I've finished playing the missions, here are my thoughts:
Mission 0
The mission text brings up "Bart's cola scheme", but doesn't really explain what that scheme actually is. Sure, it’s explained in the forum thread and all, but the mod should be able to be played without having to read it. On that note, I think that something that’s this important should be normal mission, since the Prologue can only be played once. On a more minor note, the ketchup packets objective text seems to be incorrect.
Mission 1
The first part of this mission I found odd. I spent the last part of M0 getting away from Bart, going to the Power Plant, and now I have to find Bart again. Maybe there should be some indication that it’s Bart’s room/stuff that you’re after. This actual mission felt kind of short, with only one actual objective to complete, following the trails of items.
Mission 2
I laughed at the dialogue for this mission, having to race Milhouse for clues to find Bart is very fitting. I dunno why Milhouse has the Hover Car, but I guess that doesn’t really matter. The race still has a few problems though. First, the checkpoint near the Simpson’s House seems too close too the blue house, making it a bit misleading, it made me think that the race ended there. Second, I don’t know if it’s Milhouse’s speed or him constantly hitting walls, but the race is way too easy. To end this mission, it would have been nice to have some closure and show that Milhouse was no help.
Mission 3
To start with, the starting car position here is too close too the building, and I’m not really sure what relevance Chief Wiggum has to the mission. The “avoid the guards” segment is really cool, but the execution of the bedroom part could be better. I wasn’t really sure what exactly was happening at first, because what Lisa says is cut off by Bart. This mission is also short, but I think this could be fixed by adding a new guard in a car that chases Lisa when you arrive at home.
Mission 4
I don’t really get the Kwik E Mart part of the mission, it seems kinda pointless to go in just to tell Apu something and leave. I saw that Milhouse was in the Cola Truck, but this should be stated in a text box to make that clear and show that he is indeed working for Bart. Otherwise, this is a pretty solid mission.
Mission 5
Small typo: “Talk to Grampa” should be “Talk to Skinner”. Also, the dialogue seems to be a bit misleading, as, at least to my knowledge, Bart isn’t missing. Disregard this if it’s just a placeholder, I do recognize this from Level 2’s Bonus Mission. Bug: After talking to Skinner, I was unable to exit the building. I haven’t tested this from driving to the school directly after completing M4. To get around this, I was able to restart the mission and be teleported to my car directly. And then, despite the Pre-mission text, Skinner wasn’t in my car. As a matter of fact, the mission text doesn’t seem to represent the rest of the mission either, all it is is following Bart to the Simpsons House. When you go to Bart’s Bedroom, it plays a clip from the show, but I think it would make more sense if that played when you entered the Simpsons House from the front door. While this is cool and all, as a gameplay mission it’s incredibly shallow and feels really unfinished.
Mission 6
Again, we’re finding Bart despite just finding him at the end of the previous mission. The alien car you have to guide to Nelson’s house kinda rams you into the Power Plant, opposite of where you need to go. Speaking of it, what’s the deal with it? The game never explains why you need it or what it is. Gameplay wise
Mission 7
This mission starts off fine, but then the Curator comes in. How? What? Why? You destroy it, go to Bart’s room again, and that’s it.
Miscellaneous
The Playing AOC Remastered text is a bit obnoxious to have on screen at all times, especially when it’s in the window title anyways.
Overall
As always, this mod is a good idea, and some fun concepts. However, the story is all over the place, is messy, and the execution is just terrible. For this reason, I can’t really suggest this mod, unless you want to ignore the story aspects. This mod also suffers from focusing so much on “can we do it” and forgets about “should we do it”, M3 and M5 are prime examples of this. They have interesting gimmicks, but the actual content of the missions themselves are lacking as a result. Another example of this is the Playing AOC Remastered text, it seems like something that was added purely because it seemed cool, and doesn’t really practically do anything.
ABANDONED [Mod] Army Of Cola REMASTERED V1
Posted in SHAR: Mod Showcase
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Koopa I've finished playing the missions, here are my thoughts:
Mission 0
The mission text brings up "Bart's cola scheme", but doesn't really explain what that scheme actually is. S
[deleted user] Thank you for bring brutally honest. I will finish level 2. But it seems this concept is cursing me lol. Once level 2 is done I am departing from story heavy mods. That has always been my downfall.
Thank you for bring brutally honest. I will finish level 2. But it seems this concept is cursing me lol. Once level 2 is done I am departing from story heavy mods. That has always been my downfall.
Trainman84 The storyline from your original AoC was pretty good, the blanks needing to be filled in were minimal, though text did need some work. The storyline on this new AoC just seemed confusing. Escape Bart,
The storyline from your original AoC was pretty good, the blanks needing to be filled in were minimal, though text did need some work. The storyline on this new AoC just seemed confusing. Escape Bart, just to find him again?
The AoC idea, the original one, had a lot of potential that I saw, using components (Characters, maps, vehicles) already in the game, and the idea of Lisa taking on a large, government entity really appealed to me, because it is something, in the TV series, she would indeed do if the need or opportunity came along, so it felt real, like a storyline The Simpsons really would use. Face it, SHAR, in its unmodded, original form, would not necessarily NEED to feature The Simpsons. The storyline would work with just about any TV family. But the AoC storyline, you have Lisa, who is socially minded, who will sacrifice her family to follow her moral compass (Like when she tore up a check from Mr. Burns for fifteen million dollars because to her it was dirty money), you have Springfield, with a wholly corrupt mayor, with an active Mafia presence, with a rotten, morally bankrupt large industry owner (Mr. Burns), which do work for the general idea of AoC. Big, rich, powerful people versus an eight year old girl who believes in something. Ever notice how well a concept like that does in movies? Maybe that is why I liked AoC so much. Not so much the gameplay, but the storyline. It had merit. The idea was good. I do very much understand the frustrations and want to make something better. I was working on artwork for train cars for Donut Mod, ran into some frustrating snags, and put it down for a while. But like with most things, I plan to pick it up again. I hope the storyline idea of AoC is not totally dead, maybe just hiatus.
The AoC idea, the original one, had a lot of potential that I saw, using components (Characters, maps, vehicles) already in the game, and the idea of Lisa taking on a large, government entity really appealed to me, because it is something, in the TV series, she would indeed do if the need or opportunity came along, so it felt real, like a storyline The Simpsons really would use. Face it, SHAR, in its unmodded, original form, would not necessarily NEED to feature The Simpsons. The storyline would work with just about any TV family. But the AoC storyline, you have Lisa, who is socially minded, who will sacrifice her family to follow her moral compass (Like when she tore up a check from Mr. Burns for fifteen million dollars because to her it was dirty money), you have Springfield, with a wholly corrupt mayor, with an active Mafia presence, with a rotten, morally bankrupt large industry owner (Mr. Burns), which do work for the general idea of AoC. Big, rich, powerful people versus an eight year old girl who believes in something. Ever notice how well a concept like that does in movies? Maybe that is why I liked AoC so much. Not so much the gameplay, but the storyline. It had merit. The idea was good. I do very much understand the frustrations and want to make something better. I was working on artwork for train cars for Donut Mod, ran into some frustrating snags, and put it down for a while. But like with most things, I plan to pick it up again. I hope the storyline idea of AoC is not totally dead, maybe just hiatus.