CGF 0.77 review by Oswald (of '6th Floor Map Depository')

CGF 0.77 - Action Quake 2 Bot

As mentioned a few days back, like most of you I was anticipating the release of the Action Quake bot, officially known as 'Computer Generated Forces' or CGF. I faithfully checked the CGF home page everyday to see what progress had been made and for an official release date. Due to minor setbacks, the release date was pushed back and finally released on July 8. In much haste and anticipation I downloaded the file, checked the 'Read Me' (we all do, right?) and started the program. There are two mission packs included in the 'cgf_0_77' release titled 'cgf_urban_hitman' and 'cgf_urban_streets.'

The mission titled 'hitman' puts you in the role of the hitman and asked to take out "Mister Sabotage (head honcho of the warez business in Urban). Similar to protect the president, where you play the assassin. The second mission titled, 'streets' as William describes, "throws you into a series of streets fights, with the sole goal to survive ." As you successfully beat the bots, you move on to a more difficult missions and less help from your teammates. For now, all warfare takes place on Gerbil!'s map, Urban, this is the only map which will support CGF.

All things considered, this is an amazing program, one which will be well received by the Action community. I was astonished at the game play when I got involved in the first round with the CGF. I attempted hitman and was alive no more the about 20 seconds before I caught a bullet in the cranium and died. A sniper, just doing his job. It took a few rounds before I successfully defeated the CGF for the first time. It was interesting to see how they worked together as a team, covering each other, to accomplish their objective. Of course there were times, you could outsmart the CGF, for example stand on the high building and wait for them to ascend the ladder and pick them off, one by one as they fall to their death. But more often then not, I was the one on the receiving end of a bullet.

This beta version will most likely keep most busy for quite awhile. We have already started to see people creating their own missions to use with CGF.. There is also a built in cgfparser which allows the user to check their syntax of any missions they build before it is executed. Based on what William has accomplished with the initial beta, the CGF looks to have a bright future. Don't expect this satisfy your desire for Action Quake 2. There is still much work which needs to be completed on the CGF, but in its infancy, a strong program with some big potential.

Oswald
The 6th Floor Map Depository
http://6thfloor.actionquake.com