Army Ranger: Mogadishu

"Great source material but unsatisfying results"

Jarhead Games is no stranger to the budgetware world; they keep pumping out those Navy Seals and Marine Sharpshooter games every few years that you see at Wal Mart with a starting price point of $10. Now, Jarhead takes the fight to Somalia with Army Ranger: Mogadishu.

Story:
You play as an Army Ranger named Owens, who is part of the U.S. fighting force deployed in Somalia in 1993 as a part of Operation Gothic Serpent. The story is completely disjointed, as you go about random desert areas, delivering food and protecting U.N. food trucks, manning a minigun from a helicopter, etc. I wish they'd at least put some effort into the story telling, since this game is supposed to be based on actual events.

Graphics:
Running on Lithtech's Jupiter engine (think No One Lives Forever 2) this game definitely looks dated, but considering what Jarhead has done in the past, this game is head and shoulders above most of their catalogue. The weapon models seem to be the most detailed items in the whole game. Character models are lackluster and animate poorly, and environments are dull and depressing (c'mon, Delta Force was able to make Somalia interesting!).

Sound:
Aside from what you hear in the menus, there's no music to speak of. Gunfire sounds weak (especially the .50 gun emplacements and the minigun) and the dialogue is overacted and trite. There's not much else to say except that overall, the audio design is the weakest part of the game.

Gameplay:
The games' missions boil down to commanding your squad of 3 other Rangers (named after the developers, no less) while you traverse nearly unpopulated levels mowing down Somali militiamen. In order to help you navigate through the various totally linear levels, every 100 meters there will be a waypoint for you to reach in order to make it to each objective. This game would be some fun if the shooting wasn't so dull, if you weren't forced to babysit your stupid squadmates, and if the game presented any sort of challenge.

The shooting mechanics are incredibly dull, as you fire a variety of either very similar guns (M16, M16/M203, CAR-15 and CAR-15 with camouflage, which all handle the same and use the same ammo.. and yet you cannot interchange magazines between guns) or very useless guns (the M249, which cannot hit anything that isn't a foot in front of you, or the pistol which is about the same). The only weapons worthwhile to use are the shotgun (which has incredible range) and the sniper rifle (which kills in 1 hit and is semi automatic). The hit detection is dodgy, as I was able to fire several M16 rounds directly into an enemy's head before they died, but a shot in the arm registered as a headshot immediately.

Of course, that's nothing compared to having to escort 3 braindead soldiers around levels. Your squad has terrible marksmanship and they're very incompetent, usually standing in the open while under fire. Missions will fail if any one of them dies, so you'll spend a lot of time telling them to stay put while you forge ahead and clear the area. Playing on easy mode makes the squad babysitting element a bit more bearable as your squadmates' health will regenerate with time, but it doesn't make this any more fun.

Lastly, the game fails to capture any of the urgency or difficulty of the fighting in Somalia. Often you fight small groups of enemies that come infrequently, and the railshooting segments are just plain laughable (radio dialogue at one point indicates you're being "over run" after having to shoot two Somali militiamen). RPGs, which were a major threat, don't really play a big part in the game until the last level or so, and even then they don't pose any threat in game.

Conclusion:
Pros:
+ Decent graphics
Cons:
- Bad audio
- Squad babysitting
- Boring guns and gameplay

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/01/08

Game Release: Army Ranger: Mogadishu (US, 06/14/05)