Gaming Target - Xbox: Brute Force

Written by Leigh Culpin on June 03, 2003

Full Review: It's not as good as Halo. It's not all that it promised to be. Go buy it anyways.

Digital Anvil's Brute Force has been delayed more times than anyone can count for a painful length of time. Often after such delays, hype dies down, the game ends up being mediocre anyways, and everyone forgets about it within a few weeks. Not so with Brute Force. Not so at all.

Brute Force's ad campaign focused on the team based combat that the game was going to present you with, which was allegedly going to be rather tactical and add a previously unseen level of strategy into the third person shooter genre. If anyone said that Brute Force accomplishes that, they'd be lying. It's not necessarily groundbreaking, it's not really required to beat the game, and it sure isn't the game's strongest point. That isn't really too big of a deal, however, considering how strong the game's other strengths are, and while it's not groundbreaking, it certainly is a very long step in the right direction.

The key to enjoying Brute Force is really rather simple Ц don't start playing it thinking you're playing Halo 2 or anything comparable. This game isn't one that everyone will enjoy, since it never actually requires you to use team-work to complete a level (well, rarely at most). However, the option for it is always present, and if you do actually choose to do so, you'll have a blast.

The story behind Brute Force is present but nothing extraordinary, which isn't very surprising, yet somewhat disappointing nonetheless. It revolves around a plot by an initially unknown enemy to take over Earth and it's Confederation, etc etc. Nothing anybody hasn't heard before, and the story by itself isn't very involving. However, the cutscenes which introduce this story to you, mostly in the form of briefings, are all very well done, with the character models being stepped up a notch and looking quite fantastic. Each character's visual style is also very representative of their in-game qualities and abilities: Hawk is the smallest of the group and also has the least health, but her ability to cloak for a limited amount of time makes her invaluable anyways. Flint, the other female character of the game, is a УsyntheticФ whose ability allows her to auto-lock onto a target using her sniper rifle, and while it takes the fun out of actual sniping, in the midst of a dogfight it can save her life as she has the second smallest store of health. Tex and Brutus are the two heavy firepower presenters, Tex being able to use two guns at once (including two mini guns) and Brutus's ability allows him to regenerate, use a modified thermal vision, and charge into an enemy killing him instantly. These two have a tendency to outlast the women, but are substantially easier targets and certainly aren't useful when stealth or finesse is required.

The level design is respectably varied, though quite possibly only what you'd expect from this type of game Ц there's an asteroid world, a jungle world, a volcanic world, etc etc. Each of these levels has it's own approach as far as design is concerned and as such each level type actually plays quite differently than the rest. For instance, the levels on the volcanic world are generally very open with little cover, so a Уmow down everything that movesФ approach is necessary, whereas certain levels will have structured bases with loads of cover and various paths that allow you to strategically set up your team. Depending on your playing style, you'll enjoy each different level set to a different degree, though generally the wide-open levels are the most disappointing Ц there really is little to no strategy involved in these and the game turns into more of a mindless shootout than anything else, and you'll likely be continuously wondering when these levels end.

Likewise, the early levels start off rather slowly, though it's more a matter of getting used to the controls available to you, as going through them the second time around wasn't nearly as painful. Initially you actually only start of with Tex anyways, and in the closely associated missions following you'll acquire the other 3 characters.

Despite the somewhat slow start and slew of mediocre run-and-gun levels, Brute Force really shines on the levels containing bases or even areas with lots of cover Ц generally the forest setting and terran-like levels are the best for this. One level actually has a giant temple of sorts in the middle, visually somewhat similar to a smaller version of an Aztec building. This level's objective are similar to every other's Ц eliminate all opposition, acquire an artifact, destroy certain targets and the like Ц but was designed with team work in mind, so you can initially send in Hawk to clear out a higher path, send Flint in after her to provide cover fire, and then send the big boys down the main path. Once you have control of the temple you can station Flint at the top, giving her the best vantage point in the level to cover her squad mates. While such coordination isn't necessary, many levels present you with this opportunity and these are far and away the most fun. Had the whole game been designed like this its score would likely have been a whole point higher.

In order to get your teammates to do what you want, the designers implemented a quick menu for each characters Ц by holding down their respective direction on the D-Pad you can select any of the computer controlled characters and issue a variety of orders to them, including Уcover me,Ф Уstay in position,Ф Уmove here,Ф Уheal yourselfФ and Уweapons ready modeФ which throws your team into a Уkill everything that movesФ mindset. Each of these works reasonably well, though it's not the revolutionary system that may have been advertised. The team AI isn't exactly Halo quality necessarily, but it certainly gets the job done in almost every case, and most often you don't need to worry too much about babysitting your teammates.

The enemy AI is similarly respectable yet lacking when compared to the greats. However, enemies will use their surroundings to their advantage all the time, taking cover behind whatever's available to reload or wait for reinforcements. Despite the impressive terrain neither friend nor foe will often get stuck in any place on the map, perhaps once or twice throughout the entire game, and difficult terrain is actually most often used by the enemy to gain an advantage, whatever that may be.

While some of the levels are more open than others, and few are quite as visually impressive as those found in Halo, the sheer vastness of each level makes most of Halo's levels seem tiny in comparison. Granted, there are a few which are easily similar in size, but the vast majority of Brute Force's levels are incredibly impressive in size and the framerate rarely dips, if at all, when playing solo. Graphically, Brute Force is a nice bag of tricks Ц the character models are all very well done, and all the textures are crisp and clear. The weakest point in the visuals department is certainly the animation, which isn't done poorly, but isn't on par with the rest of the field. Special effects more than make up for this though, as they are, for the most part, absolutely spectacular. Weapon effects are decently varied and all well designed, and the various explosions you'll encounter (and cause) all look fabulous. The aesthetics of the game are further enhanced with the excellent sound Ц the music fits the mood, the sound effects are some of the best I've encountered in a game, and while the voice acting can be slightly questionable at times, it is for the most part well done and suits each character.

One of Brute Force's major appeals was the ability to increase your human teammate strength on the fly Ц that is, in the middle of a level, you can have a friend (or two, or three) plug in a controller and join you in you quest to save Earth. Each of your companions will commandeer one of the computer's characters and fight along side you until they decide to quit, at which time they simply УexitФ at the pause menu to return you to your full screen, giving you control of all the characters once again. This aspect of the game is very much a giant leap in the direction gaming should be heading, and not only makes each level more fun and significantly shorter, it adds another element to the team play side of things. The entire game can be played solo, but you really aren't going to have as much doing it as you could be.

Tying into this is the System Link capability, which, assuming you have four copies of Brute Force, four Xboxes and four TV's, will allow each player to play on his or her own screen. Framerate and lag do become issues somewhat when playing with friends (be it on the same TV or not) but with few exceptions don't detract from the fun to a degree that you'll stop playing. Similarly, you can use your gaming setup and system link to play some 4 on 4 deathmatch Ц both regular and the squad variety. The Squad Deathmatch option really is the better of the two, pitting two teams against each other, and the developers even included one siege map. Even if you only have one other person to play with, Squad Deathmatch will still pit you 4 on 4, allowing each player to take control of a squad in the same fashion as the single player campaign. While not as fun as playing with 8 human counterparts, 2 and 6 AI's can still prove to be a fun time (and less lag is present in this scenario as well). Throughout the game you can actually collect УDNA CanistersФ which are hidden in each level. Collecting these will unlock new characters for you to use in multiplayer and you can even unlock entirely new team so there aren't two of the same running around killing each other, admittedly a rather nice touch.

A rather large letdown is the game's lack of Live support Ц while downloadable content will eventually be made available, no online play is supported short of Xbox Connect, which acts as a System Link connection through the Internet, but imposes pretty significant limitations due to bandwidth considerations. This isn't surprising, yet again, still disappointing considering the potential for online play this game has.