A Good Time With Target Practice
O.K., let's get to it. Overall, this game was really good with a couple small drawbacks, but nothing game breaking or anything that would ruin the experience for you. You can purchase this game in stores for less than $20. I did so recently and wasn't disappointed. I loaded it up this morning (finished the main campaign prior to this review), installed without problems, doesn't take up much space, loaded quickly and then I began the game. I set the options up for my resolution (1920x1080) and it looked good, the sound is good, the bullet sounds are good, the one option you'll be upset isn't there is the ability to key bind. I like my 'interact/use' to be 'e' but it's set to 'f' and you can't change it but it wasn't a hard adjustment. There are achievements in this game as well, for those of you who are into that sort of thing- me personally, I don't care too much either way.
Now, if you're a parent reading this to see what kind of game your kid is wanting, you'll be happy to know this is a shooter that uses only targets (wood/metal) and there is 'no' blood. (Read on for more details). Rated T for teen.
The gameplay is simple and fun. You start with pistols and work your way up to high powered firearms. All the firearms feel appropriately powerful and the graphics and sound contribute well to this. The game runs smoothly, no hiccups, no stalling, no bugs, and isn't demanding on your system. System Requirements: XP/Vista/7, Processor: Single Core 2.4GHz, Memory: 2GB RAM, 1GB free hard drive space, Graphics: GeForce 6800 or Radeon x700. (I ran it on win7-64bit, i7 930, 2x GTX 460's, 6GBRAM, Full HD resolution). The dvd case says "games for windows' but you do not need to have gfwl to play the game but if you wish to share your achievements or submit your scores to the leaderboards, you need a gamespy account. Again, not necessary to play the game.
There are over 35 different scenarios, like Olympic stlye shooting, hostage rescues, sniping, VIP Protection, etc. and you get into some heavy weapons later on like shooting from a turret on a vehicle, you practice shooting from standing, prone, crouching, stationary and moving targets, some of the moving targets in some of the levels will shoot paintballs at you and you're only allowed to take so many before you lose the level and have to retry. Point deductions also happen from shooting civilian targets and so many of those and you lose the level. There is Single Player Career mode, and after completing that you can move on to the Single Player Unlocked Levels. There is also a multiplayer mode for 2-4 people ( I can't comment on that because I don't like/play mp- in any game, not just this one). In a game like this hit detection is key and the hit detection in this game is right on. It does have replay value as you work to achieve higher status and achievements if you're into that. It's nice to earn a Silver or Gold level, but Platinum is better! Also, it's just fun to shoot targets, I grew up doing the real thing and always enjoyed it and it's what originally gave fps's appeal to me, I enjoy shooting. There are bonus targets that pop up randomly in levels as well.
I give this game an 8.5 because as a target shooter, it's pretty good. The only drawbacks are minor and I'd say it's earned this score. There are a lot worse games out that have higher scores that don't run smoothly, crappy graphics, resource hogs, and annoying music and lousy hit detection- and they still want to over charge! This game shined in those areas, and cost less than $20. Can't beat that.