G-pinions

You would think a game that includes 4 player co-op would be fun. You would think that a game that essentially duplicates Halo, a game I have dubbed The Greatest Game This Generation, would be a blast to play. You would think a game that includes a generic reptile/human hybrid who laments “My fire stick is out of ammo” would be at least worth a play through. You would also think, upon playing Brute Force, that not only could you have designed a better game, but that 989 Studios could as well.

So what is so bad about this game? How could a game break the cardinal rule that every co-op game, regardless of quality, is fun? Brute Force set out to be Halo 1.5. And, in many ways, it succeeded. The only problem is it took the worst aspects of Halo and made them even worse. For instance, the game has almost identical controls as Halo. But, for some inexplicable reason, they made the game 3rd person. Good idea guys, just add another problem to a game that is full of them. Camera should never be an issue in action based shooters, but just wait until you get in confinded spaces or come close to any object at all. Watch as your view is obscured. Why not just make it a first person shooter?

Also, just like in Halo, you are forced to play every level two times to win the game. You rejoice when you get to the end, but then they make you turn around and go through every bloody level one more time. And if you thought you were bored with the four different enemy types in Halo, Brute Force has halved that number. And, in some levels, there is only one type of enemy. Who thought that would be a good idea?

And, while the game gives you 4 distinctly different characters, two of them are completely worthless. One of the characters is a sniper, which makes close combat fighting, the vast majority of the game, almost impossible. This may be the first game in history with female characters where I actually prefer being a man. Who thought it would be a good idea to make a character with 50% health and an arsenal that includes various types of pea shooters?

To make matters worse, this has to be the worst collection of characters ever. The lizard is this freaky little creep who says things like “I can smell the vile of their soul coming from the elevator.” What the heck does that even mean? And Tex, Captain Generic himself, constantly demands a medic… something not actually in the game. Yay!

While Nick and I have played through most of the game together, it has been a horrible ordeal. We sprint to the shiny blue hubs that advance us farther in the game so we don’t have to continue with the repetitive gameplay. We purposely die when we are low in health so we can be reborn, at the same point, with full health and ammo. You have to love a game that offers no challenge at all.

And the one cool feature that would make the game slightly more fun is completely ignored. You score money for every objective you completely, every enemy you kill, and every structure you destroy. Subsequently, when you die, you are penalized. At the end of the level you can see your cash totaled up and how you accumulated it. Pretty cool, right? The only problem is there isn’t a thing to do with said money. If you could go to a store and buy a vehicle or a fun game it would be worth it, but, as it stands, it only offers you a goal that no right minded player will attempt to achieve.

The only entertainment that can be found in this game is laughing at its ridiculousness. In the middle of a battle, on a planet we invaded with the objective “Kill all inhabitants,” we are told by our general that, upon being attacked in an open field, that we were ambushed. Ambushed in the middle of a war with nonstop combat? Yeah…

Oh! And this game doesn’t even have Live play. Not like I love the idea of playing this game online, but it would be something. At least Nick and I could go through these horrible missions co-op with two other people stuck controlling the useless women. The one thing that could have made this game playable and they left it out. Disgrace.

So, what is there good about the game? One word: Shadoon.