Ecks vs. Sever

"A good FPS for the GBA"

Ecks Vs Sever is one of the few good FPS in the GBA games directory. Released in 2001, the game is based on the film with the same name. I didn't saw the film but that will not refrain me to review Ecks Vs Sever GBA. You can play as Jonathan Ecks, a depressed FBI agent since his family's death and feeling guilty about it (because he was the main target of the bombing), or as Sever, an orphaned NSA agent, seeking revenge for her husband's death since a Tomahawk missile crushed his native island and him in the process. But they don't know that their paths will cross when their respective chiefs will launch a war between FBI and NSA. They'll be just some puppets for their superiors, only that but will they discover the truth? That's for the game.

Single player campaign allows you to be Ecks or Sever. Story is basically the same, told from their point of view, four weeks in the future, during a trial which will decide if they can come back to their agencies. Plot is twisted for making each character kill the last boss: or Ecks is wounded and let Sever do the job in her campaign or it's Sever who is hurt and let Ecks kill the boss. But apart from that, the storyline doesn't change from their perspective (Ecks must pursue Sever in his campaign and Sever must escape Ecks in hers). So, you can't say that the levels are not coherent.

Gameplay is easy: you shoot, you duck if necessary, you activate some things, etc. like in the most FPS. What is perhaps most difficult to do is to duck and then, walking in this position (because of the assigned L and R buttons). You have also some interesting items, apart from the classic weapons, ammo, medipack and armor: thermal glasses and keys for progressing or deciphering or encrypted ones (deciphering are in Ecks's campaign and encrypted are in Sever's). I want to add for the thermal glasses that the colors blue and orange are really perfect and I loved it.

Weapons are probably the most strong points of the soft. You always begin with an unlimited ammo pistol but you can find Pancor Jackhammer as shotgun, Colt M16A2, Ingram Mac 11, HK G11 and Minigun as chainguns, grenades and grenades launcher, Sig SSG 3000 as sniper rifle, Proximity Mines, etc.. They're very useful against enemies. About the latter, they're not really varied but it's enough for making the game a nervous one: SWAT or NSA agents for example are very difficult to kill if you don't have a G11 for example. But for security guards, two shots from the pistol are enough to eliminate them. So, you must know which weapon to use against enemies.

Graphics are correct, though I prefer Doom's, being a Doom fan (and having been introduced in the FPS world by Doom II on PC). Still, weapons are very well designed and the variety of locations show the quality of the engine. Soundtrack is also good.

But Ecks vs Sever is, as I've stated, a nervous game and some levels are very difficult to beat because of the damage inflicted by the enemies. If your armor can protect you, it's running fast when you're entering last stages. Meaning that you will avoid as much as you can the fighting. By chance, you can often find it.

About damage, NSA buddies for example are taking between 15 and 20 HP, SWAT is taking 10, so you can understand that when you're surrounded by 4 or 5 enemies of these two kinds, you must be very lucky or a good shooter in order to survive. And you will learn that using the good weapon for the right enemy is really vital for you. So don't waste your G11 ammo on security guard in the last stages of the game.

AI isn't great: you can easily kill some enemies because they didn't see you even if you're in their peripheral vision where the others will shoot at you. When you kill an enemy, the sound of the weapon could be enough for making come his friends. Here, well, enemies ignore it. So, you can go room to room without having to worry about the noises you're making. Even when enemies are in the same room. They only react by seeing you.

Graphics, for some levels, seem void, without life. Yes, it's the GBA. But comparing to Doom, it's very poor. Especially with the white in the NSA bunker or the awful walls of the hotel.

Last but not least, I don't like the password system. When you're beating a level, you're awarded by a password you can use to start a specific level later. Well, I prefer the saving system: you don't have to put in your memory the password or to write them on a paper you can loose. You even had password for multiplayer. But as I don't multi with GBA, I don't know why this feature.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10 - Nervous one but intuitive one. I'm just disappointed by the ducking thing by holding L and R together, when the same buttons are for sliding.

STORY: 9/10 - Tied storylines, with some good lines during the trial.

GRAPHICS: 6/10 - Well, they're correct and the weapon design is good but I was expecting much more, I'm influenced by Doom GBA who was richer, I admit.

SOUNDTRACK: 8/10 - Good one, with good sounds even if you don't have a lot of tracks, it's enough.

LIFETIME: 7/10 - with the multiplayer feature, the game life is longer than the single player campaign. But with two points of view and some hard levels, you can say that the lifetime isn't short.

FINAL: 7,5/10 - Ecks vs Sever is a good game with interesting features like the two campaigns or the weapons but it's too nervous for me at the end: Ecks's story is easiest than Sever (I think about the fight against Mills, FBI chief and the escaping from Ecks for example). Still, you can have some real fun with this game. Definitively a good FPS on GBA.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/21/08

Game Release: Ecks vs. Sever (EU, 12/07/01)