Someone's been nasty to us. This game is copyrighted in the year 2002, which means we have been denied one of the very best ever shooters for at least fourteen months. Forget your 2s and your 3s, March! Offworld Recon is the genre's brightest star. It exudes such sheer genius throughout, so much so I'm struggling for a place to begin. So I'll start with what admittedly is the weakest part of March! Offworld Recon, the game. The count of game types is numerous, with Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Co-operative Team deathmatch all making an appearance. Getting a game going is simple enough; the only problem is that there aren't enough servers on the go, only a few dozen or so. When people start to realise what a stonker of a game March! Offworld Recon actually is, then things should get a lot better. But until that inevitable point in time there's the rockin' single player campaign to get through.

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In a novel twist on a well-worn theme March! Offworld Recon takes place on the foreboding planet of Mars, year 2087. All contact has been lost with the humans braving the planet's harsh conditions. You are the leader of a five-man squad of space marines sent off to discover what form of fate has befallen those gallant souls. The well-rendered plot is at all times engrossing, and develops beautifully in sync with the on the screen. And what action it is!

Prepare yourself for some of the most spectacular combat, featuring billowing explosions, searing laser bolts and turbulent plasma blasts. The particle system in March! Offworld Recon will have you reaching for the sunglasses! Not only can it create some dazzling lighting effects but it also lends its weight to other areas of March! Offworld Recon's visual style. From the screenshots you may have found yourself thinking that the game isn't much of a looker, but those static images don't even begin to hint at the slightest clue as to how good it looks when it's all moving along at a frantic speed. And none of this beauty comes at a price, as even the lowliest machine will cope with March! Offworld Recon. I don't know how the developers did it, it's an incredible feat of programming.

Rather than confuse the player with an assortment of different weapons, in March! Offworld Recon you have one evil looking chaingun which you get to upgrade with different barrels. Swap a barrel out in the middle of a firefight and you can pepper the enemy with shotgun blasts rather than bullets. In addition there are some brutally enjoyable secondary fire modes as well, from a deadly rocket to a grenade launcher that will place a grenade directly in front of you whenever you wish. But you don't have all these fun weapons to yourself. Oh no, you have to share them out with your team-mates. And you'll be glad to see them upgrade their guns as you're gonna need their assistance come the next firefight. You can set formations and order your men to attack certain things, but even without your direct commands the AI soldiers fight like a real kick-ass space marine team! They will explore every corridor or shoot in every direction, making sure that the enemy will go away deaf if not dead.

The enemies are varied and range from robots to some surprises. You can imagine my surprise when I shot down one robot and a ghost rose out of his sparking innards and proceeded to attack my face! What devilish guys those developers, Buka Entertainment are. Other such curveballs abound in March! Offworld Recon so you can never anticipate what is round the next corner. For example, the enemies seem to have some sort of super-special forcefield that completely protects them from your bullets. As this shield only covers a certain range, and that range frequently shifts, you have to stay on your toes and keep an eye out for those little explosions that will tell you that your fire is hitting the right piece of metal. Get it right and arms and heads will blow off, get it wrong and you will die. It's challenges like this that really made me fall in love with March! Offworld Recon. You'll also be spared from that modern trend where the player is fooled into believing that they have some choices as to how they tackle the mission objectives. By making all objectives 'get to the exit', or maybe 'get to the lift', and by having only one route to get there, in March! Offworld Recon the player can concentrate on shooting everything that moves and having a fantastic amount of fun.

I can't finish my effusions about this genre-defining slice of virtual reality warfare without mentioning the fantastic sounds that will be pouring out of our speakers, if you are wise enough to buy March! Offworld Recon that is! The brings back wonderful memories of all those fantastic midi tunes from back in the day. The bangs, clangs and kerrangs that make up the sound effects are so convincingly sampled and touched up that I really began to think that I was really here, battling to the death with an unstoppable horde of robot/ghost monsters.

When you combine the staggeringly life-like AI, the Jackie Chan levels of animation, the spell-binding graphical effects, the stirring soundtrack and the wonderfully inventive gameplay you are left contemplating a masterpiece in entertainment software. I have rarely ever had my emotions affected so strongly by a game before. It's also frighteningly addictive. I felt like I was going crazy, so deep were my levels of immersion. So go on and worry the people that live with you by succumbing to the forces contained within March! Offworld Recon. I can't recommend it enough!

(And they say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit)

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By Sam Gibson