WWII Iwo Jima Review

Ultimately, WWII Iwo Jima is a short game that is almost an insult to one of the greatest military campaigns forged by the United States.

To say that ValuSoft's WWII Iwo Jima is better than the company's two previous budget-priced and war-themed first-person shooters--WWII Normandy and Vietnam 2: Special Assignment--would be true. It also wouldn't be saying much at all. Like its predecessors, WWII Iwo Jima is a budget game that attempts to re-create one of the United States' memorable wars, but it falls well short of doing so because of its length, elementary graphics, horrid AI, and otherwise poor gameplay.

Some of the enemies will stand perfectly still until you shoot them.
Some of the enemies will stand perfectly still until you shoot them.

The game plays like any other first-person shooter, but it does have the somewhat unique ability of letting you control up to three other US Marines during most of the game's 12 levels. But your squadmates behave less like US Marines and more like your own personal meat-shields. The orders that you issue them are simple ones, and they include defending a position and attacking an enemy. However, they'll mostly just follow you around, shoot at anything that moves, and get shot at. Sometimes they'll even walk right in front of you the second you fire your bazooka. Had WWII Iwo Jima been released six years ago, this level of AI might have been considered revolutionary, but today, it's simply a very bad implementation of squad-based gameplay. The Japanese enemy soldiers aren't much smarter either. For the most part, they'll walk straight at you until you or your squadmates cut them down. Those who don't will often just sit perfectly still, even if you're clearly standing right in front of them. And even though there is a whopping total of four varieties of enemy--one with a pistol, another with a rifle, a third with a machine gun, and a grenade-carrying soldier--they all behave in the exact same manner.

The game's graphics are a little better than those in WWII Normandy and Vietnam 2, but not by much. WWII Iwo Jima is "powered" by the LithTech engine, although at times it seems that the engine can use a tune-up. The level design is unimpressive and is replete with muddy textures and horrible sprite-based trees. Additionally the levels themselves are small, and most can be finished in a handful of minutes. Likewise, the US and Japanese soldier models in the game are pretty simple and clearly don't boast as many polygons as you'd expect in a typical first-person shooter. There are absolutely no vehicles in the game, even though the box art clearly depicts a tank, and some of the weapons are ripped straight from WWII Normandy.

The levels are largely bland and make use of low-quality textures.
The levels are largely bland and make use of low-quality textures.

The sound of these weapons firing in the game seems somewhat muted, if not generic. And even though each of the 10 weapons does sound different, it's hard to imagine that the dinky noise emitted by them is what their real-world equivalents sound like. When shot by these weapons, all the enemies in the game will scream one of three things, one of which sounds like Japanese for "thank you." Your squadmates, on the other hand, will simply grunt. Interestingly enough, there is a well-done soundtrack that accompanies each mission, although it does seem somewhat out of place in Iwo Jima.

There are no multiplayer modes of any kind in the game, and you probably won't want to replay the single-player campaign after you finish it, which takes less than three hours. Perhaps one year ago, the mere fact that games like this sold for under $20 was value enough, but after the release of Serious Sam, these so-called budget games need to be held against a different standard. Ultimately, WWII Iwo Jima is a short game that is almost an insult to one of the greatest military campaigns forged by the United States. If you want a first-person shooter for less than the price of a pizza, buy Serious Sam. If you want to relive the events of World War II, watch the History Channel.

The Good

  • N/A

The Bad

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