008, p.74]

If you're a fan of Conflict and/or shooters in general, you're likely to find Denied Ops shallow and dull. The two-man control system doesn't work properly. The visuals are ugly. The script is sub-Armageddon. Yes, it's easy to pick up and play. But if you're after an experience with real challenge and depth, you won't want to.

Whichever path you choose, Conflict: Denied Ops still leads to a primitive set of cliched objectives. [Issue#164, p.92]

With boring missions, unattractive graphics, and a multiplayer mode that no one seems to be playing, this game doesn’t look to be selling many copies any time soon.

Sticking unwanted attitude onto a couple of characters doesn't create empathy -- developers should've learned that from the '90s.

There is essentially no merit to Conflict: Denied Ops. It offers nothing unique and has almost no production value. Shooters are a dime a dozen these days and most have this game beat at every turn.

A mess of a game in all senses of the term. Its gameplay is at least one generation behind the competition, its presentation is like a collection of every graphical effect thrown into a mixing pot and poured onto the screen and the online implementation leaves a lot to be desired.

I don't even want to think about the visuals or audio long enough to talk about them. Both are offensively bad, from the Xbox-quality graphics and level detail to the frequent and pointless use of stereotypical comments and ham-fisted injections of "edgy" cussing. Even if the entire game was meant to be taken as satire, it still comes off as shoddily executed. Don't play it. Don't rent it. For the love of all that is good and holy in the world don't buy it.

Conflict: Denied Ops feels and plays like an early preview version of an inspireless budget game. It looks very suspicious that the devolopers might have intended to make a cheap outdated product in order to make us pay money. Even the coop mode is really unplayable. Now we understand why Eidos waited one month before sending us a review copy.

This game attempts to fill the cookie cutter FPS mold, but uses dough way beyond expiration. I can think of no good reason to recommend this game to any FPS fans.

Denied Ops suffers from abysmal graphics, awful audio, and incredibly low production values.