Review by Hun Hunter

"An overall good solid gamefun"

The first thing everyone wants to do is compare this game to Halo, Halo this game is not. Halo is the number one console shooter and is hailed as the best console shooter since Goldeneye, Brute Force on the other hand is a third person squad based shooter. The incorporation of squad aspects really puts this game on another level, it does what Halo wanted to do. That said Brute Force isn't quite as good as Halo, Halo does other things much better then Brute Force, but comparing the two games isn't the point of a review and although the games feel similar they are both very different. To make this easier I'm just going to break this down into sections...

Graphics: Excellent for any console and one of the better looking games on Xbox. The terrain textures are rich and the sky models are equally as good. Jungle levels make you feel like you're in a jungle and the same applies to the other worlds. The characters all look great and the weapons and their effects are great as well. The movies are some of the best I've seen in any game in recent memory, although the characters in the videos look a bit misshapen. I only have a few complaints and the main one is the aliasing and the filtering. It's a true shame to have the beautiful textures washed out at a distance and have them have jaggies on the edges. The only reason I can think of is the hardware on the Xbox (as it is a console) can't produce the great textures and animations and at the same time sharpen them. Oh yeah, no slowdown in singleplayer and even very little noticeable slowdown in multiplayer.


Sound: This is the only section I really am not very impressed with. Sound is just normal and not up to the caliber of a huge release like this. The weapon sounds are standard and overall bland, the get the job done but they aren't great. The music is dynamic but not powerful enough considering the kind of game this is.


Gameplay: This game plays great, and the controls are wonderful. Brute Force controls just like Halo so it is easily one of the best controlling shooters on any console. The action is fast and it happens very often but can be taken on many different ways. This is were the squad part of the gameplay shines, if done correctly this game is a blast. Once Brute Force is fully compiled the player has four distinct team members, each with a special skill. To fully enjoy this game the play needs to use every member. The squad aspect is carried over to multiplayer in both co-op and squad deathmatch. Playing along side a friend is fun but fighting your friends team is equally as fun. Multiplayer really brings this game to a new level, without muliplayer the game would be a 7 but the mulitplayer is so great it brings the game up. The game is also rather long for an action game at over 10 hours with 20+ missions.


Overall if I could I'd give this game an 8.5 but since I can't I'll give it an 8 since it does just enough wrong to bring it down. If you aren't a total audiophile who appreciates a well crafted fast paced actions you'll most likely enjoy this game. Grab a friend and blast away.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10 | Originally Posted: 05/31/03, Updated 05/31/03


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