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The game had an incredible potential for tension and drama, but did not pay off. I would have loved to have seen the game play more upon your fears. For example: being sent into a tunnel to blow up a crucial target becomes methodical and almost annoying; this situation could easily be drawn out each and every time with tense music and life-or-death stakes. Instead, you're peeking around corners, one controller-tap at a time, to find some under-intelligent AI standing and staring at the wall. A few shots in the back drop him to the ground, dead.
Your teammates could use a boost in IQ, as well. They are happy to stand around and get spattered with bullets while you take shelter behind a rock or tree, or try to flank an objective. Complicating matters, the damage system takes a little getting used to, as it uses a combination of shock and health. Shock damage refreshes after a while, but if you take too much damage after the shock meter is full, it starts chipping away at your vitals. In all cases, a gory death is a certainty; limbs and heads are blown off of your enemies and, if you're unlucky, yourself.
If you live, a reward system is in place for those who collect 'war trophies' like enemy flags and perform well during missions. At the end of each mission, your performance is assessed and you are awarded 'chits,' which can be used back at base camp to purchase such luxury items as performance-enhancing drugs, postcards, and a pass which allows you to sneak off base for a little love-you-long-time. I was scared to try the latter out; who knows where those girls have been?
I tried so hard to like this game but I wasn't given a continuing reason to want to continue to play it. The story was interesting, but I didn't feel a deep enough connection with my character to truly care if he lived or died. The cut scenes were detailed and care was put into them, but they were too few and far between. Skirmishes were plentiful, however, too easy: you could mostly wait them out and just play through them conservatively with the liberal and forgiving damage system. If you rush in like a hero that you tend to want to be in these kinds of games, you usually get massacred. Shellshock suffers from a bout of indecision; it's not enough of an action or FPS game and it doesn't have enough drama or tension or story to be engaging. Hoping for Apocalypse Now, or Full Metal Jacket, I got Rambo sans Stallone. Shellshock: Nam '67 needs to sound off like it has a pair! |
