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Codename
Eagle is a first person shooter that claims to have brought a little
innovation on the scene--mostly through the use of vehicles like motorcycles,
tanks, and aircraft, as well as the usual guns and grenades to accomplish the
objectives at hand. Unfortunately, in the process of adding
a little something new, the developers ignored the rest of whats good, got lost in
their ambition, and put out a highly unoriginal game with
enough problems to cause much consternation on this reviewers part.
In the end, Codname Eagle is as predictable and linear as they
come--not to mention really
short. Add to this a difficulty level so inconsistent that it seems little
forethought was put into it, and Codename Eagle could more aptly be named
The Hair-Pulling Super-Linear Adventures Of Red the Really Dumb
Russian-Killer. You
play Red, a Russian born Brit-sounding leatherneck sporting a skullcap and
goggles and possessing a hankering for some old-fashioned espionage. In a
way, Red is sort of an early 20th century James Bond, taking on
jobs alone that it should require armies to accomplish. Reds universe
is an alternate history where the Russian Empire at the turn of the
century is controlled by an illegitimate Tsar with world domination
as his ambition. Red, of course, is sent on suicide missions to stop the
nefarious Tsars predacious plans. These missions are literally where
the trouble begins. The developers
make a big deal about the players ability to
use vehicles to accomplish missions in Codename
Eagle. However, more often than not the transportation becomes the hardest
part of the game; after all, the enemy AI is generally so poor that there
is little challenge to be found in your opponents. Some of the ground
vehicles like armored cars and tanks turned out to be mildly entertaining,
though initially tricky to get a hang of.
The aircraft are the real misery-and this is no exaggeration.
I think I bruised my foot by kicking the back of my desk after replaying
one of the missions a dozen times. Though there is a simplicity to
using vehicles on the ground, aircraft are nearly impossible to
control in flight. Whats worse is there are no control remedies offered
anywhere--joysticks are supposedly supported in the flying portion of the
game, but I was never able to get mine to work. Ground
vehicles, though easy to control, suffer from other constraints that make
their use problematic. It's been a while since Ive been so frustrated
with a game; at times Codename Eagle can really have you pulling your hair
out, and perversely the nearly impossible
parts are often followed by missions that are laughably easy. Some
complexity in the execution of mission goals is attempted in the game,
though I was quick to find that runnin and gunnin was a lot faster
and more efficient in getting the job done. As I already hinted, the AI
here is rudimentary at best; most of the enemies feel the need to get down
on one knee in order to take a shot at you, affording you a little bit
more time to line up your own shots. Some will just dumbly run at you once
shot at. Even better, some enemies can shoot through walls and rocks,
others are immune to machine-gun fire if you dont hose them down with
half your ammo, and still others can manage to not notice you holding a
gun to their face. If it werent for the sheer difficulty of some of the
levels, this game would be very short, but since the player has to replay
so much of it in order to get it right you can tack a few more hours onto
the gameplay. I dont really consider more than a dozen plays through
one mission game-time well spent. The
graphics are simple and unimpressive, though are carried out well
enough to cause little complaint. All of the missions are primarily
outdoors and offer a wide variety of scenery, but there are a few spots though
that could have used a little more tweaking. If it werent for the more
obvious problems with the game Codename Eagle might have fared pretty
well as an alternative to the more traditional FPSs, but it's the
problems are severe enough to warrant a warning-you probably dont want to play this game. Codename
Eagle fits almost all of the stereotypes and conventions that can be used
to describe the sub-average video game; level based, linear, predictable
and not all that much fun in the long run. For myself I draw the line when
it feels that Im playing against the game rather than some semblance of
an intelligent opponent--thats where a game stops being fun and the
uninstaller becomes handy. |