You are Jones, a 35-year-old soldier sent in to do the necessary dirty deeds,
rescue a guy named Josef Priboi and take out the trash. Imagine running around
an army base, dodging bullets from all and sundry while tactically planning
your movements around in order to kill without trace and achieve your
objectives.
Except that's the idea, but it doesn't turn out like that in practice.
I was really looking forward to this game, since, in my own sadistic way
- strictly when playing computer games only, I must add - there's nothing
quite like lining up your sniper rifle, aiming at the back of an enemy soldier's
head and letting off a few shiny rounds of fire, watch his brains splatter
against the wall and nick his supplies. You'll also be able to hack into
computers, blow up tanks and more... so what's gone wrong?
There's certainly no problem with the graphics. I only got to see the opening
level for reasons that will become clear shortly, but the sparseness of an
army base was perfectly represented and began to give an immersive feel as
I set out to kick bad-guy butt!
The crisp, sharp graphics make it run like the wind on the right system
with high resolution, but I prefer to pipe it through to the TV and the 16Mb
Voodoo 3 3000 AGP allows up to 800x600 resolution - not as good as that shown
on a monitor, but it still looks brilliant on a 32" widescreen set.
A hum in the background, the call-out of the enemy, the sniper fire banging
off the speakers - it all sounds both realistic and fantastic, just everything
I expected.
However, the control system is a complete dog and it's just for the want of
a handful of configurations that need changing but can't be:
1. You can't rotate with the keyboard, just the mouse. I expect the left and
right cursors to provide this function, IN ADDITION to others allowing strafe
left and right, not INSTEAD OF. This means I'm constantly moving hands between
the keyboard and mouse - do it too slowl... you're dead!
2. You have to press 'activate' to climb a ladder, rather than simply
jumping onto it, before using up/down to make your move.
3. As you perform No.2 (no sniggering at the back, please!), the view-point
changes from first-person perspective to the third-person, which is
disconcerting to say the least.
4. Not a control problem, but a big problem is to be had in the complete
lack of a save game option. If you die (well, not IF, but WHEN), then it's
back to square one!
Call me old-fashioned, but I don't use Micro$oft's Outhouse Express for
email, or any Windows-based email and news program for that matter - I use
one in DOS. I always have since March 1994 and won't be changing because it
does everything I need.
Similarly, I don't use a mouse to play first-person-shooter/sneakers like
Quake III, Soldier of Fortune and
Thief 2: The Metal Age -
I prefer the keyboard. If someone starts shooting at me, I find it far easier
to twirl round with a deft flick of the wrist on the cursor keys, whilst
pulling back out of the way of enemy fire, before retaliating, as opposed
to doing something similar with a mouse, however easier some people claim it
should be.
Why couldn't the game's designers have provided alternative controls? All the
games I mentioned above do, so why is this one doing it's best to annoy me?
It's a great shame as, otherwise, it appears to have first-rate potential
and now I'll never know.
Project I.N.U.: I'm now uninstalling.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ORIGINALITY ENJOYMENT
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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
There's certainly no problem with the graphics. I only got to see the opening
level for reasons that will become clear shortly, but the sparseness of an
army base was perfectly represented and began to give an immersive feel as
I set out to kick bad-guy butt!
Call me old-fashioned, but I don't use Micro$oft's Outhouse Express for
email, or any Windows-based email and news program for that matter - I use
one in DOS. I always have since March 1994 and won't be changing because it
does everything I need.
