Made by the same developer of the STALKER series, this game was released in a time where budget games were starting to gain traction. It wasn't a terrible game upon it's release at a $20 price point. That said it didn't set the world on fire either. The game was terribly simplistic in it's shooting mechanics and even for $5.99 on GoG I'm not excited to relive those memories. The game itself never lived up to the cool intro video. It boasted basic level design and idiotic AI. It's interesting to play the first game that GSC released, if for no other reason, to see how they evolved over time to create a more realized game world in STALKER. However, age doesn't benefit budget shooters and mediocrity from 15 years ago is much less so by today's standards. This game is what it ultimately was when it was released years ago: a very forgettable game overshadowed by just about every other shooter out there.
This was one of those games that you remember loving or hating. Loving the fresh take on a more realistic tactical shooting experience or hating the punishing difficulty. This game was definitely great for it's time though. It was the anti-first person shooter. It dared to something new and completely different. For that I must applaud it. Still, I must admit, as far as all the realistic iterations of the Tom Clancy games go (ie Rogue Spear, Ghost Recon etc.) this boasted the most painfully unforgiving difficulty of the group. The biggest problem was the unrealistic response times of the enemy AI. Basically if you made eye contact, you'd be dead. The problem stems from the fact that there is literally no aiming animation. Enemy AI will snap from a relaxed "I don't see anybody who wants to kill me" pose right into shooting your face off in less than a quarter of a second. And did I mention they never miss? Thankfully friendly AI responds in kind. The biggest problem with this game is that it becomes 100% trial and error, especially if you want to make sure that all your squad mates survive because if they don't they're dead and they're not coming back. There is no practical way to go through the game and save everyone with out memorizing enemy spawn locations. For my brother, that was his favorite thing. Personally I preferred Raven Shield (Rainbow Six 3).
