Throughout playing 2 hours of this terrible shooter, you'll find graphical glitches, faults and an extremely bad A.I....
Platform: PlayStation 2, Nintendo Gamecube
Developer: Redstorm Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Modern First Person Shooter
Age Rating: 15+ ELSPA
Release Date: November 8th 2002 (PS2) March 31st 2003 (GC)
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Game Score: 2.0/10
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Summery:
Throughout playing 2 hours of this terrible shooter, you'll find graphical glitches, faults and an extremely bad A.I and control system.
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The Sum of all Fears based on the 1991 novel book thriller by Tom Clancy and the 2002 movie adaptation. Now comes along the game that is loosely based on the Novel and film of the same name. I'm pretty sure the PC was proably alright but Playing The Sum of all Fears on PlayStation 2 and the Gamecube will be a game released by a Video game Terrorist front.
The game takes place in the beginning of the 21st century where a special organized Anti-Terrorist group face off in their war against the Terrorists. It's your duty as leader of an Elite squad to Eliminate the Terrorists, rescue Hostages that they may take and also search for clues to reveal more of what the Terrorists are up to. To say the least there's nothing special about the game's plot as it's blend narrative and bad voice-work that makes the story lack the thrills from the novel by Tom Clancy.
Aside from the Tutorial stage which shows the mechanics of the game, The campaign takes you and 2 other team members through 11 missions loosely based on the Novel and Flim of the same name. Most missions will involve you pushing on from one area to the next taking down squads if Tangos, rescuing hostages and stopping to plant bombs and to collect information regarding the situation. You'll also have sub-missions which aren't required to complete, which involve trying acquire documents without alerting the base or completing a mission with no team casualties. Missions will only last about 5 to 10 Minutes each depending on your approach but that becomes quite Easy with it's map system which has a way-point of where you need to be going. It does help since the layout can confuse you but Enemies are also shown on the map which nearly eliminates the stealth aspects of the game. If you do fail your mission you can use Quick Save and Loads to restart from your last save point which does serve to make harder mission easier but otherwise the game is too short and too easy even on the Hardest setting. In all the Campaign takes around 2 hours to complete and you can replay missions in the Quick Mission mode where you can play through mission at record times or you can take a Fire Fight where you've got to Eliminate every Tango and the worst of them all is Extraction where it says that you've got to go Solely with one Solider to reach the Extraction Point in the Level but in reality it's just the same as Fire Fight which seems utterly pointless, these extras don't even add any reason to play all over again because of it's length and boring extra modes. Although you'll may unlock a few hidden goodies upon completion but they aren't even worth the mention.
The game-play of a Tom Clancy game is unimpressively basic as it can get. During the briefing you look at the mission objectives and you can then choose a range of different kits to outfit you and your men and you're ready to go. Aside from how short the game is you'll have problems of your own in dealing with the AI and the Controls. The AI is a complete annoyance, to begin with you can't command your team mates which is really a problem and also they will end up being caught along the walls or they'll just stand on one spot waiting for someone to shoot them before they even bother to return fire. Sometimes the enemy AI can block the door leaving you to either push it or to shoot the hand of the enemy since it can go through the doors. The controls are a pain as well, Your movement is awkward trying to move convertully without alerting a Tango and the same for switching weapons which can get annoying to press it over and over just to switch back to your normal weapon before you'll switch to your Flash Grenades. The games Auto-aim feature ultimately kills the difficulty with gun battles in which the cross-hair will lock onto a Tango on screen but you'll need to control your bursts to be more accurate which is handled in the menu or by pressing the Square button. With these issues Sum of all Fears battles are downright atrocious and it's a short game, there's no excuse since this is supposed to be Tom Clancy game.
The game ultimately suffers from not only with Frame rate problems but also the blend and un-detailed environments that look really unappealing. Animations are choppy and it get ridiculous having a Tango suddenly wive from side to side like an idiot when close to an object, being close to door to block you and not open it probably as already mentioned. The models look dull which almost look exactly like the original PlayStation details. You also have to tak note of Graphical glitch and faults like some models that are able to pass through open doors. This game makes PSOne classics like Medal of Honor and Metal Gear Solid look shameful and also the same for the voice-work which is cheesy to listen. Sadly the only redeeming quality is the Soundtrack minus the Loading theme which is just a 7 Second loop which is annoying, the other tracks on the other other hand add tension to all the terrible gun-battles that are going on at least.
Throughout playing 2 hours of this terrible shooter, you'll find graphical glitches, faults and an extremely bad A.I and control system. Yes I already know that Tom Clancy succeeds in the Rainbow Six department but when it comes to doing a similar style on consoles it doesn't get it right. The Sum of all Fears is a rushed shooter game that capitalistic on fans of the Novel and the movie. If you think the PC version's better then it's proof that Tom Clancy games are better to be tactical on the PC.
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The Pros:
1. Passable Soundtrack minus the Loading theme
The Bads:
1. The AI is terribly annoying and you can't control your squad mates
2. The extras don't add any reason to play again
3. Poor Controls and it's Auto-aim kills gun-play's difficulty
4. Too Easy and it only lasts 2 Hours long
5. Graphical glitch and Faults
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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