The US Marines finally join the party...
Anyway, in this new military-simulation-wannabe, you get to see what it's like to be a badass Marine in these modern days of urban warfare and high-tech gear. Sounds cool, you might think. Well, you're right. Mostly. Altou extremely fun and well-balanced, this game suffers from a few drawbacks that sometimes ruin all the fun, just in the middle of the coolest missions.
Well, to be honest, this game wasn't really signed by USMC as their official product. It was derived from a simulator that Destineer (allegedly) developed for the Marines as a training tool. Be that as it may, once again you are confronted with a typical scenario of good and honorable US Marines being deployed in Beirut to protect the poor people from the evil terrorists. And the civil war. And the Syrians. And the crazy warlord. And... ah, you know the rest. Truth be told, I never even paid any attention to the story, simply because it's confusing, and because I've heard it all before a thousand times. And, of course, because it awfully reminds me of recruitment commercial. From the very intro movie to the silly macho one-liners your fellow marines say over and over again every time you clean the area of few hostiles.
Really, after a few minutes, you'll begin to wonder what crappy action movie from the '90s served as an inspiration for this game. Your squad mates sound so over-the-top macho you'll probably see it all as a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor implemented into the game. Ah well.
But oh, I really am being unfair. I still haven't said anything about the game itself. Well, there isn't much to say actually. This is a tactical FPS, pure and simple. You are a squad leader. You command your squad. You can give them order to cover you, suppress the enemy, hold position, clean a room of enemies (with or without lobbing a grenade in first), and that's about it. Been there, done that. If you played any tactical FPS game before, from the very first Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, you'll know what to expect here.
The thing that is crucial to any game such as this is the AI. I mean, this is a squad-based game, where you're supposed to rely on your mates to cover your back. And work together with them to achieve a goal. If the AI fails, squad-based tactics turn quickly into babysitting, and you'll often wish it was a lone-wolf FPS where you wouldn't have to wait for some moron who can't even pass through a damn door without getting stuck, or killed.
Lucky for us, your squad mates in this game are pretty smart and efficient killing machines. They cover each other very well, and don't think twice about killing an enemy you might not even notice. If you order them to take cover behind something, they do it good. If they're supposed to suppress the enemy, they unload on him like crazy, mowing down anything in their path. Unlike Full Spectrum Warrior, where your opponent would remain unharmed by hail of your bullets if he's behind some cover, despite the fact that half of his back and his head lies widely exposed.
However, the AI does display occasional signs of idiocity. Sometimes you feel like your squad is doing all the work for you, but sometimes they're so dumb you'll want to kill them yourself. Sometimes, if you order them to take cover behind something, they won't be able to cover a certain direction, or even shoot. All they have to do is peek around the corner, or raise their head a little bit, but noooooooo... They will crouch behind a car and tell you they can't see the target. Really?! And how about getting up on your feet so you could have a better view and still remain behind a damn cover? Never tought of that? Or peek behind a corner? Sometimes they'll even ignore the enemies, or even fire at the wrong direction. Happened rarely, I know. You really have to work with them, I know. Take care of your squad and they will take care of you, I know that as well.
But sometimes they're really pushing their luck with my patience.
Well, most of the time you will be leading your men through war-torn urban environments, take on MG nests, armored cars, call air strikes, sniper support, etc., etc. Nothing new there either. Despite a few glitches with the AI, this game offers a lot of fun. It somehow blends hard-core military sim and user-friendly FPS into one. And does the job quite well.
There is no conventional save system, of course, only checkpoints. You can save any time you like, but it always brings you back to your previous checkpoint position. But thank God, there are enough checkpoints to go around this time. So there won't be any frustration about that. Both you and your men have a health bar that can be replenished by medpacks if necesarry. Personally, I think that just about kills any realism in the game. But hey, better than hurling your wounded mate to medevac for 10 minutes, such as Full Spectrum Warrior.
Also your enemies display a stunning amount of stamina and damage they can take before dropping dead on the ground. Both you and your men wear helmets and body armor, so I can somehow understand why one bullet in the chest doesn't mean an instant incapacitation, but when you see a half-naked terrorist taking 4 bullets in the chest without any sign of slowing down, it feels simply stupid and unfair. Sure, he may limp for a few seconds, but the only way to bring him down with one shot is if you hit him between the eyes. Or three or four shots in his toe, doesn't really matter.
When, oh when will there ever be a "realistic" military game where your enemies die if shot in the chest, and limp if hit in the leg? Where there will be a difference between shooting a man through his heart and scratching his backpack? Because of these shortcomings, this "realistic" game isn't realistic at all. It's just one of those military-sim-wannabe games that never truely gets all the credit it should get.
But hey, it's fun. Very fun. I hate to admit it, but I was actually pretty surprised by this electronic wonder boy. Like I said, it's well-balanced and offers a lot of cool stuff. Graphics and sounds are nothing special, but don't let that distract you. It's a game worth playing, but don't expect a lot. There is no new Operation Flashpoint here. More like "Ghost Recon meets Star Wars: Republic Commando". A little bit of realism, a little bit of plain fun. Semper fi, men!