All Aspect Warfare Review Page 2

01 Oct 2009 at 14:48:51 by Tim McDonald
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

The thing about AAW is this: it's very clearly aimed at a very select group of people. There are plenty of complaints I can make – there's the occasionally disappointing ground AI, the high-res but bland graphics, the slightly wonky physics and collisions, the fact that it's got a steep learning curve and maximum enjoyment requires you to get very au fait with the occasionally esoteric controls – but, honestly, these aren't the sort of complaints likely to matter if you're actually in the target audience. If you want an in-depth military-strategy title which gives you a vast range of options and will brutally kill you over and over again if you're not careful, and you have the patience and tolerance to learn how to play and aren't turned off by indie aesthetics, you're going to adore this.

That's not to say that there aren't valid complaints that can be made. With the steep learning curve, it'd be nice to see a better tutorial than the short one given in the manual that requires you to flick between the game and the in-game documents regularly. While the controls aren't a problem once you get used to them, there's still a weird feeling for quite awhile that you're not doing things quite right, and not making the most of what's available to you. It passes, but a bit more hand-holding to talk you through some of the strategies and possibilities would, I suspect, help. This is thankfully mitigated somewhat by the excellent video tutorials available if you have a couple of hours to spare which will help you get into the game's unique flow a lot more easily, but there's still the argument that an in-game tutorial could ease players in more gently and potentially widen the game's appeal.

This problem actually extends to the campaign missions, too. It's occasionally unclear quite what you're meant to be doing, which is likely intentional due to their freeform nature, but it's somewhat galling to see a yellow target marker in the horizon and not be entirely sure what you're meant to be doing, instead relying on suggestions from your AI teammates – which you may well miss due to the text-only conversations. Much as you can go back and check the logs to see the conversations that have gone on, you're still left wondering whether you're doing what you're supposed to be every now and then.

Finally, there's dying. Death comes quickly in AAW, and from time to time it's unclear as to what killed you; unless I've missed something major there's a significant lack of feedback when dying. If you're in the air and the missile alert beep has been going for a few seconds, then yes, it's obvious, but if you're on the ground and suddenly the game cuts to a shot of your corpse, it can be a wee bit confusing.

Problems, certainly, but tolerable, because I've not really played anything quite like this. It's maybe most telling that I spent three hours last night repeating one Instant Action scenario, trying out different strategies each time and dying regularly, and yet I enjoyed every single minute I was playing with different weapons, or attempting a daring run in a vehicle, or having my AI squadmates focus on one particularly troublesome target. (It's also probably tells you that I'm still pretty bad at the game.)

Which inexorably leads us to the score, which is utterly meaningless in this context. Bluntly put: if you want a game which will kill you regularly, which will force you to think and plan, and which will force you to learn the often confusing ways it works - but is incredibly rewarding when you pull things off and when you really start getting the hang of it – you will absolutely love this. On the other hand, if the extent of your tactical planning is hiding behind cover when being shot at in Modern Warfare, you are going to absolutely loathe the intricate controls and often ludicrous difficulty. If, after reading all of these complaints, your heart is still palpitating at the thought of leading a squad of four deep into enemy territory, wreaking havoc, and escaping, then there's a very good chance you're going to thoroughly enjoy your time with AAW.

By all means, try the demo, but be prepared to spend a few hours with it to really get a sense of how things work. Personally speaking, I've enjoyed it. I fully expect most people to hate it, or to be turned off by the controls, the design, or the difficulty. So, yes, try it for yourself if you've got the patience to keep going after the first few times you die. You just might be missing out.

Comment