Silent Storm

"An excellent review about a good game- Silent Storm!"

STORY: 3/10

Many people complain about Silent Storm's (S2) lack of plot; someone on the boards even said it was just a string of loosely connected tactical battles. There IS a story, if players bother to read the documents your men pick up throughout the game...but I agree, it is poorly implemented. Essentially the convoluted story revolves around your efforts as Allies or Axis to stop third side in WWII, called the Organisation, from launching a super weapon. Bah...

GRAPHICS: 9/10

WOW! For a tactical strategy game, these graphics are simply amazing! Everything is well detailed, especially the environment, and the characters look great doing their stuff. The lighting, explosions, and environment that falls apart is really well done. JoWood put in a Rag-Doll effect, which is OK, but then you have bad guys in really strange positions (if you've played any of the recent FPS you will know). One con is that most PCs cannot handle the best settings without lag.

SOUND: 7/10

The sound effects are pretty good, especially the gunfire. Certain gun have such unique sounds you can tell what they are without even seeing the enemy using it (Russian PPhs-41, MP40, Panzerfaust, etc.) Music is only so-so.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10

Well, this IS why people buy tactical strategy games like S2 and Jagged Alliance. For the gameplay! Anyone familiar with the genre can jump in without any problem. For others, the missions are in real-time until enemies are seen or shots fired, then it becomes turn-based. Both your men and the enemies must use Action Points to move, shoot, heal, etc. On enemy turns your guys might get to interrupt for some brutal surprise attacks, such as when the Germans round the corner into my guy hiding in a bush with a Heavy Machine Gun :). There are a plethora of weapons and items to use, and 6 classes of characters to choose from to make your squad of six men/women. Other than the missions, which are REALLY good, there is little to do in S2. Random encounters are bland (except for a few in Switzerland) and are recycled over and over. The "RPG system" isn't that good as most skills and abilities you earn have little impact on actual gameplay. A final issue is that the WWII gameplay goes out the window once sci-fi weapons and not-so-secret mechwarrior-like toys are introduced by the Organisation late in the game. Then the game looses most of its balance, especially when you get the ultra-accurate laser machine gun...

GAME LENGTH/REPLAY: 8/10

The Allied campaign can take 15-20 hours to complete and the Axis one a little less. The campaigns are loads of fun and worth replaying each at least once. The mods help extend replay a bit, but since making your own is NOT user-friendly, the campaign is about it.

OVERALL: 8/10 (Not an average)

If you like X-COM, Jagged Alliance, and tactical games in general, BUY S2.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/04