I’m not a big fan of the main character’s design or his name. Throughout the game characters will constantly refer to him as BJ, and while that inspired a giggle or two at first, by the end of the game it was just annoying. Why can’t his name be Bob, or Chris? Both are respectable names that I don’t mind hearing many times over the course of a ten-hour game. BJ looks like the reporter from Dead Rising, with a little more action hero thrown in, and while it may be a step forward from the generic space marine, it’s a baby step at most.
Have I mentioned that the game looks good? I’d like to say great, and there are definitely some excellent set pieces, but I never stopped to take in the gorgeous scenery or stunning bump maps. The cinematics look similar to how the rest of the game looks, though they probably spoiled me with the gorgeous pre-rendered intro cinematic, while everything that followed was in-game. For the control freak, there are plenty of customization features for you to mess around with, including four difficulty settings ranging from “Can I Play, Daddy?” (Easy) to “I Am Death Incarnate!” (Hard). I also like the ability to see my stats at any time, whether I’m in the game or in the main menu. Whenever you want you can see how many Nazis you’ve slain, your favorite weapon, etc. This is a great feature that I really hope catches on in more games.
I also really liked the gore. While it’s not at the Gears of War level of chainsaw brutality, this game has some rather magnificent carnage. One of the more memorable examples happened when I shot a Nazi in the throat causing him to drop his weapon so he could stop the blood flowing from his jugular. I actually stopped and watched as he desperately tried to halt the blood flow before dropping to his knees and dying soon after. This moment proved two things to me: the first being that I need serious help, and the second is that as long as the death animations look that great, I don’t care how frail my weapons might feel.
Oh yes, this game also has a multiplayer. Unfortunately, it feels a bit like it was just tacked on so they could include Online Functionality amongst the other features on the back of the box. I’m not saying the multiplayer is bad, but it definitely doesn’t stray from the familiar skirmishes that games like Call of Duty and Halo have and have done better. But when you finish the game’s meaty campaign, it’s certainly a feature I suggest you check out.
In the end, this game is actually a lot of fun. It’s never plagued by major problems, for me it was the lack of innovation and overall content that bothered me. Throughout the game you can read Intel, arm bombs, and pick locks. Sounds interesting, right? It would be if to perform these tasks didn’t require that you hold a button down for a few seconds. If they would’ve added a short mini-game (like what BioShock and Fallout 3 did with hacking and lock picking respectively) to make these tasks more interesting it would’ve broken up the gameplay a bit more and made the game much stronger overall. This is a great game, it’s a fun, intense, first person shooter that brings a few new ideas to the table while managing to follow the tried and true formula proven by other games in its genre. For any fans of the genre, this is a game you shouldn’t miss.
B
It's a polished, highly entertaining shooter with a unique setting and loads of Nazis just waiting to be mowed down. It may not be game of the year material, but it's one of the better shooters this year.
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