I knew what I was getting when I purchased this game in a Steam sale for under $10. I had already read about the short single player campaign. But I figured for this cheap I would give it a shot. First off, I wouldn’t pay more than $10 for this game ever. So if you can find it cheap, it will provide about 5 hours of single player fun. I would also add that the game was not good or bad, but merely okay.It was supposed to be THQ’s answer to Call of Duty, but it failed miserably.
This is the first “console” shooter I have played and now I know why I don’t like console games. I think it’s funny people fight over which is better, but frankly they are totally different animals. There’s checkpoint saves which are lame because they force you to replay parts over and over again. I am a die hard PC gamer who prefers to save anywhere. If you don’t want to save constantly, that’s your choice, but give me the choice to play the game the way I prefer. Then there is the fact that this was more of an interactive movie than a game. Not only are you on rails, but you are constantly told what you need to do. There are many guns strewn about the levels, but you don’t have time to examine which one is better than another. When the one you have is low on ammo and you can’t find anymore, pick up another gun (you can carry 2 at a time). You can’t even move up and down ladders; you press the use key and the game climbs you up the ladder. If you don’t know where to go, look at the top of the screen for the 3 sergeant stripes that tell you where to go and how far away you are. There’s no health packs; you auto heal yourself so if you are wounded just hide behind something until the screen is no longer red.
I will say there were a couple of slow-motion scenes in which you fought people that were kind of cool. But you spend most of your time following one or more comrades who can’t ever die in combat. The game tries to break up the monotony with its storyline and some vehicle combat. A couple of times you man the guns on top of a Humvee for some brief rail-shooting action. Then there’s the helicopter level. I had a hard time flying this thing. I tried a gamepad, but couldn’t do well with it so I stuck with mouse and keyboard. It was very hard until you got high in the air. Also, in another show of game developers telling you how to play, you have to get next to 3 trucks to unload your people and take control of them. Unfortunately, you have to start with the last one first then move to the front. Otherwise, you can’t unload your people. How about giving me some choices here?
As part of the Steam sale I picked up a game guide for about $2. Surprisingly, it was a waste of money. First off, as I said earlier, the game tells you what to do so you don’t need a guide. Second. the only way to access the guide is through Steam which redirects you to a website. It would be better for me to look at the guide on another screen instead of pausing my game, leaving, and looking at something and then going back. No more Steam guides for me.
I know this isn’t COD, but I fail to see what all the hype is about. I guess people love the multiplayer, but how many times can you run around maps shooting people until you get bored? I’ve personally always preferred a good single player experience with a good story.
To recap, try this game if you can find it cheap, but don’t expect much more than several hours of shooting up bad guys with a variety of standard weapons.