How do you make a tense action thriller, starring Ben Affleck, translate to a first person video game? Not like this, that’s for certain. He doesn’t even show up, the lazy so and so. What else did he have going on in 2002? Not much.
Controlling a surprisingly out of breath squad of three (just listen to them when they run – hardly at the peak of physical fitness by the sounds of it), your task is to complete eleven missions and take down the bad guys. You can swap out your weapons ahead of each 6-8 minute mission, but as it makes little difference what weapons you use, you can just keep the original load out.
It’s almost too simple on the easiest difficulty setting, with auto lock on aiming removing the need to think about your shot. Just point and fire. Reloading is an automatic process, which can cause issues if you’re locked in a firefight with a room full of bad guys. The last thing you need is for it to start the reloading process when you’re locked in mortal combat (no, not that one). If you switch off automatic aiming, the sluggish controls come to the fore and cause more stress than it’s worth.
There are a few nice touches. If a squad member dies in a mission then it’s game over for them, and they are replaced the next time round. Objectives are clearly signposted, even if the HUD goes a bit mad on occasion. If the real world was like this then we wouldn’t stand a chance.
Ubisoft have let the side down here. A surprisingly poor video game that can be completed in about 90 minutes. Shame, really. A solid Tom Clancy game offers value for money. Just take a look at Ghost Recon or the Rainbow Six series. This, however, does not.