A little overrated after months of waiting the game's civilian approach to war still make it worthwhile playing
As with other premature video games, the amount of publicity earlier this year seems to having been cutting short the plot's own ripening: though fuelled through a breath-taking action within a suffocating civil war atmosphere, the dystopian story of a New Korean Republic reunited in 2015 under Kim Jong-un having invaded the USA half-heartedly stops with the announcement of the imperturbable freedom fighters joining, in 2027, the last fragments of the US Army against the Korean occupiers after having retaken the Golden Gate Bridge -- or is there still a sequel to come?
Evidently, there is the competitive multiplayer allowing up to 32 players to continue the chaotic skirmishes between the KPA and the US Army in a variety of battlefield sceneries (residential suburbs, countryside...) mainly in choosing between two game modes, Ground Control and Team Deathmatch, or Battle Commander for either of the former two, and to trade Battle Points rewarded for special skillful actions (expert challenges) for useful vehicles and weaponry rather than abstract trophies.
Yet not only the story's scope based on the script of John Milius and advised by an expert from the CIA could have been more developed given its promising potential, also the dialogues of the acting persons themselves are often of a crudeness that sometimes almost touches f...... parody, though the ex-Marine pilot Robert Jacobs one is to control through the Campaign mode's seven chapters in about as many hours seems to being reduced to silent obedience rather, the useful shadow of the yet more experienced Connor, Rianna, Boone, and Hopper.
However, the setting still comes along with a lot of thoughtfully designed details not easy to grasp at first sight (e.g., the 61 news pickups recording political details of the recent past) making the campaign worth being played at least a second time right afterwards. The scenery: the devastated yet as such still recognizable remnants of the typical US American suburbs with streets, stores, and buildings, culminating in the assault on Golden Gate, is often of shocking realism given the worrying circumstances, to which the soundtrack (composed by Matthew Harwood) is well suitable.
The conventional arsenal of good-working weapons though not always ideal in their handling is completed through a really inventive military machinery thankfully at the resistance's disposal, like the Goliath, a remote-controlled bulldozer, humvees, attack helicopters, and other flying drones.
Some functional weaknesses result from the action as such being highly scripted, while some friendly AI lapses might even have been intended (the usual companion before one's visor), and one might occasionally feel bothered by the latency of the X-button arts, which on the other hand suffers a little from functional over-assignment.
Still, while recalling others of the genre the game stands out through its intriguing and realistically designed visual and narrative framework of a military game out of civilian perspective one might only have wished to last a little longer, though the multiplayer mode plus downloadable contents may well make up for some missing chapters giving almost the impression that the story is not over yet....