El rincón del jugón v5.0

termina la historia narrandotela por texto y dibujos en plan final alternativo.

It's the gamer's lament: some of the best games ever made are busted, buggy, and obviously unfinished. Sadly, such is the case with this game. One of the best titles on Steam, despite languishing in almost complete obscurity, 7.62 High Caliber is a Russian-made real-time/pauseable squad tactics game with a stupid name and an absurd attention to detail that permeates nearly every aspect of its design.

Yes, I do mean absurd. Take the magazine out of a gun, and its in-game model will reflect this. You can fold the stock of your rifle, and this too will show up. Your character will even hold the weapon differently, closer to their body. Every attachment will appear on every single gun, which you can examine up close within a special window, even though this is a strategy game and you have no reason (though you do have the option) to zoom in ludicrously close enough to even notice that level of detail in the game. Equip a backpack? It shows up on your character. A carry vest? Yep, and with a few unique models. Armor? Yeah, that too, so long as it's not a concealable plate carrier carried underneath clothing, in which case you won't see it. Put on a belt with pouches and there you go, you'll see that too. And I haven't mentioned yet all the different uniforms you can wear, each with their own camoflauge value. It's like having a box of virtual GI Joes.

It's not strictly cosmetic, either. Every piece of gear has a purpose. Every choice a tangible effect on how a character performs in combat. Most importantly, these effects are all sensible, and you don't need a manual to understand them. Fold the stock on your rifle, and shooting from the hip becomes faster. You'll also require less room to point your gun around, which is a big deal in narrow hallways. Of course, lacking the stock means less accuracy and more recoil. Backpacks give you more room to carry stuff, but you can't maneuver while prone quite as well if you're wearing one. Thick armor with added trauma plates will protect you from damage, but it will slow you down unless you've got lots of muscle. Scopes will help you see farther away, but will limit your field of view whenever you use them. Night vision goggles wash the world in green, but help you see better in the dark. Flashlight attachments on your guns throw cones of light wherever you aim, and in later fights when everybody's kitted out on both sides, the evening haze is full of dozens of jumping, darting laser sights drawing grim lines between combatants.

On top of this, there's an insane ballistics simulation at work here that really does take this game above and beyond. Bullets are 3D-modelled, and hundreds of them may be flying through the air at any given time. There's surface penetration modeling, and bullets sometimes ricochet off hard materials like brick and concrete depending on angle and caliber. Bullets can split in half (!) with each half hitting separate targets. I once witnessed a stray shot badly missing its mark, only for the bullet to hit the ground, ricochet hard vertical, and hit another bad guy right under the chin. Grenades don't do magic damage, either. They shoot dozens upon dozens of fragments over their area of effect, mimicking their real-life behavior. It's really impressive to watch, and great for the gameplay as well. Go prone and pray as the shrapnel skates over your head in slow motion. Every near-miss is a thrill.

The attention to detail goes beyond gunplay. This game was doing character catalogues before The Witcher made it cool. Throughout your journey, you can learn conflicting accounts of various important figures, and these details are stored in your journal so you can form your own opinions on who most deserves a bullet to the dome. Your main task in the tiny, fictional nation of Algiera is to extract a high-profile con-artist, dead or alive, but you have to work with various local entities to accomplish that task. You can throw your lot in with the corrupt government, or choose to work with the idealistic, crazy rebels, or you can play both sides against the middle. Apparently, you can also do things for yourself, try to take the country for your very own. I can't imagine that would be easy. I haven't tried that yet.

Where things start to come apart is when you realize this game is an obvious beta. It really is. But now, in the age of perpetual Early Access periods, is that really a sin anymore? The game's got a memory leak issue that ensures crashes are inevitable, but the more RAM you have, the easier it'll be for you. It does seem to crash very gracefully, however. A gentle bump back to the desktop, and a double-click later you're back in the game in maybe ten seconds. Annoying, yes, but not such a big deal as long as you have multiple saves. Since you can save any time you want, it's minor.

The real issue is the controls. They're workable, but they take some getting used to. The camera is the biggest offender. It lets you go anywhere, and quickly, and the general feel of it should be familiar to anyone used to working with 3D modelling suites. Problem is, this is a GAME we're talking about here, not Maya or whatever. There's lots of depth and plenty of options, but thankfully not too many keys to work with. You can keep them clustered around WASD very comfortably. I use a Steam Controller, so that alone shows you that the controls aren't THAT bad. Though the feel of the game's interface leaves a lot to be desired.

Despite its age and obscurity, the game DOES actually look very, very good. A good, unified art style melds well with subdued graphical effects. Despite the primitive character models, the foliage is dense and the jungles look surprisingly pretty awesome. No, really. There's a TON of foliage in outdoor environments, and it looks surprisingly realistic. There's limited destructability in the game's environments, mostly limited to background objects. It's fun watching a guard tower explode into fragments when you hit it with an RPG, or unleashing a torrent of leaves when a grenade goes off in the brush, but you won't be leveling any buildings.

But when it comes to combat, 7.62 is second to none. The game's age is a non-issue. This game easily has the best real-time tactical combat I've ever enjoyed. There's no obvious "cheating" in the game's design. Everything is based on relatively-realistic background simulation. For example, in a modern game like Firaxis' XCOM 2, if you're spotted, the enemies instantly know where all of your people are. Not so here. The AI in this game only knows what it sees, or the last known location of what it has seen before but is now hidden. You can fool gullible enemies into underestimating your force strength and lure them into traps. Shock and surprise are simulated, so if your camoflagued team suddenly springs out of the bushes out of nowhere, your suddenly-cornered enemies are liable to go into shock and panic as you line up perfect shots. It's incredible. And the more disciplined your foe, the less likely your opponents are to be tricked into such ambushes. Elite soldiers are perfectly content with sitting in an advantageous position with their sights trained and waiting on where they expect you to be - which can also be countered with a high-stealth guy in a ghille suit you left behind to cover the flank.

The depth of this game's strategic approach is truly something else. The simple fact that the AI doesn't have god awareness allows you all sorts of surprise tactics. The enemy can surprise you, too. They're all too eager to come jumping around a corner, shooting you in the chest before darting quickly out of sight.

Keep in mind that everything your troops do is entirely due to your direction, however. Your people aren't automated at ALL, so you have to be aware of what's going on with everyone at all times. Thankfully, there's time deceleration and pause-anytime to help keep things manageable.

Highly recommended.