The distant echo of gunfire in the background and the nerve-wrecking hum of an enemy bomber coming over the horizon. Beads of sweat begin to gather on your forehead and then all at once you burst out of the trench and sprint over enemy lines with your rifle spraying bullets. Your comrades are running with you but all you turn to see your best friend get shot in the head by an enemy bullet. Tears roll down your face and you hold your head in your hands and wonder why modern gaming is just so damn good.
Its World War 2 and, of course, you’re on the side of the good guys (The usual Britain and America; also Russia are included which impressed me as they’re usually forgotten about when it comes to war games). Your only comforts are your comrades, your rifle and any other weapons you can pry from the cold dead hands of their previous owner. The weaponry is impressive and also realistic. You have what soldiers at the time had, a rifle and – if you were very lucky- a handgun. There aren’t any Uzi’s or laser guns here. Why? Because they weren’t invented then. The attention to detail is something special here, from the artillery to the uniforms of the soldiers – it provides not only a fun to play game, but an accurate wartime simulation too.
There are 24 large battlefields for you to march across, all excellently mapped and with realistic graphics and layouts. However if all that virtual marching is marching your virtual feet ache you’ll be pleased to know that some levels consist mainly of you sitting in the back of a truck with a gun blasting enemies whilst a comrade drives about the level like a drunken Michael Schumacher. There is then your fair share of anti-aircraft guns so you can happily blow planes out of the sky and knock the tracks off tanks until the metaphorical cows come home.
The gory graphics are excellent, and if you like to see limbs flying and blood spurting then you’re really going to love this. The enemies are area sensitive so their head doesn’t drop off if you shoot them in the arm like in some other more primitive games. You can snipe a guys arms off and watch him run about screaming, and then beat him to death with the butt of your rifle. The game caters for a range of people, from those who like a good old war game, to those with a violence fetish.
The multiplayer is a whole new experience however. You can play online with dozens of other soldiers, you can chat in real time with the other players and arrange cover fire for an attack, or help out a comrade who comes under fire. There are a bunch of game types for you to pick from, all of them provide great fun and are a terrific waste of an afternoon. You can set up a game with people you know and wage a small-scale war with them, or blow the living daylights out of enemies from every continent on the globe. You really need a LAN (broadband) connection to play the game decently, but it does have 56k support which allows most users to play the game. Although A 56k modem will give a bit of lag to the game speed.
For this game to run at a decent speed you need: 256 RAM 16mb of higher graphics card 8mb sound card 1.5 gig spare on your hard drive 1.2+ processer.
Most computers meet these specifications but if you want to check if your computer is up to the job, right click "my computer" icon on your desktop and it lists your computer details.
Grab your helmet, your rifle and get your hands on this game right now. Quick march, soldier.
[Revised version posted by myself at ukpc.com under the name paradox]
More details
Addictiveness
Very hard to stop playing
Originality
Good
Value for money
Good value
Longevity/Expected Longevity
a few months
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