Brute Force

Brutishly forceful third-person action from Digital Anvil. The verdict.

Its crap, in a word. Truly awful and utterly pointless. Why do they bother with it at all if they're just going to make-up a load of cods-wallop that's identical in every way to the last entry in the sci-fi action bracket. Of course, the idea of the plot is perhaps to hold the missions together in some kind of coherent order, though its all rather laughable and as for the dialogue.. well, I've forgotten about it already.

Fortunately, Brute Force has several more redeeming qualities which helped me forget the plotting, and the excellent AI is one of them. Not only can the other members of your squad look after themselves and take orders effectively, the enemies all prove imaginative and unpredictable foes. Some of the battles are particularly entertaining, and you'll find yourself respawning repeatedly and trying something new as you try to progress.

The multiplayer settings next - and it's a mixed bag of offerings, LAN support is in there, though it's a bit inconvenient so most of you will be left with standard split-screen action, which would be more entertaining than it is were it not for the irritating graphical slow-downs which can leave the combat feeling rather stunted which is a shame. Then there's the missing Xbox Live support, which we so yearned for and are surprised not see - this could have been an essential purchase for Microsoft's fledgling 'Live' service - but we're left wishing for Halo 2 instead. A missed opportunity.

The graphics themselves, which prove too much at times for the Xbox to handle smoothly in split-screen, are as you'd expect very attractive indeed. Not only have you got some delightfully rich environs to explore, complete with bump mapping and great textures, you've also got a widescreen mode to catch the eye. All in all, whilst visually Brute Force may be something of a tribute to Halo, the game is certainly none the worse for it.

All in all, Brute Force is an exceptionally well put together third-person shooter, that maintains fabulously balanced game play throughout and would be complete were it not for a few disappointing omissions and flaws on the multiplayer front. What's more, it's a game that's prime focus is action, and on this front you'll be kept more than amused by the frenetic fighting which always remains fresh.

Unoriginal but so nearly awesome.

82%

By Luke Guttridge