Prisoner of War

" Good concept gone to waste!"

While walking up and down the isle of my local video-game store known as Block-Buster, I was searching for a game which would wet my appetite for the next week or so. I came across POW, and a couple other games. Unfortunately, I never did find anything under my great standers, but what I did find was a neat surprise in a case. When I hoped in POW I expected a great deep Prison Camp Escape game, however I just got another The Great Escape, which is crappy if you care to look into it.

Being trapped in a Nazi prison camp probably isn't the first thing that hops from your mind when you think of good times in gaming. Perhaps if you add in the escape of a POW Nazi camp which is heavy guarded by the Nazi's best men, then the concept becomes a hundred times more interesting. Now, whichever way you want to interpret it, you have been captured by the Nazi's in the middle of a deep war, you were a pilot, and crashed. There's your summary. Now you must escape prison after prison and get your freedom weather the Germans like it or not!

The game visually isn't unplayable, but you can truly tell it's a game straight out of first generation Xbox. Being a port from PS2, the graphics could have made this game that much better; however they fall short of my expectations. For me, however graphics don't make a game. The graphics work with it, and allow you to do what you wish. The sound In the game is not the best, but the Germans are odd sounding.

Most stealth games follow suit. They all make you silently creep from the behind and surprise the enemies with an awesome unexpected death. The best part of these games is that there is a certain excitement. Prisoner Of War fortunately holds against the norm and pushes forward to create an experience for first generation Xbox. If you are an avid Metal Gear Solid Guru then you will be dishonored with this game as the lead tries to keep out of trouble, and uses harmful projectiles such as night-sticks to open doors, and not destructively either. This game is Metal Gear Solid in a POW camp without all the fowl play.

Although non-violent the premise has worked charms in my mind, as I played through the game. I had noticed no real violence at all, which is faulty at least since this is a Nazi camp. I always remember sitting in history class learning how the Nazi's were ruthless murderers. Well in the game they are portrayed as certain heroes who give American soldiers the life they could have never had. I mean come on. A nice comfy bunk, a hiding place for all your secret getaway tools, breakfast, roll call, and no work given to you at all!

You may just want to escape because you don't want to carry out the daily tasks. I mean this camp actually looks like a nice place to live, more than an actual POW-camp! This is crazy because you are wanting to escape the game never says why you would want to, or what the Nazis are doing that is so bad other than holding you captive, and feeding you luxurious meals! Now I am filled with sadness that the game is over, iv'e heard everything there is to here, and I cannot interact with the characters anymore! For me, this game had the best Voice-Overs of any First Generation Xbox game. The rolls are played so skillfully, and accented in such a flavorful, realistic manner, its drop dead impressive!

The guards in the game are extraordinarily dumb. They may just walk about following their set path, while you track them on your radar, and cut routes trying to make it to your destination. Unfortunately for Prisoner Of War, the camera angle is rotten to the core. When I dive under a open spot in the wall, and the camera pans to a spot in which will be blocked by a thick wall, and I could not tell what was going on, at all, this happened far too many times.

Since POW isn't graphically boosted, is not inflated by a powerful story, does not show itself as a powerful force in the Xbox first-generation, partly because it seems to be a straight from PlayStation 2 port that hadn't lost anything in transition, but still suffers from the certain porting fate, as do most games that have gone through the deadly process. The audio of POW cannot save how I feel about the game exactly, so I'll just leave it at this: I'm an enraged Xbox fan who just wanted a cool Nazi camp game, and got a half-effort one instead!

7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/12/04