Charlie Missions are HORRIBLE gameplay wise!

[Michanicks]

There is many "gamey" things in the game, but they don't harm it, i know we need sometimes sacrifice realism for a greater good. But Charlie missions... they are so much flawed, so much unbalanced, so much UNTESTED so it's making my blood boil!

Before you say it's skill issue - i have beat all 20 waves of every mission, i have got all 3 Gold Perfectionist medals for every mission, always solo, and i played every embassy 7-8 times more to farm gear challenges, and yet it got better with expirience, it's also have showed me problems are real, not because i didn't learn how to play it correctly yet. Also i should warn that most of the flaws are coming from attempting to play that gamemode with bad guns trying to get all the gear challenges.

I'll list what exactly is turned from "fine" to "bad" and what was idiotic from the beginning:

• Amount of special enemies is unreasonable.
  - WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?! In story missions dogs are rare, may be one or two per mission but usually none. In 4E mission the same situation. IN CHARLIE MISSIONS there is like 60 dogs out of 500 enemies, and there is may be waves with 10-15 dogs per wave! It's NEARLY impossible to play dog waves without abusing the safe spots (i call them Sanctuaries). Why do we need entire map if i can't even leave my hideout without getting shreddered to pieces?;
  
  - THESE KIDS AND THEIR DAMNED TABLETS! Drone Operators, the same story, they would be bearable if their alliance with dogs wouldn't render Rookie difficulty a Perfectionist. Ok, maybe simultaneously having 6-8 operators on the map (and even more per wave) is not sounds that bad, but every operator spawning out of thin air 2 drones, it's SO MANY drones my audio is glitching out due to all the noise they making and when enemy blowed up 50 dead drones with a grenade first i went deaf by overlapping explosion sound and then my PC is just crashed, unable to stand that hell anymore. I wish the creators of these waves eternal non-stopping diarrhea, which is as active as operators ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ their rc cars out. They are not that deadly if you just don't stop, but dogs... they WILL make you stop
  Also drones still chase you even if operator doesn't use the table!;
  
  - Six snipers on the same roof and two snipers on another roof isn't hard, it's just facepalm-worthy stupid, it's shows what attitude devs had when they was making these missions;
  
  
• Why all the maps are bright like a Christmass Three?
  You thought missions were too easy so you decided to turn off one of the few stealth elements you have left? Swiss Embassy is brighter than a surgery room! My indicators were almost always off! And 95% of the lamps are undestructable for no apparent reason. Commandos, dogs, drones and snipers can see in the dark, why couldn't we have a small aid against few enemies who can't?
  
  
• Swiss Embassy is the worst designed map in the entire SC series.
  It's a deathtrap without any room for maneuver, bright as lighthouse, the amount of undestructuble lamps should be ashaming for game that calles itself a Splinter Cell, it's the exception among Charlie missions that is hard EVEN without the dogs. There is one (the most safe in comparison because that's where Sanctuary is) big room where three enemies can cover all hiding places that are not the Sanctuary, and one hallway divided in two ways, where you can't freely move because it's a literal hallway, two difficult enemies can block the entire upper/lower area and four enemies can block the entire 60% of the map. And just four enemies is you being lucky, usually there is dohulliard of them on latter waves. The opposite end of the map is most dangerous part on the Swiss Embassy and double staircase especially is the scariest place in the entire game, Sam will have more chances to survive posing as target dummy on shooting range for tanks. 75% of the playthrough is just camping the Sanctuary in the spawnroom - i had no room to dodge the enemies and hide from dogs anywhere else. And HVT shields... did developers tried to make some kind of joke? By adding enemies you can bring down mostly by flanking... in the map without ways of decent flanking.
  
  
• Many weapons get really bad even on easiest difficulties and barely viable on hardest difficulties, as apposed to any other mission of the game, be it either story or 4E mission.
  
  - ALL the SMGs. Very low accuracy (no reliable headshots), very low damage (2-3 shots to remove a helmet IF all shots are landed), low ammo amount, only commandos and few mooks give you spare SMG ammo, but commandos themselves are GREATLY resisted to SMG fire. It's just ridiculous - IRL MP7 one of the most powerful SMG ever and has one of the biggest armor penetration power in the world among SMGs, in the game it's the weakest SMG besides blackmarket ones even after upgrading it with Ammo Piercing ammo. Using them for completing challenges is a PAIN. You have to snipe enemies with single shots to make weapon any worthy, and it's not the way that makes SMGs fun;
  
  - ALL the shotguns. Worst accuracy among guns, with some shotguns you can't hit the target 10 meters away, low ammo count which means very limited kills per ammo crate, enemies being greatly resisted to shotgun fire on medium range (commandos may require 3 slug bodyshots which is a big part of mag and even the ammo pool itself), constantly requires reloadings, being absolutely useless against Heavy Armor Guys unlest close enough and especially bad against the ones with shield;
  
  - All the shotgun ammo besides slugs in absolutelly utter bs that performing worse than any other weapon in the game.
  
  - Flashbang too often just doesn't work. Sometimes it's stun all types of enemies through obstacles but in 40% of uses it's just does nothing.
  
  - During alert any grenade spots your exact location if there is no way to know where are you. You can drop cam in one place, go into another place and only then detonate, but it will be enough for enemies to figure out where you are.
  
  
• Enemy armor is beyond rediculous!
  
  - Ammo Piercing ammo? Ammo Piercing my ass! Ammo Piercing 50 cal Deagle can't penetrate the helmet! EVEN WITH TWO SHOTS! And sometimes all the enemies are have helmets. Heavy Guy requires a whole mag of rifle piercing bullets to die (if you trying to bodyshot them just to check if it's any good)... if they wouldn't call it Armor Piercing, it's wouldn't feel like a robbery;
  
  - In many cases it's better to bodyshot enemies rather than headshot them, but nor because of accuracy like in the real world. Slug pointblank shotgun may oneshot the weaker enemy through the armor vest, but if you suddenly hit their helmet - they are alive and aware;
  
  - Commandos don't have any kind of armor, why the hell they tanking that ridiculous amount of damage, more than actual mooks with visual armor? Only Heavy guys have more hp. I still don't know if it's better to bodyshot them or headshot them when i play gun with bad accuracy and firepower, either way they will not get down quickly. Oh, i see the problem, ammo is called Armor Piercing, not Clothing Piercing, that's may be the inssue.
  
  
• Bugs i had only in Charlie missions.
  
  - Game just crashing and i losing hours long attempt. Never ever i will even try to get all 20 waves in one sitting;
  
  - Sometimes Shield enemies just unload their pistol in half of the second and that's automatically showing your location to everyone, even if you trying to Ghost your way through. Swiss Embassy 20th wave with such bug is just incredibly hard even on easiest difficulty and it's outright barely possible on Perfectionist.
  
  
• Perfectionist difficulty.
  
  - For Ghost - the only weapon you have is a crossbow and few gadgets, ammo is limited and you have no way to ressuply it. The only way to get your gear back - is to die. Incredible stupid, because you just physically can't Perfectionist your 20 waves embassy with starting gear, you literally have to die to replenish it. But it's easy to die and it doesn't bring harsh penalty, so you may sometimes die on purpose instead of heading toward cases on lower difficulties, it's feels unfinished;
  
  - For Assault - you getting instakilled in the best armor with the best protection. The only purpose amor can have - having more mags for your guns in cost of having less ammo for crossbow and gadgets, when assaulters need their gadgets much frequintly compared to stealthy players;
  
  - No x-ray vision is changes nothing - almost all harder waves ALWAYS have a dron operator disabling it anyway.
  
  
• DOGS! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ DOGS!
  They are worse than all other flaws combined together!
  They the main reason Charlie Missions are so bad!
  They even have radios built in their heads so even if they see you for long enough and even if you silently kill them, all the enemies still will know your exact position!
  They are the only reason i even created that ragepost!

The only thing i like about dogs is the sound of their neck breaking
(c) Sam Fisher, 2013