Most people think this game isn't worth their time, they just think of it as some techdemo. I think it's insanely underrated. It's one of the best games I've played. It could even make it into my list of top 10 games, if I'd ever make one. I think it's partly undervalued, because on easy or normal difficulty it really is only a shooter in the jungle. (I don't know why, but I've seen that many people have a problem with it's jungle setting). But if you start playing on Realistic difficulty, then it gives you a completely different experience.

On realistic difficulty you get into the game with the same chances as any NPC in the game. You can only take a few hits that is one without a bodyarmour, or two with armour. This means that you have to plan your every step, you can't just rush into an enemy base without thinking. You have to plan your attack, and time it correctly. This is where tagging each enemy with the binoculars really becomes a necessity, and not just some useless gimmick you never really need. You have to value each target, and take out the biggest threats first, like snipers in towers, or soldiers close to alarms. And sneaking will be key. An assault rifle with a silencer will worth its weight in gold to you. If you don't make noise, you won't have the entire base coming down on you. Against multiple enemies you have zero chance of survival in open battle, like in reality. The only way to success is to sneak close undetected, and take them out one by one unseen, or pick them off with a sniper rifle from a distance if you can get one, and fancy spending the ammo. Or you can try, and lure them out, or blow up a group with a well placed explosive.
You can use any tactic that would work in real life. But you can't just rush them blindly.

So now we're not talking about an everyday shooter, but a stealth tactic game. Think Splinter Cell or Rainbow Six, only with more open maps, where you have absolute control on where to attack, and how. The only exception is the last map, where it goes a little old school, with doors closing behind you, and enemies coming out of hidden rooms. Exactly like in doom. But I can't emphasize it enough that this is just on the last few minutes of the game. The open maps with miles of ground to cover before, offset this by a league.

And it's not just a tactic game either, it's survival horror too, there are levels where you'll be running for your life, and fear every dark corner. Here you have everything to loose if you get jumped by a mutant. It's not about loosing an inch of your hp bar, it's life or death. On normal difficulty these levels offer nothing, but on realistic it's an experience like no other. And the checkpoint based save system makes sure you can't save whore.

True, sometimes it becomes more than you bargained for, when the distance between two checkpoints seem endless. But most of the time checkpoints are placed at exactly the right places. And the game stores almost every information needed, your position, the enemies position. The only thing it doesn't store, is the awareness, of enemies. So even if you had all enemies crazy mad to get you, after loading they'll be calm as sheep. But it's not that big of a problem. When most games using the checkpoint system fail to save even the most vital pieces of data, for example Far Cry 3, which doesn't even store your own damn position.

All in all, the controls are good, there were a few bugs, but I played the game on a V1.0 installation for a long time (newer versions had some graphics bug, and I only found the solution to that problem halfway through the game). Level design is great except the last map. For today's gamers the graphics might seem dated, but back in the day this was cutting edge. It certainly looked better in my memories, but you won't get a heart attack because of the ugliness, it's completely playable even today. Only the lighting seems dated, but mostly on external levels, indoors it looks ok even by today's standards.

The only downside to the game is the story, or the lack of one. There are hardly any cutscenes and even the few they made are short (few seconds short) and meaningless. I think none has more than three lines of dialogue and a length over 15 seconds.

+

  • Atmosphere  
  • Gameplay  
  • Graphics (while keeping in mind that this was released years ago)  
  • Aggressive AI  
  • lots of weapons  
  • Drivable vehicles  
  • Back then quantity didn't mean lack of quality, so it's long enough, while not sacrificing quality even on later levels.  


-

  • A few small graphics and gameplay bugs  
  • The last map  
  • Since every enemy wears armour, the only way to go is head shots, even the basic soldier can take dozens of hits into the body or limbs, which is a bit excessive, it should at least cripple or disable them  
  • Undeveloped story, you only get hints at the big picture  
  • Short and meaningless cutscenes  
  • Explosives has too small damage, and radius  


8.5/10