"Someone open up the windows... It's getting hot in here!"

Ok, so the review title was lame. But this game is not. This game is actually one of few First person/Third person shooters I have consistently played, till about a year ago. Who wants to shoot up a bunch of German baddies, with multiple paths an ways to do it! I do.

GamePlay -

When you first start the game up, you choose your whole squad of ten SEALS I believe. From there you choose only 4 guys per mission, so choose your favorites dude and begin. You equip them out, so if you want bravo unit to be a sniper team, and fox to be CQC team with firefights and all, you can do it. On missions, they have a very, very cool feature. If one of your guys dies, he won't miraculously be there for the next mission... No, no he's dead. Forever an ever. What does this mean? Well, if you're going to be a SEAL, you better think like one. Strategies and key points will win the game and have minimal casualties, while heroic moves and trying to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger will have severe penalties.

Also on missions, you are always given your objectives. Whether it is to take out numerous baddies, blow up German oil tankers, or important generators, you must complete the objective. Now, going about this is not always easy, you must use caution and stealth to the extreme if you want to succeed. One of my favorite parts about the game, is just moving out with your unit. I got my buddy bob beside me, we run to hide behind a certain key point, bob gets shot, is wounded, runs towards me in a dramatic manor, gets shot again, then dies. I usual am so upset when that happens, I can't bear to lose a comrade, so I re-load the game.

Which is another awesome thing. Save where you want, when you want. If you think you can't take on some predictable firefight on that hill or corner, save it, then try it out. Of course some say this may "cheat the system" but I see it as a "what if" situation.

Gameplay is very fun and addicting, 10.

Graphics -

Wow, can you say juicy homemade pound burger? I sure can. Graphics are incredible. Detail is mostly smooth but has it's flaws.... When I come up to
some street lamp, or in a mission in the snowy fields, I feel almost there, because I have not blinked in the last past 4 minutes because I have forgotten where I am. this game has enough detail and graphics to "Consume" you, if you will. Enough for me to play for a good 4 hours straight. Everything from bridges, to the smooth animation of third person and enemy soldiers, which all the movements look pretty fluent. Mmmm, brb, I smell crisp burgers a bakin'.

Graphics are great, some flaws, but nothing to noticeable, 9.

Enemy AI -

Wow, the AI is good. Maybe a bit TOO good. This is one thing that had me looking at the monitor screen in a wtf manor. Sometimes I'm hiding behind something, and the enemy sees me. Just like that. Now this does NOT happen alot, just very oddball moments... Like when your very close to beating a mission, uncle frank is over is on patrol and your hiding in the grass in prone position, he shoots jim bob in the head and there it is, you just lost a good soldier. Now, once again this does not happen ALOT, but when it does, it's enough to piss anyone off, and one of the games more major flaws.

Enemy AI is great, but not when they got there X-ray goggles on/8.

Music and Sound Affects -

Did I just hear a bullet go past my head? Or that same bullet sound from almost every other "older" shooter game. Yes, the sound is fairly good, but I begin to wonder... the people who has the sound FX job, do they all huddle together in some closet and just say, "hey lets put these sound FX straight from this game, and this sound FX straight from that, and we got are bullet sounds"! Wow, not good. Okay, foot stepping is great, rain is spot on, blowing up sound are meh, and the groaning from when soldiers die sound like some bored guy SAYING, not screaming nor crying, "aahh". Yeah, pretty dull, but a good laugh.

Music is nothing special, as it hardly plays a part in the game, except some usual military beat when your in a mission select menu, and the mane in game menus.

Overall, more scored to the Sound FX, it's alright, nor good or bad, but with the rest of the game living up to a awesome game like this, they could of worked on it more just a tad. 7.5

Controls -

Ah, heres something I like to talk about! Controls are great, very fluent, but a pain in the ass to learn when you first start out. When I played, I don't remember any tutorials, so I had to learn buy just fudging around and looking at the options menu. But besides that, they involve lots of buttons, which means lots of more animations and things to do, which all add to the different categories of this review. The only time you may find them sluggish is if you hit prone too many times, and your guy may look like he's doing pushups... or something.

Controls are great, once you learn them, it's like... Riding a bike, or playing a video game... hyuck.. Ok, so that was lame. 8

Re-playability Factor -

I've played this one time through, but took me awhile. It is very fun as I have said before, and would probably play it again. It's sheer uniqueness and stability of the third person shooter redefines this game. Looking at the animations of your guy as you stealth around an shoot your big guns, it's probably worth a play through on hard difficulty. Just hope those AI dudes don't always got there goggles on, ;o

Re-playability would probably be great, something I have never done with this game, but can easily see the potential of it. 8

Overall Score and Ending Comments

Gameplay - 10
Graphics - 9
Enemy AI - 8
Music and Sound FX - 7.5
Controls - 9
Re-playability - 8

Possible Tallied Points 60
Tallied Points Earned 51.5

Tally chart-
55-60 = 10
50-55 = 9
45-50 = 8

In conclusion:

A great game for anyone who likes games that are just fun, and like good detail and gameplay issues.

~End... (>**)><(**)><(**<)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/05