Posted on: September 10, 2008
Theory
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Hostile Waters is to its peers what a laser beam is to a light bulb. It’s sleek, sexy, and gets straight to the point – that point being the conquest of a man-made island chain in the Pacific, with the help of a nanomachine factory aboard a rusting military cruiser and the chattering, digitised minds of long-dead soldiers. This is usually achieved with a war of attrition (it’s very hard to actually lose) against the cabal’s forces on each isle, yet the game remains fresh and engaging throughout thanks to its intelligent – and quite unmatched – design. Foremost in this is your ability to pilot any vehicle at any time, at which point the game effortlessly becomes one of squad-based tactics. The interface for issuing orders off the cuff is slightly fiddly, but you’ll soon get used to ordering backup from another front, then mouthing silent thanks when one of your friends diverts from their current prey to take out the VTOL bomber pounding your hull, before pulling back and dropping into a scout car to reconnoitre another enemy installation while the others clean up and begin scavenging. Things only get more exhilarating as you progress. The game’s story is the work of renowned comic artist Warren Ellis, and despite its clichéd central premise is rich, stimulating and memorable. Most of it is told through each mission’s cut-scene, and except for a few naff entries they are delightful rewards for completing the preceding island that you might just find yourself pushing onward through the tougher knots of resistance to unlock. Character writing and voice acting (Tom effing Baker!) are also top-notch for most of the game, and with each spoken personality comes AI strengths and weaknesses. Ransom is a vicious helicopter pilot (perhaps a little too vicious – keep him on a leash!), Korolev is reliable in the Scarab, and Patton knows how to keep an artillery piece’s shells landing accurately, and so on for all of the twelve or so chips you will fix up and send into battle. Unfortunately, things don’t always work out so well for the AI. Your team-mates have little understanding of the danger of flying directly over AA emplacements on their way to another destination, and this at first irritating behaviour becomes completely unsatisfactory for the game’s later, trickier islands. It’s the game’s greatest flaw, and it’s huge. Nevertheless, buy Hostile Waters! It’s a slick and immensely entertaining experience that to this day no other developer has even attempted to re-create.
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