What do the Bitmap Brothers and REM have in common? Well, back in the eighties both were incredibly creative groups of people who blazed such trails through their chosen artform that their many imitators only made the genius of the originals all the more apparent. The nineties saw them make the leap from critical to commercial acclaim. Then things nose-dived. REM's last album was pleasant enough, but could have been recorded by just about anyone, so devoid of the sparkle of originality and inspiration that defined their earlier albums. Saying that, they were still an amazing live act at this year's T in the Park. Sadly for the Bitmap Brothers there is no equivalent to the stage so we are left with just their studio efforts, and this, their latest, is not going to be bothering any ceremonies this year.

WWII games have always been popular, and for good reason. Lots of fighting, nasty baddies and a historical context which can make the whole experience more visceral. That Spielberg film really opened the gates for the developers of these games; the number of themed titles in the last five years is truly impressive. Some have been good, some great, and many have been as useful as a Sherman tank taking on a Tiger II head on. And, it pains me to say, the BBs have added another title to the latter group. Some of my favourite gaming moments of all time have been had while struggling to overcome the challenges set in one of their many utterly classic titles. So when it was revealed that their next project was going to be a take on the Close Combat games, but in real-time and with a complex morale system to portray the delilabating effects of combat on the fighting men, I was more then a little joyous. Their last game, Z2, was a beautiful if somewhat overly intense futuristic with some interesting alternatives to the standard design path of most developers. So how the hell have they managed to make such an ugly, cumbersome and plain just-not-much-fun game?

Everything seems fine at first, from a nice mood setting newsreel style intro, to plenty of setup options, the inclusion of multiple play modes and integrated through the patchy GameSpy system. The first mission has you taking command of a small group of paratroopers, engaged with the task of eliminating a radar installation to help pave the way for the invasion of Normandy. Things are still looking rosy here, as the game engine initially brings about a sense of admiration. There's a reasonable amount of background detail, a proper fog-of-war and line of sight system, and the basic pleasure to be had from controlling little WWII mannies as they crawl and run across a landscape teeming with Nazi scum. The terrain shows the progressive damage of battle and almost any structure can be reduced to rubble. However as you progress through the game, the blandness of the colours becomes all too apparent and the depressing lack of variety in the battlefields begins to disappoint. It's all very murky and muddy, like an attempt was made to recreate the filtered colours of Saving Private Ryan. But then where's the splash of red blood to offer some contrast?

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  1. Richard Unregistered 6 years ago

    Nice review, it's certainly a shame that the Bitmap Brothers haven't managed to re-create some of that old magic. You make a damn good point about Xenon, I'd love to see them bring some of their talents to bear onto an updated shoot-em-up. A co-operative Chaos Engine would be fantastic on a modern console. Ikaruga shows that if done right it can still be successful.