Prisoner of War

"Could have been Much More"

Prisoner of War is a new game idea, which sees you captured and forced to escape from the German camps by sneaking past guards, and using various other tactics to your advantage.

The gameplay of Prisoner of War unfortunately gives you very little freedom as to what you want to do. You cannot find any weapons of any kind. (Stones can be picked up and thrown, but only draws the guard's attention towards you.) You cannot get very far in the day as guards patrol most entrances, and night is not much better unless you have shoe polish to put on your face. The enemy AI in this game is very unrealistic. You can be seen, run away and hide for a while, then the guards will go back to what they are doing before they saw you. You cannot go sneaking at certain times in the day either, because if you do not show up for roll call, a camp wide search will shortly follow. The limited amount of items available for you to use also lowers the fun factor of the game.

The graphics in Prisoner of War are simple and do not push the power of the PS2 at all. No attempt has been made to make the graphics look even slightly realistic and this stops you from really getting into the game. The characters facial movement does not look right while they are talking and often is slow compared to the speed at which they speak. The only strong graphic point is the background, especially the buildings.

The voices in this game are poorly acted out, especially the German ones, which are clearly English people putting on a fake accent. Not many sound effects have been put in either, apart from the bang of guns and stones hitting other objects. The music is lingering in the background not very loudly, so you tend not to notice it. It does however create a sense of tension and anxiety as you are sneaking around. When you get seen by the guards a faster paced beat kicks in, showing the fear and need to hide very well.

This game only has five levels, two of which are repeated, not giving you much variety. Prisoner of War can easily be completed first time through within a day, or two at the most. It is up to you if you want to go back getting better grades for each level or not, but other than that there is nothing to do once you have finished.

Prisoner of War is a new but not well done idea. There are better sneaking and war games out there, but overall this is an average game and worth renting out over the weekend.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/03, Updated 07/13/03