War: Final Assault

"A great arcade multiplayer game, for co-op or deathmatches."

Gameplay: 8
Unlike 99% of the corridor shooters out there, as well as many of the crazy third person shooters that exist (ahem, Tomb Raider), War: Final Assault allows you to change the view of your character. Are you a 5th Element man, or do you prefer the standardized Duke Nukem view? Choose whichever you like, and change whenever you like, because you actually have a choice in this game.

"I usually use my keyboard at home..." says the computer geek standing in the shadows, "how do you play War without a keyboard?"

Simple; Midway created a new, Turok-ish control systems that gives you five buttons on the left (it sure feels weird using your left hand to press buttons, doesn't it?) for moving left, right, forward or backwards (and jumping), and you get a flight-stick type thing on the right, which has two buttons, a trigger (for firing your weapon, duh!) and a button on the top for getting rid of your weapon so you can pick up a new one.

Very hard to get use to, once you do, you begin to see that these controls are the only way to go for corridor shooting. The flight stick on the right allows you to quickly move the direction of your gun up or down, left or right, anywhere you want, saving time when trying to make that quick kill. It also helps for aiming, too.

Everything moves very fast and very smooth. You know how you watch those people on ZDtv or C-Net, they have those high-powered, $3,000 computers with a $250 graphics card and move with lightning fast speed with all of the corridor shooters they own? Well, I'm not one of those people, so to get my corridor shooter thrills it's either on the console or the arcade. Prior to War's release, I didn't even like corridor shooters! So not having an expensive PC never bothered me. Fortunately War is here, and I can get my corridor shooter kicks in whenever I need them.

War also packs four different characters to play as, all with different starting weapons (don't worry, you can find your favorite weapon later in the game, you don't have to stick with the one you start with). The weapons selection overall is seriously lacking, but the option of choosing a different character, that's nice. I can't name too many corridor shooters that allow you to do that.

And that's not all. War's true fun may lie within the ability to kick multiple butts that you can actually see and touch (that is, if you like that sort of thing...), but it has a kick (censored, hi mom!) single player and co-op modes too.

Playing against the computer may not thrill that many gamers, but ganging up on an innocent bad guy that is trying to torch you with his flamethrower is an extremely satisfying experience. And whenever you're the one getting your butt kicked, it's always nice to have help...

As for a single player mode, it's pretty good and will eat your money faster than Mortal Kombat 3 on a Friday night.

Once you've beaten it and realize, "Hey, I just spent a lot of money!" or that your skills have somewhat improved, it's still good to play a game of War against the computer to make sure you're as good as everyone else, if not better. Being the best is nearly impossible, but why does that mean you should have to be the worst?

Multiplayer deathmatch mode includes four arenas of better-than-Duke fun. Duke Nukem 64 wasn't bad, but you're limited to the people that are in your house at the time being, or whoever's at your friend's house, or whoever's wherever you are, but at an arcade, anyone can just walk up at any time and challenge you to a game of War. A real, living, breathing freak can come up to you and play you in War! Neat, huh?

The gameplay itself in the deathmatch is a bundle of fun. A bundle? More like a large "package." None of the scenarios are that different from whatever else you see in deathmatch levels in other corridor shooters, but they are a lot brighter, nothing ever gets that dark, as say... Doom. Everything is well-lit, and blood splatters everywhere when you kill someone. Parents will love it!

Sound/Music: 4
Hearing your best friend blow is the only satisfying sound you'll get out of War: Final Assault. You could listen for a very long time, all up until the bitter ending and not get anywhere but more bad tunes and lousy gun noises.

Graphics: 9
I had a tough time choosing the score for War's graphics. On one hand, you got the extremely fast pace that this game moves at, with no pop-up or glitches appearing anyway, with smoothly textured backgrounds with incredible amounts of detail. But on the other hand, you've got blocky enemies (detailed, though) and mostly blocky areas to explore. Kind of disappointing. For every great feature in this game, there's a horrible one to go along with it.

I can tell you right now, no matter what, if War is brought home to PC, Nintendo 64 or PlayStation, the graphics will take at least "some" loss in detail, no matter how good your computer is. The only system being released in America this year that might be able to pull it off is Dreamcast, but I even have my doubts about that... A game like War is best in the arcades anyway.

Story: 1
I've gotta be honest with you.... other than the ending and one of the other cut scenes, I just skipped through every story telling point in the game. However, the ending, as with the rest of the story, stunk. It's like Independence Day and Men In Black -- only a whole lot worse. And it gets even cornier at the end... but I'll let you experience that one for yourself. I wouldn't wanna deprive the world of any "quality" cut scenes ahead of them, and spoiling it for you right now would completely ruin the grand experience you're going to have.

Replayability: 7
It's no Tekken Tag Tournament, but you'll want to play War: Final Assault over and over again, especially when someone else already is. Throw some money in the machine and challenge him/her to a deathmatch, or team up with him/her in co-op mode! Practice makes perfect, so don't hesitate to play against the computer.

Should I buy War: Final Assault?: Yes!
Most arcades only say no to War because it costs so much money. See, they would rather spend a fortune on two San Francisco Rush machines and two Offroad Challenge machines than they would four War machines! Why? Lack of good gaming knowledge, I guess. Plus, corridor shooters are still a hit or miss thing anywhere, on the computer or in the arcade, so many are still afraid to go with it as a new purchase.

Here's my advice: lease a set of four War machines (or three, if you must) until the spring of next year. Over the holidays, you'll get a TON of business from the mainstream as well as the hardcore gamers, and after Christmas you'll continue to have good sales. Once spring comes, however, a new arcade corridor shooter will already be out or at least talked about in game mags, and by then people will be sick of War anyway. It's a hot game now, much hotter than the latest San Francisco Rush game, buy it today, don't delay.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99