Review: Brute Force (XBX)

Halo-Brute Force relationships aside (for now), Digital Anvil's much-hyped third-person shooter is now amongst us, and causing quite a storm on the Xbox.  Gamestyle joins the squad, and takes the game through its paces.

Brute Force Ghost Recon Conflict: Desert Storm Brute Force

Gauntlet

Thankfully though, Brute Force also offers possibly the best multiplayer co-op options ever committed to code: additional players (up to 4 in total) can simply plug in and join in the main campaign mode instantly, splitting the screen accordingly and taking charge of their share of the squad. Once in multiplayer, the game makes far more sense - you can dedicate one or two people to the long-range weaponry and another couple to the tougher, gung-ho members of the team, and actually start to appreciate the game's bipolar way of thinking. Aside from the main missions there's also a sprinkling of deathmatch only levels, and Brute Force can be linked via Gamespy's tunnel service to enable easy (and free) online play - even in campaign mode. Much like Phantasy Star Online, then, Brute Force is infinitely more enjoyable with friends.

The first time you start Brute Force you'll immediately notice the crisp, smooth aesthetics: the opening few minutes proudly shows that Digital Anvil's engine can cope with swaying grass, massive draw distances and high resolution textures - all flowing at a smooth 30fps (even in co-op). Later levels descend into the more bland looking, sadly, although that's a criticism that can be thrown at most games of this ilk. Crucially, the camera is never a problem - it's always easy to see your character and what they're looking at, and having the same controls as Halo  means that the camera is freely positionable (via the right stick; walking and strafing is handled on the other) at all times.
 
Each of the four characters has their own personality and special ability; the leader Tex is a grizzled veteran, shortly joined by Brutus (a lizard-like alien native to the level he's found on) who can handily use his Spirit of Vengar special to see spirits (enemies) from a distance. Hawk appears soon after (she can turn invisible and has a unique hand-to-hand weapon), and then finally Flint appears, the sniper. They're all stereotypical, naturally, and have the obligatory bad-acting and crippled vocabulary range - a shame really, as most of the in-game audio would have benefitted from as much nourishment as its visuals (weapon sounds are weak and the music is mostly dire).

Niggles aren't solely confined to the aural aspects, unfortunately. Brute Force suffers somewhat in its structure: mission objectives are consistently vague and nondescript, although aimless wandering is never an issue due to the linearity of most of the levels. While it's not initially clear what you will be doing on each mission, you're certainly not going to be stumped for long due to the spoon-fed nature of progression. And this would be fine in the introductory stages of the game (where you're eased into the controls and techniques required), but somewhere along the line this measured pacing is lost and mid-level events seem almost random and unexpected (despite actually being identical - including enemy placement - on repeated play). 

Some of this can be digested/tolerated - your squad is there to do a mission and naturally things may go pear-shaped or not to plan, but throwing an incredibly frustrating 'defend the informer' section into the middle of a large-scale battle just grates, breaking up any notion of continuity. Especially when said informer is ineffectual, cannot fire and has a habit of walking into bullets. Such events are commonplace, too; it's refreshing in some genres to have to suddenly switch tactics, but only if it is done well (the lifepods being destroyed, forcing you to go through the vents in Halo's opening level, for example). In Brute Force it just feels like they had all these ideas and too few levels (or too little time) yet still forced them all in anyway - a more natural flow to the levels would have helped enormously.
 
Brute Force does do some things well, admittedly - the 4 available commands (stay, cover, fire at will and move to) work brilliantly and are easy to perform. The game is paused whilst you make the commands, and you can select multiple characters to perform multiple tasks at once - as well as switching on or off their special abilities. And while the story isn't really novel material (although there is background reading available), it does manage to push the game along its slightly awkward path, and thankfully weaves its way towards a suitably climactic ending. The idea of introducing characters one at a time is good too, giving the player enough space to rehearse with each new ability and weapon; it's a shame the characters don't progress RPG style but there's enough variety in there as is.

So, with any preconceptions aside (see below), is Brute Force worthy of purchase? Well, as the game stands, if you've got friends who appreciate a good third-person co-op adventure (or you have access to Gamespy's tunnelling setup) you'll find a solid[ish] yarn with plenty to keep you occupied. We'd not recommend an outright purchase solely for the deathmatch, but the multiplayer campaign mode is brilliantly done. Had the game been playable in first-person too (see: Enclave) it might have attracted even more gamers, but we'll leave all that for the sequel. 

Regarding the whole "Is this Halo?" debate flowing through web forums, Digital Anvil have brought this particular fate on themselves: Brute Force had been billed as the 'next Halo' in many magazine previews, and on that front alone, it's failed miserably. The developers might well have glanced over Halo's source code and had access to polygon-shifting libraries; the control method might very well be identical too, but even with the change in perspective (Brute Force is viewed in third-person) aside, this is not another Halo by any means. 

Was it ever supposed to be, though? Gamestyle suggests the answer lies elsewhere, hidden deep within Digital Anvil's storyboard cupboards and it's likely we'll never really know their true intention. While the promise of a playable demo of Halo 2 was enough to secure the game on the must-have list of most - ensuring gamers never really forgot about the 'main attraction' (although such a treat has dissolved into a non-playable movie) - it's mainly positive reviews from like-minded gamers that have made the game sell so confidently since launch. And rightly so.Gamestyle suggests the answer lies elsewhere, hidden deep within Digital Anvil's storyboard cupboards and it's likely we'll never really know their true intention. While the promise of a playable demo of Halo 2 was enough to secure the game on the must-have list of most - ensuring gamers never really forgot about the 'main attraction' (although such a treat has dissolved into a non-playable movie) - it's mainly positive reviews from like-minded gamers that have made the game sell so confidently since launch. And rightly so.

Rating: 8 / 10

Words by Alex Carroll