System Link: Yes
Somewhere along the line, Brute Force
got touted as a match for
Halo.
I can't quite see why, though. Okay, so it's a third-person-shooter which begins
with you as Tex, one of four members of an elite fighting force, the game being
named after your bunch, blasting all and sundry and using the sniper rifle
and grenades as appropriate. Along the way you need to rescue your colleagues
Brutus, Flint and Hawk and then you can play as them as well.
On the plus side, there are 18 single-player missions (plus support for System
Link for one team of four players or two teams of eight, but not Xbox Live) and
you can't die... sort-of. When you do, since you're all clones, you'll respawn
as your character back at the beginning of the level so you're not playing the
same levels again and again and again - any baddies you've already killed will stay dead.
Even starting as the lone Tex, as you progress you'll get a bit of help and if
you die then you'll get to control them instead until you all snuff it. Along
the way you can pick up DNA cannisters to unlock extra Deathmatch characters
in that section.
Brute Force looks great with lush landscapes, with some detail approaching
similar quality to Halo, but still you'll find some jaggies about the
place. Sound is okay but nothing special.
Gameplay-wise, the control is like that of this feels like
Red Faction
with one control stick to move and the other to aim. Overall, this game feels
like we've been here too many times before and, if you must play it, I'd
recommend a rental first.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Even starting as the lone Tex, as you progress you'll get a bit of help and if
you die then you'll get to control them instead until you all snuff it. Along
the way you can pick up DNA cannisters to unlock extra Deathmatch characters
in that section.
