Brute Force
Does Microsoft’s shooter have what it takes to run with the big boys?
Tags: Brute Force Categories: Reviews, Xbox Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Aug 4th, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Brute Force (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| No | |||
Many people will go into this game thinking that it’s a Halo knock-off, and they would be very wrong. Yes, some of the Bungie team did help to get Brute Force finished, and there are a few similarities, but one of the biggest differences between the two games is the gameplay.
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Brute Force is not a first person shooter. Yes, you run around shooting at things, but if that’s all you want to do, then go pick up Unreal Championship. This is a third person squad based tactical shooter – and each word in the description is earned.
There are 4 different characters in Brute Force, starting with Tex – the dumb lunk that doesn’t know much, but he knows his guns and how to shoot them. After controlling Tex for a few missions, then comes in Brutus, the large reptilian creature.
While both of these characters rely on strength and firepower, they each have different special abilities. Tex can for a short time wield two weapons as once. Brutus can become filled with the spiritual energy of his “people” and can charge into opponents. Tex will never stand down, while Brutus will occasionally retreat in order to keep from being killed.
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Rounding out the squad are Hawk and Flint – the more tactical side of the team. Flint fills the role of sniper very well and her special ability of being able to target automatically will come in very handy throughout the game. Hawk appears to be the weakest of the four characters, but when her special ability is used, becomes invaluable. Hawk can for a short time become cloaked, and scout ahead to infiltrate the enemy and stealthily kill or report back about positions.
With each character having different strengths and weaknesses, finding a balance still needs to be met – and this is where Bungie’s Halo (and the comparisons, though not entirely warranted) come in.
Each character can only carry two weapons. Weapons strewn about the battlefield from various enemies will have different properties, and not all characters can use each weapon. The problem comes in that a character won’t always be able to get rid of a certain weapon. This poses a problem when trying to “upgrade” to a weapon that is better (yet still didn’t stop the enemy from dying).
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The squad moves as a team, and the commands (in single player mode) to control the rest of the characters are simple and basic enough. “Fire At Will” is pretty self explanatory. “Stand Ground” has the characters not in direct control of the player stay where they are and not let the enemy pass through. “Cover Me” keeps them in a tight formation around you, firing when you fire, or when fired upon. The “Move To” command allows players to tactically place characters around the field according to their strengths and abilities.
Inventory is shared throughout the squad – if a character picks up a grenade, then another can immediately use it. This greatly helps in co-op play, allowing one person to draw enemy fire (and use up the medkit supply) while a second player stealthily accomplishes the objective.
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Missions range from… well, there is a variety, but they all pretty much involve killing every enemy within an area. It would have been nice if certain missions didn’t need this requirement. Finding a balance between tactical assault and generally gunning down the opposition seems to not quite have been met as Brute Force tips the scales at a slightly more “run and gun” feel. Certain areas have a slower tactical pacing to them, but many time brute force (pun intended) will win the day.
The graphics are good, but don’t push the console to 100% – but what gets really annoying is the lack of environments. Sure there are a bunch of different levels, but traveling to the same world over and over again gets rather tiring. At times it isn’t clear where to go because the environments aren’t laid out clearly. This is both a graphical and design problem that should have been fixed.
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The various weapons effects are rather nicely done, both visually and aurally. The voice acting is also done surprisingly well. Music is average, and the environmental effects are pretty good.
The long and short of it is that this is definitely a “next-generation” game, but not a heck of a lot that lets you know this is an Xbox game.
While going through as a single player is fine, the game really shines in co-op. The game can be played entirely with a friend (or three) from start to finish, emphasizing the squad mentality. Other multiplayer options (for up to 8 people via LAN) are the of the standard deathmatch variety.
Why isn’t this game playable online? Where is the wide variety of multiplayer modes? This seriously hampers the value of the title. Sure, there are some downloads coming for new gameplay, but since this is a first party title arriving WELL after the launch of Xbox LIVE, there really isn’t much of an excuse.
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If you don’t need a game to play online, this could fit the bill nicely. Best played with a friend, Brute Force is a great rental for a long weekend. There are enough extras to keep interested players going through the missions multiple times, but for standard gameplay, this is best as a second or third game to be gotten. With so many great shooters out there (and online) there isn’t enough in Brute Force to make it a first choice buy.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
Actual strategy required to play Or you can "run and gun" |
7.7 |
| What Doesn't | |
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No online play Repetive environments |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Make this a second shoice game, and only if you have a friend to play it with. | |
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Tags: Brute Force
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Aug 4th, 2003 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
