If you’re after a good first person shooter but like to use your wits at the same time, look no further than Hidden and Dangerous as it will test you to the limit! It’s one of the best first person shooters on the market and a brilliant strategy game at the same time and worthy of the accolades that it has been given.
As I said at the start of this opinion, this is both a first person shooter and a strategy game rolled into one. Have Take 2 and Talonsoft got it right? Yes they have and hopefully they will produce more of this type of game.
The plot sees you in World War II, with all the weapons and vehicles that were around at the time. There’s nothing but historical stuff for you to use here so don’t be looking for the microwave gun to fry the Nazis with! The missions are all set in Europe and see you taking out airfields, destroying harbours, ambushing German Officers, Infiltrating German camps, rescuing your men and other allies and a lot more besides! There’s plenty of missions and plenty of variation between the missions to keep you happy for months if not longer.
The basic idea of the game is that you have to complete all of the missions to win the war. Each mission leads to the next mission and that’s the way the war goes. At the start you have to pick your men, a total of 8 altogether. There’s quite a lot of people to choose from and all have their strengths and weaknesses so look through them all and choose your team wisely! After you choose your men you have to kit each one out with weapons and supplies which will help them to complete the mission. Again, there’s plenty to choose from and they all have their good and bad points. You have to choose the right weapons for the right people to get the most out of both.
The next screen takes you to the mission briefing, which is very detailed. You need to pay attention here so that you know what your objectives are for the mission! You can replay the briefing as many times as you want before moving on to deployment. Just make sure you know what your objectives are.
Gameplay is very good indeed and the cutscenes are excellent. Controlling your men is very simple and can be done in two ways. The first way is by the use of hot keys, which help you to get your men into the right fights. The second way is brilliant and lets you set your men in the right positions and using the right weapons for the job in hand. The second option also allows you to set waypoints and much, much more. This all goes to make the game even more enjoyable for you.
The graphics are very good as are the sounds and make the best use of your graphics card and soundcard. The cutscenes are a joy to watch and if you’re not tempted for a few screenshots whilst watching the cutscenes I will be very surprised!
Control is via mouse and keyboard and is both responsive and easy to learn. It will take you a while to remember which key does which command but a short while into the game you will have the majority of the key commands off to a tee.
The weapons are those that were around during WWII and there’s a fair amount of choice here. You’ve got everything from knives, machine guns & sniper rifles to tanks, motorbikes, boats & armoured cars. Basically there’s everything to make you feel as if you were there.
The game plays well on a middle of the road PC. The cutscenes are very enjoyable to watch and the movement of the characters is smooth.
More details
Addictiveness
Very hard to stop playing
Originality
Excellent - very original
Value for money
Excellent value
Longevity/Expected Longevity
a few months
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