Games set in WW2 are often looked upon as if they are as archaic as the era that they portray. Parallel universes, monsters and paranormal activities tend to be utilised to gi ve reason to the constant use of this time period, it’s as if such a monumental occurrence in mankind’s history isn’t reason enough, perhaps developers forget that the people involved had faces, names, and families. So it is that the now disbanded Pandemic have approached the WW2 setting in France with a slightly different approach, tell a story of the people involved, create some attachment and give some semblance of reason behind the action, even something that could perhaps be based on an action packed reality.
You play the part of an Irish race car driver, Sean Devlin, who is unwillingly caught up in the advance of the Nazi campaign, things happen and he becomes a key part of the resistance movement in Paris. The setting is both picturesque and oppressive, depending on the concentration of enemy forces, the more heavily occupied areas are rendered in black and white with only certain elements showing in colour, partly for artistic appreciation, but also as a utilitarian method of communicating information to the player. Cliché? Yeah, maybe a little, effective? definitely. The way it expresses an overwhelming feeling of oppression is incredibly effective and well suited to the games story. Key moments of triumph will change a locations colour to a natural palette, a flood of colour and hope.
As a third person open world experience there are some classic problems that plague the genre, some control issues around the combat and cover mechanism, and some problems with getting your guy to interact with the right environmental element. They didn’t cause massive aggravation, as most of the time it felt pretty natural. Aiming/zooming is a typical setup, changing weapons via the D-Pad and firing with the right trigger, reloading is automatic and you can carry any two weapons at a time. The money system is based on the amount of contraband you collect and Nazi installations you destroy, you can buy upgrades, maps and weapons from the black market dealers around the city.
Sean is a very likable character, and while his responses might be considered predictable, I think this a credit to how well he is portrayed. The rest of the cast is varied with a Hogan’s Heroes type collection of believers, they contribute to Devlin’s work load more than the overall experience and only one or two actually become a real part of the story. Moving isn’t a word I would use to describe the portrayal of the events that unfold but they were engrossing enough to keep be going the whole time without looking for other distractions.
The addition of adult material both suited and distracted from the overall impact of the game. It helped the veracity of the game as a key component of it was set around a burlesque club, the code to download a private area to specifically watch a burlesque dance however seemed a little contrived and won’t increase the games enjoyment for anyone other than the most sex deprived of gamers… for whom I assume it was created for…… I guess in this aspect it is achieving what it sets out to do.
Good story, great environment, suitable game play and a lot of time to be sunk into doing all off the Sabotaging available to you mean that it ends up being a title to be reckoned with. I wouldn’t put it in front of the likes of Assassin’s Creed or Uncharted 2, but it is one of the surprise titles of the year for me and hope it gets the recognition it deserves in both sales and gamers time and mind share. If you were put off by Pandemics last attempt at open world glory (Mercs 2) allow them the chance to redeem themselves with this experience.
