-PS3- The gritty WW2 action sets an engaging FPS tone, but various irksome elements detract from the full playability.
My overall p.o.v. for this game is as follows:
The single player campaign is jam packed with the sort of intense WW2 FPS action fans of the series and genre crave, but a somewhat irregular control scheme alongside a tedious and seriously lacking multiplayer (coupled with an overwrought and implausible storyline) keeps this title from shining bright in the cavalcade of shooter classics.
WEAPONS: The selection is enjoyable, but it wouldn't have hurt the developers to throw a few more goodies into the mix.
PLAYER/TEAM COMMANDS: As you assemble your squad along cover and order them to suppress or fully engage a target...sometimes they're on point, and sometimes they run around in a little circle as bullets strafe their faces. I think a technical tweak here or there would've been a tipping point for such a cliche gaming glitch.
CAMPAIGN vs MULTIPLAYER: Play a few levels of the campaign. I'll give you a moment.
OK, all through? Awesome. That was pretty fun, right? Yep. OK, now go ahead and jump on into the multiplayer for a few minutes.
*Final Jeopardy music*
Back so soon, huh? Yeah, it's really strange how terrible it is compared to the source material of the single player campaign. Yeah, I can't explain it either...it's just flat out awful.
PLOT/CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: This is where the game shoots itself in the foot. Repeatedly.
Within the script (through dialogue, etc.) it's obvious that the creators have a very sturdy hold on the personalities of the characters involved. However, they clearly do not have a grip on how to properly convey emotions with direct intent and within plausible scenes/timeframes.
For example, these characters are supposedly hardened soldiers. Surely they are still human and have emotions, but they are soldiers at war.
At one particular point during a mortar attack (a f#@%*!^ mortar attack!) they're sitting around debating personal issues and reflecting on their own past life decisions as their buddies blow up around them. Lame. Not dramatic. Lame. And unrealistic.
Multiple aspects of multiple scenes display not only continuity issues, but moments between characters within particular circumstances that not only make no logical sense geographically, emotionally, and physically, but are all too OBVIOUSLY placed for a desired dramatic effect that ultimately (and briskly) falls flat on it's face.
BUT! I do enjoy this game. Aside from the in-game movies of whining "soldiers" the game provides a highly entertaining mode of WW2 styled shooter action that I just can't get enough of.
My advice to the developers? Lay off the cheese, and stack on the meat.
:)