Cancel the cloning!
STORY: A squad of four elite-commandos (each with his own personal abilities) has to complete various missions so that there can be peace and freedom in the galaxy. Problem is, there are numerous factions that desire the exact opposite. Mutants, outlaws, aliens ... you name it. Can you outsmart and outgun your enemies? Can you defeat the evil acrh-priest Shadoon? Play the game and you’ll find out.
GRAPHICS:
Brute Force has impressive visuals (for an X-box anyway), and the character models are very nicely done. Colour wise, the game’s dark palette will force you to play on a dimly light room most of the time (except for the daylight stages of course). Visual effects do not disappoint, with plenty of explosions and smoke effects. Brutus’ “hunt mode” view is very top stuff. On the downside, the game lacks the “perfect” speed of 60 frames per second.
MUSIC / SOUND EFFECTS:
Nothing fancy. Aside from the clip in the first stage, the music is *plain* good. Sound effects and speech are very, very nice. Falling clips, blasting rifles, death screams and speech are everything an action fan could hope for. Nothing bad here.
GAMEPLAY:
Brute Force felt a LOT like Enclave, but in the 23rd century. You control your character in a 3D person view, walking around a territory, disposing of any enemies it has, in order to complete your objective. You can switch between squad members, while the CPU controls the other three you do not currently control. You can give orders to your squad members, tell them to follow you, stay put, or guard an area. Smart commands produce good results; lame commands will get your team killed. Any dead member can be resurrected through the simple process of cloning, but I liked to have all of my members survive each mission. You have two male characters who focus on strength and firepower, and two female characters, a sniper and a stealthy assassin. Your enemies are not infinite in every stage, and appear on set spots, so through “trial and error” you can eventually develop the best way to defeat them with minimum loss of health and firepower. Medpacs and ammo are found in the corpses of your foes, in case your own isn’t enough (which isn’t most of the time). Sprite collission is fine and dandy, and the difficulty level is just right.
OVERALL:
This game had got its fair share of bad reviews, and I have yet to find out why. It’s so much fun I couldn’t stop playing it (that is, putting it onto the shelf and start a different game) until I had finished. I recommend it to any squad game fan, especially those who have a knack for futuristic shooters.