Everyone seems to feel the need to compare this game to Halo. I certainly understand, as there are some important similarities in the game. Bottom line is this: Digital Anvil was simply smart enough to learn from Bungie. I'll explain. The control scheme is nearly identical to Halo. Okay. This is obviously true, but why mess with perfection? Everyone knows Halo is still the most heavily played Xbox game, let alone Xbox shooter. So why wouldn't Digital Anvil use this scheme? Wouldn't we be asking why they didn't if they used, say, a Goldeneye type scheme? Secondly, I'll cover the two-weapon limit. Direct rip-off of Halo, sure, but it really makes sense for any shooter. I shudder to think where you keep your rail gun in Red Faction when you're not using it! Also, this forces the player to think about his or her choices. Thirdly, the targeting reticle. Other game companies would do well to take notice of the oversized targeting reticle. It certainly makes shooters like Halo and Brute Force easier to play. Shooters like Max Payne can be downright frustrating in this area. Now that the Halo comparisons are out of the way, here's what I think of the game on its own merits: 1. The gameplay is easy to pick up and very smooth. The mechanic for judging grenade distances is especially cool. The directions you receive at the beginning of the game are really helpful for those three uninitiated folks that haven't used this control scheme in a previously mentioned game. 2. The graphics are on a par with just about everything else on the Xbox, but nothing so special that we'll be seeing a lot of copycats in the future. That may have been different if the game hadn't spent so much extra time in development, but c'est la vie! Frame rate is steady with the exception of one or two non-gameplay instances I can recall. 3. The sound is good, but as someone who runs a Dolby Digital system, it's pretty average for the Xbox. If this were a PS2 or Gamecube game, I'd have more to say about it. 4. You can't get much more value here. Xbox Live missing or not, this is the most flexible multiplayer game on the Xbox. One of my biggest pet peeves is all these System Link games that come out only allowing one player per machine. Is it only Microsoft that realizes the value of flexibility in this area? Between the System Link features and the future Xbox Live map and character content, this game will surely be played right until Halo 2 comes out. 5. As far as my tilt goes, I don't necessarily consider this a home run for Microsoft, but I'd definitely give it a triple with an RBI or two. In closing, there are now three great multiplayer shooters on Xbox: Halo, Serious Sam, and Brute Force!
The analog responded similar to Halo, which was nice. Other than that, this game fails pretty everywhere in trying to beat Halo. You can join in at anytime in a co-op game, this is pretty nice. You can use 3 guys dur... Read Full Review
3 of 3 users found the following review helpful
Rating:9.4
By radialheadfx | Review Date: May 28, 2003 | XBOX
Right at the first cut you know the graphics are going to be great, and the sound will be promising. But it’s the multiplay that makes this game rate so high. No there is not online play like many hoped for. But that’s n... Read Full Review
