ALL REVIEWS

Mission Name Too Many Secrets File Secrets.fs2
Author BlueFlames Release Date 02/22/00
Players 1 Campaign No
Mission Type Varies Addons None
Reviewer Kellan Review Date 02/27/00
User Rating 86% Staff Rating 4.5 Stars

Description
The NTF and GTVA are in the peak of their war. The Colossus has just destroyed an NTF station after having secured Enif Station in Epsilon Pegasi. Now, it waits as bait for a trap. Admiral Bosch has a plan that could end the threat of the Colossus here and now. Only one problem lies in the way: your morals. You have served as a GTVI agent since the beginning of the rebellion, and you don't know who to serve: Bosch or GTVA command. You must decide now though.

Storyline: 4.5 Stars
Yay! A story based around the antics of the SOC during the NTF rebellion. Wasn’t this just what the doctor ordered? Not only does the mission have a good storyline in this respect, it has a killer twist – you create the ending of the mission. Yes, you. Although the mission is designed for play through the GTVI side, you can, as the author suggests give the NTF the victory by not defecting. The briefing is well written with no noticeable spelling errors. All the icons match up too, which is good. The messages in the mission are fine, but I’d have liked to see more chatter from the NTF pilots before you defect and them furious at your defection – after 18 months undercover I guess you’d have gained a few friends who you might feel a tiny bit bad about killing. The debriefing is also good but a little harsh. I seriously doubt that the GTVA would be disbanded because the Colossus was destroyed.

There are now several more chatter messages from your ‘friends’ in the NTF, who are suitably disbelieving that you’re a traitor. The debriefing is also a bit less harsh if you fail. These are both good things. There could be ever more chatter and disbelief from the NTF, but it's not really needed.

Balance: 4.0 Stars
This is a tough mission whichever way you choose to play it. If you defect youÂ’re very close to the destroyer and a whole load of NTF fighters. Using plenty of Piranha warheads will help you to survive, but youÂ’re likely to take a lot of damage. I finished the mission on 3% hull when defecting. If you choose to defect you can expect to be dogfighting and destroying a couple of capital ships. Sticking with the NTF the mission is very long as destroying the Colossus takes a whole lot of time with just the Opposition and bombers.

The mission is now somewhat easier to complete. This may just be from playing it through again, but the author has also included balancing s-exp to make it easier for you to survive the attack on the Colossus.

Design: 4.0 Stars
The author has done a good job of making the transition for defection to the GTVI or for sticking with the NTF as smooth as possible. There are plenty of goals validated and invalidated and these work well to conceal the other path through the mission. Directives all work, but they are somewhat confusing – for example, because of the dual paths you’ll find a directive to escort the NTD Opposition followed by another to destroy it. This can’t be helped, but a prefix for which side the directives are for, like the goals, might’ve been nice. The rest of the design is far too overcomplicated. Several of the events could’ve been combined, such as the beam-free s-exps for the Colossus and the Opposition, and plenty more could’ve been chained to save work on the author’s part. The capture team’s AI orders come to mind.

Ahh, much cleaner now. There are send-message-lists for the new messages, and some of the events have been combined, lessening the number. The directives still confuse a little, but as I said, that canÂ’t be helped, really.

Gameplay: 4.5 Stars
This mission is very good fun to play, despite your life being constantly in peril. The way it plays reminds me very much of the loop missions from the main campaign, which I guess is what the author was after anyway. Besides, the loop missions were my absolute favourites in the FS2 campaign. The mission is tense with all of the dogfighting you have to take part in, varied and, like I said before, has that certain something. Replay value is also high. Altogether this gets a big thumbs-up from me.

This is still fine. The author hasnÂ’t touched the gameplay, much to my relief, as itÂ’s very good.

Other Thoughts:
Now could I have a campaign of this please? With extra fries? With a teeny bit more updating (a few chatter messages and some slight design tightening) this would fall into the recommended category, so I encourage BlueFlames to do so.

With this update, Too Many Secrets slips into the recommended category. Well done...

Bottom Line: A novel and extremely fun mission with great replay value.
Highs: Good storyline, high replay value, and great fun.
Lows: Lacking a few messages, overcomplicated design.

Not anymore. Now itÂ’s just the slightly confusing directives that detract a little.

Rating: 4.5 Stars
User Rating: 86%


This site was designed for 800x600 resolution and 16-bit color, so use at least this resolution and color depth.
Site was tested using Internet Explorer and Netscape, versions 4 and up. Use other browsers at your own risk.

All content on this site is produced here with the permission of the original author.
All content is NOT to be reproduced on other sites without written permission from Volition Watch IN ADVANCE.
Site design: Ben "Remora" Dekarske, June 2001. Copyright 1998-2001 Volition Watch Archives.