By Talonsoft
Red Storm’s Rainbow Six was the big action game surprise of last year. It came out of nowhere, and showed that a first-person shooter could be more than just a “shoot anything that moves” fragathon. Then came Thief, another terrific first person game that rewarded stealth more than strength, and now everybody is talking about producing smart first-person games that rely on wits as much or more than a quick trigger finger. Included amongst that everybody is Talonsoft, up to renowned for their excellent grognard-fed wargames. Many were surprised when Talonsoft, with the announcement of Hidden and Dangerous, threw their hats into the first-person shooter ring—given their reputation for deep historical games and their hardcore following, it was as if the 700 Club had suddenly announced they were going to start producing add-ons for Blood 2.
But the marriage of Talonsoft and Illusion Softworks’ Hidden and Dangerous actually makes sense; the new emphasis on “thinking man’s” first person action has created market for historically accurate action games, and historical accuracy is Talonsoft’s stock and trade. So don’t expect a Wolfenstein 3D-like gaming experience from Hidden and Dangerous—it fully intends to be one of the most historically accurate and realistic first person action games out there.
Probably the best way to think about Hidden and Dangerous is as a combination of Rainbow Six and Eidos’ Commandos. As in Rainbow Six, you’ll take control of an elite squad of commandos. You’ll be given a series of dangerous behind-enemy lines missions, and it’ll be up to you to choose the right team for the job, equip them with the right gear, and come up with a brilliant plan. And like Rainbow Six, it’s easy to die. Don’t expect to survive taking multiple Panzerfaust rounds in the gut; in fact, don’t expect to survive taking a Mauser round in the gut. The one-shot-and-you’re-dead gameplay makes for a challenging game; it’s made even more challenging by the game’s wicked AI. We’ve been playing an early version of the game a lot lately, and we’ve found the AI to pretty sharp, even in beta.
And, like Commandos, Hidden and Dangerous is set in Europe during World War II. The game’s 23 missions will span the continent from Norway to Italy, and the war from 1942-1945. That’s all good with me; the terrorist bad guys in Rainbow Six sometimes seemed a little contrived, like the designers had to break out an encyclopedia of terrorist fringe groups in order to generate enough scenarios. That’s the risk you run when you design post-Cold War games—the villains are either too obvious or too obscure. But hey, fighting Nazis and Hitler, that’s a set of bad guys we can all understand.
In Hidden and Dangerous, you’ll assemble your teams from 40 different operatives, each from the most elite commando groups in the Allied forces—British SAS operatives, French underground members, Norwegian ski commandos, and Czech resistance fighters. You’ll control a team of up to four commandos, and you’ll be able to control each of them, from first- or third- person perspectives. You can switch from one commando to the next, give group commands, and use an overhead map to coordinate your attacks. Commandos will be able to steal enemy trucks (and tanks!), as well as use such nifty weapons as sniper rifles, mines, and demo charges.
The game looks good, too; though the beta had some typical beta-type glitches, the game’s Insanity graphics engine does a fine job of evoking a tense, gritty, behind-enemy lines feel. It’s especially good with weather effects—one of the missions we played involved crossing a guarded railroad bridge in the rain, and the rain effects and sound were excellent all around.
Multiplayer will also be supported, with real-time voice support as well. If it fulfills its promise, Hidden and Dangerous could be to World War II commando missions what Rainbow Six is to modern anti-terrorist operations—a smart, challenging, and good-looking game that could enthrall both historical buffs and hard-core fragmeisters.