The ultimate Vengeance Weapon: an utterly ridiculous checkpoint system that obliterates all faith in budget titles...

User Rating: 3.6 | World War II Combat: Road to Berlin PC
By JOE714 | Review Date:
My initial impression of WWII Combat: Road to Berlin was that, although the game’s actual combat mechanics would likely be just as subpar as similarly underdeveloped budget titles historically tend to be, some effort was made to give the player a chance to wield or, at least, blow up some of the more fascinatingly obscure German war toys straight out of “My Tank is Fight!” However, the reality is that the game places the player adjacent to a few high-minded machines, but offers little to no interaction; I caught a glimpse of an ominous submarine just offshore, stole a peek at what must’ve been a Horten IX batplane as it hurtled down a runway, and set some explosive charges on what I believe was a P. 1500 Monster cannon. Aside from forcibly decommissioning the artillery piece, snapping a photograph of each invention is about as hands-on as Road to Berlin’s “World of Vengeful Nazi Wonders” conceit gets. The remainder is just what I expected – a shooting gallery comprised of moronic enemy AI and overly familiar battle sequences – but with a horrifyingly unfriendly checkpoint system that reduced the RtB’s questionable quality to splinters.

Judging from the number of names listed in RtB’s credits, more than one person on the Direct Action design team must have agreed with the idea to remove all health packs while leaving the enemies so scantily coded, they are actually preternaturally brilliant marksmen. I would like to think that at least one designer stepped forward and confirmed that trying to play through a meat-grinder of a game using more rote memorization than skill and experimentation is the exact opposite of fun. First, I’ll take quicksaves over checkpoints any day. Failing that, I would like some chance at redemption should I find my progress involuntarily captured with a 32% health rating and two or three more heavy-duty encounters to go. I’m not one to give up on a difficult game, and I’m only slightly less likely to fall back on a god mode dependency, but I can say that the former was certain if not for the latter.

I derived some enjoyment from RtB’s settings. The game’s ruined cities and hilly outdoor environments were blocky but reasonably adorned with rubble, foliage, and the like. Winding my way through destroyed buildings was somewhat fun even though every corner might conceal a brutally one-sided firefight followed by a hideously inconvenient save point. I warmed to the game whenever its open-air sections accorded the convenience of long-range potshots, only to cool considerably whenever an enemy spawned from thin air directly behind me.

I really don’t mind the low production values found in budget titles as long as the gameplay is reasonably fun, the setting is interesting, or the art and level design is endearing. None of those three aspects matter a whit if the game’s creators assume – very incorrectly – that I want to replay entire sections of each level over and over until I overcome every obstacle just right. That’s the only reason I can think of for Road to Berlin’s ridiculous checkpoint system. I can forgive the fact that the fantastical war machines that drew my attention to the game never put in much of an appearance; I never really expected to hijack a Nachtjäger or set the infrared sights of a Vampir-powered rifle against its makers. At the same time, I also didn’t expect a game born of such simplicity to frustrate me to the distant limits of tolerance. Like the man says: avoid this one.

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