This is a game that came out Last year. It was a game I was never initially drawn to when I saw the trailer but never the less I saw it and decided to give it a whirl.
The story (for a war/soldier game) is quite cleverly done. The plot is set in New York but with a massive difference. The entire city has been hit by a massive sandstorm. So destructive is this storm, that it is thought only a handful of people have survived it. 3 soldiers are teamed together to carry out a mission to simply go into the city, find as many survivors as they can and evacuate them out.
Sounds easy enough doesn’t it?
Well as the plot thickens, you will find there is a lot more going on and more things to deal with than just sandstorms. There are many shocks and horrors in this, along with terrible decisions that must be made throughout. However… the ending is very confusing. I am usually good at understanding complicated plots (I could even explain The Matrix Trilogy to you) but this does not seem to make sense to me. I think the story was completely ruined by the ending. It is a shame considering how well they conceived the story.
Another problem I had with this is that the game only has 15 chapters which are quite short. I finished this game in about 4-5 hours where usually an example of today’s gaming length can take up to 12 hours to complete give or take. A very short game indeed.
The game play was disappointing. It was too basic. You do not have to think tactically (the story does that for you). It is basically just run, point and shoot, throw grenades and occasionally swap weapons that enemies have dropped. Nothing special really.
As for the optional objectives? All you do is collect a couple of Intel items in each chapter which are mainly to help plot wise. Even then they do not truly help understand what is going on in the story, neither does it help explain the ending.
The graphics are only the truly real dynamic part of the game. You can change the ‘look’ of the screen by selecting a filter in the options menu. If you wanted to, you could play the game in black and white for example.
The attention to detail is excellent. You also have to take into account how much effort it takes to create an entire game full of sand.
I did have a little issue with it. I found (because the game looks so orange all the time due to the sand) my eyes seemed to go a bit funny when I look away from the T.V. It could just be me but I would definitely advise taking breaks while playing this.
As for the music, there practically is not anything special about it. I think the story and game play could have been made better if the music was more dramatic.
So in all this was a very disappointing game. There definitely was a reason why the game did not initially attract me. Game play and music was poor, complications with graphics and the story (though initially was conceived well) was completely ruined by the ending.
That is why I rate this game 3/10
