Post by Gilvan Blight on Mar 25, 2008 13:52:18 GMT -5
Okay I know I'm behind the times, but I'm trying to play the series from the start to the hugely popular number 4.
Overall: one of the best WWII shooters I have played. You get a real sense of panic, tension and suspense.
Summary: Run through three different solo player campaigns taking the role of an every day grunt in either the US, UK or Russian army. Play through major battles of WWII as time progresses through each story. Typical FPS controls that pretty much go back to basics. You can only carry two weapons, and two types of grenades (Frag and Smoke). Weapons have a primary fire only, but you have the option of 'looking down the sight' for more accuracy. You won't find any squad commands here, as you are the grunt and you are the one who should be listening to orders. Here is where this game deviates from the norm. Combat is a confusing blur as troops on both sides are constantly shouting out, sometimes curses, sometimes orders, sometimes warnings. Through all this din you need to be able to make out the voice and commands of your superior officer if you want any chance of completing the missions.
Three difficulties are included in the game giving some replay value, but the main thing that may keep you playing this after completing the main story, is online Multi player on Xbox live. Even though this is an older game there are still a lot of fans playing online and it's not hard to find a match.
The Good: the biggest and best part of this game is the atmosphere it conveys. One of the reviewers noted "this is the closest I would ever want to get to being in a real war" and I think that sums up this game well. You get a real sense of peril. Even more impressive is the sense of confusion that arises in some missions as a sudden change in enemy tactics causes your objective to change mid mission, with troops running in circles trying to figure out what to do next. The best of these situations arose when enemy armour would suddenly appear in the middle of an infantry to infantry firefight. I was very impressed with the historical information added including real world footage and even audio clips from famous leaders like Eisenhower. Loading screen quotes also added to the atmosphere.
The Bad: The Graphics while very impressive I'm sure at the time, have since been pretty much killed by later Call of Duty games and modern wargames like Frontlines Fuel of War. They don't look bad per say, just compared to newer games there not that impressive. Thankfully they are good enough that it doesn't really detract from the experience. Like all FPS the single player campaign was a bit short. Now this isn't Halo short or anything, it did take me about a week to get through this one, but it's still not the longest game out there and won't take you that long to get through. A lack of Achievement points also had me disappointed. I think due to being pretty much a launch title, the publisher wasn't quite sure what to do with the achievement system. All you get is one for beating training, one for beating the game on the lowest level, one for beating it on a harder level and one for beating each level on hardest. I would have liked things like X Germans killed, X headshots, Master Sniper, etc. Again not really a game breaker, just a minor annoyance. The last thing that annoyed me about this one was a non-standard control scheme. I have gotten so used to using the left analog stick button to crouch that having to hit B got me killed more then a few times. If you are used to other FPS games that all seem to use a standard system this will take some time to get used to.
The Ugly: the gore and violence in this are definitely not for everyone. This isn't one I played in front of my daughter and even my Wife wasn't a fan of some scenes.
Overall: All in all this was an excellent historic First Person Shooter. Probably the best I have played to date. It does an amazing job of getting you into the game and the atmosphere. The graphics are a bit dated and the games a bit short, but it's still worth checking out. Due to being old you can usually find this one cheap enough that it's worth picking up rather then renting, as the Multiplayer is a lot of fun, and though there aren't a lot of achievements you will need to hone your skills if you want to get them all.
Overall: one of the best WWII shooters I have played. You get a real sense of panic, tension and suspense.
Summary: Run through three different solo player campaigns taking the role of an every day grunt in either the US, UK or Russian army. Play through major battles of WWII as time progresses through each story. Typical FPS controls that pretty much go back to basics. You can only carry two weapons, and two types of grenades (Frag and Smoke). Weapons have a primary fire only, but you have the option of 'looking down the sight' for more accuracy. You won't find any squad commands here, as you are the grunt and you are the one who should be listening to orders. Here is where this game deviates from the norm. Combat is a confusing blur as troops on both sides are constantly shouting out, sometimes curses, sometimes orders, sometimes warnings. Through all this din you need to be able to make out the voice and commands of your superior officer if you want any chance of completing the missions.
Three difficulties are included in the game giving some replay value, but the main thing that may keep you playing this after completing the main story, is online Multi player on Xbox live. Even though this is an older game there are still a lot of fans playing online and it's not hard to find a match.
The Good: the biggest and best part of this game is the atmosphere it conveys. One of the reviewers noted "this is the closest I would ever want to get to being in a real war" and I think that sums up this game well. You get a real sense of peril. Even more impressive is the sense of confusion that arises in some missions as a sudden change in enemy tactics causes your objective to change mid mission, with troops running in circles trying to figure out what to do next. The best of these situations arose when enemy armour would suddenly appear in the middle of an infantry to infantry firefight. I was very impressed with the historical information added including real world footage and even audio clips from famous leaders like Eisenhower. Loading screen quotes also added to the atmosphere.
The Bad: The Graphics while very impressive I'm sure at the time, have since been pretty much killed by later Call of Duty games and modern wargames like Frontlines Fuel of War. They don't look bad per say, just compared to newer games there not that impressive. Thankfully they are good enough that it doesn't really detract from the experience. Like all FPS the single player campaign was a bit short. Now this isn't Halo short or anything, it did take me about a week to get through this one, but it's still not the longest game out there and won't take you that long to get through. A lack of Achievement points also had me disappointed. I think due to being pretty much a launch title, the publisher wasn't quite sure what to do with the achievement system. All you get is one for beating training, one for beating the game on the lowest level, one for beating it on a harder level and one for beating each level on hardest. I would have liked things like X Germans killed, X headshots, Master Sniper, etc. Again not really a game breaker, just a minor annoyance. The last thing that annoyed me about this one was a non-standard control scheme. I have gotten so used to using the left analog stick button to crouch that having to hit B got me killed more then a few times. If you are used to other FPS games that all seem to use a standard system this will take some time to get used to.
The Ugly: the gore and violence in this are definitely not for everyone. This isn't one I played in front of my daughter and even my Wife wasn't a fan of some scenes.
Overall: All in all this was an excellent historic First Person Shooter. Probably the best I have played to date. It does an amazing job of getting you into the game and the atmosphere. The graphics are a bit dated and the games a bit short, but it's still worth checking out. Due to being old you can usually find this one cheap enough that it's worth picking up rather then renting, as the Multiplayer is a lot of fun, and though there aren't a lot of achievements you will need to hone your skills if you want to get them all.