Brute Force

• Release Date: May 28, 2003
• Genre: Shooter
• Style: Squad-Based Shooter
• Similar Games: Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox), Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 (Xbox), Counter-Strike (Xbox)

Game Description

Brute Force is a squad-based shooter starring four cloned soldiers who fight on behalf of a 23rd century military organization known as the Confederation. Players begin the operation as Tex, a skilled mercenary who shoots first and asks questions later, but will reunite with other members of the team as the game progresses, including feral alien Brutus, the beautiful scout Hawk, and a synthetic female named Flint. Campaign mode, which can be played solo or cooperatively with up to three friends, consists of 18 missions taking place on six planet surfaces. Players will seek out hostile aliens and mutants from volcanic and desert wastelands to lush jungles and ancient ruins.

Each warrior can pick up and use two types of weapons at any given time as well as carry a limited number of grenades. Characters also have one special skill that can be activated for a limited duration of time. Tex can wield both weapons at once in a berserker state; Brutus can pick up heat traces to see enemies or sense traps in otherwise poor conditions; Hawk can camouflage herself to become invisible to others; and Flint automatically isolates enemy targets from afar so she can pick them off with her sniper rifle. Missions are composed of both primary and secondary objectives, which earn players money used to purchase additional cloned soldiers whenever teammates are lost during an expedition.

Brute Force also features two separate multiplayer games. In addition to co-op play in Campaign mode, players can set up Deathmatch or Squad Deathmatch scenarios where up to four players (up to eight using an Xbox System Link Cable) can select different teams to battle each other on a choice of maps and victory conditions. Although the game does not offer online competition, Xbox Live is supported for downloadable content, including new multiplayer maps and single-player missions. Players can also unlock additional characters for use in multiplayer games by finding DNA canisters hidden somewhere within Campaign missions.

Review: Overall

Dubbed "The Next Halo" by the Official Xbox Magazine on its June 2002 cover, Brute Force had an unusual amount of hype leading up to its release. Yet there was more than a hyperbole-laden preview hinting at its potential for greatness. Developer Digital Anvil wasn't exactly wet behind the ears, not with the acclaimed StarLancer in its portfolio and personnel made up of former Origin employees. Brute Force also featured a custom 3D engine designed specifically for Xbox, which meant no more quick and dirty computer or console ports that skimped on visual effects in favor of homogeneity.

Reports that members of Bungie Software, the company responsible for Halo, were consulted for their thoughts on improving Brute Force's gameplay certainly didn't detract from the title's potential. It also helped that Xbox owners have been patiently waiting for a co-op shooter since the system's launch in 2001. With a control scheme that mirrors Halo's intuitive system, a concerted focus on multiplayer features that saw the game's release date pushed back from winter 2002 to April and then May 2003, it seemed Brute Force had avoided taking a turn for the worse and was well on its way to something special. Or was it?

Unfortunately, it seems success was prematurely bestowed upon Brute Force, whose gameplay -- to be blunt -- can't lick Master Chief's combat boots. The squad-based tactics that promise a new level of control aren't even necessary to succeed; players can zip through missions blasting away enemies, Doom-style, using only one character. Run-and-gun action is well suited to the short planetary levels filled with simplistic objectives and enemies whose AI doesn't seem any more advanced than typical shooters on rival platforms. Brute Force is not without its share of strengths, offering crisp visuals, ambient Dolby Digital sound, and cooperative action supporting up to four players, but it still has to be considered a disappointment.

Of course, showy Xbox owners looking to impress casual gamers should pop in Brute Force right after a few minutes of Dead or Alive 3. It's almost guaranteed to bring smiles and wide-eyed stares, assuming it's being displayed on proper equipment. Each planet's surface is filled with razor sharp detail: players will be able to count individual blades of grass, make out the subtle ridges in a rock formation, and be dazzled by erupting lava, swirling smoke, moving clouds, and thick mist. Yet beyond this great sense of realism are worlds that aren't nearly as large as they first seem, with natural barriers reigning players in and an onscreen compass leading them by the nose to their next objective.

Players never get to fully explore the terrain with mission objectives that are disappointingly linear and insultingly basic. Nearly all of the 18 missions boil down to finding this or recovering that, with the variable being a character or piece of technology. While there are also secondary objectives, they are just as shallow and easy to complete since they cannot be missed. They include having to pick up a suitcase carried by the same individual whose assassination is a primary objective, looking into a few structures on your way to the main destination, or eliminating all enemies on a stage. Obviously, none of the secondary objectives were given much thought.

The reward for completing primary objectives is a combination of level advancement and money, with secondary objectives treated as cash bonuses. While this money could have been used in creative ways, players can't use it to purchase new weapons, outfits, vehicles, or additional training. Cash is merely a substitute for points in a mission, a high score if you will, with the added benefit of providing players a means to re-clone team members should they all perish while in the process of completing an objective.

Missions are all structured the same: players watch a brief cut-scene on board a spaceship, then beam down, like the crew from the Enterprise, onto the planet's surface, which is typically filled with one type of enemy or race. The lead characters themselves don't win any points for originality, with the standard marine, alien, cyborg, and female who seem to be requisites in all science fiction games. They all look great, but it's hard not to feel underwhelmed when you have a choice of only four characters to control and they all offer the same exact moves. What kind of a scout, for example, can't shimmy, crawl, or somersault, to avoid gunfire or to hide behind objects?

All players can do with a character is run, kneel, jump, strafe, and shoot -- with the reptilian character's gallop motion being a substitute for running. Of course, each character also has a "special" technique, which is supposedly the crux of the tactics side of the game. Tex can -- are you sitting down for this? -- hold two weapons at once and fire them at the same time; Brutus goes all Predator-like with heat vision and restorative health; Flint has an auto targeting feature that seems pointless when the fun of a sniper is being able to use a long-range scope and aim yourself; and Hawk has the power to blend into the scenery, which is another move taken from the Predator, shimmering effect and all.

Levels all take place on a handful of planets, with many missions returning players to the same locales instead of completely new environments. What's disappointing about the levels is not only their relatively small size, but that they are filled with huts, shacks, and open temples instead of having complex indoor compounds or bases to infiltrate. With enemies living in shantytowns, it almost doesn't seem fair that you're sent down to disrupt their meager existence. Enemies are also lacking in creativity and seem to have been pilfered from StarCraft. Instead of the Protoss you fight chanting Seer Priests, instead of the insect-like Zerg you fight Feral Outcasts and mutants, and in place of the Terrans are armored troopers called the Caspian Subversive Militia.

Ideally, the levels should have each begun with intelligence giving players maps of massive, well-guarded installations and enemy fortresses, and missions should have involved more than annihilating all resistance or picking up a trinket. Sadly, there are more strategic possibilities in one mission of Grand Theft Auto III: Vice City than in hours of playing Brute Force. To be fair, this title isn't called "Thrill of the Hunt" or "Stealth Squad," so perhaps the lack of finesse should have been anticipated, but there are other curious omissions as well. For the 23rd century, the weapon selection is rather lame, and there are no vehicles, jetpacks, or gadgets. The ability to take on hordes of enemies with up to three friends should be Brute Force's drawing power, but why support the System Link Cable over Xbox Live?

Brute Force has beautiful graphics, intuitive control, excellent sound, and a fun co-op campaign offering three difficulty levels. It is also a rather dull experience when playing alone and doesn't push the genre in any way, shape, or form -- in many cases, it takes the genre back. Players had more meaningful objectives in GoldenEye and Perfect Dark on Nintendo 64, more robust multiplayer modes in just about every shooter released, and more characters and weapons to play around with in TimeSplitters 2. There is hope for new maps, play modes, and characters with the game's support for downloadable content via Xbox Live, but those expecting the next Halo in Brute Force will likely end up feeling betrayed: Et tu, Brute?

Review: Enjoyment

Brute Force should have been better, but the presentation is appealing and the four-player cooperative support makes going through the repetitive campaign more bearable.

Review: Graphics

The planets are all filled with background activity and detail that seem to pop off the screen. Characters are well defined, and the game maintains a consistent frame rate throughout.

Review: Sound

The rear speakers offer ambient effects such as wind blowing against scraps of metal, and the characters all offer humorous (but well-acted) dialogue.

Review: Replay Value

The single-player experience is repetitive and simplistic, but bring along a few friends and the game immediately becomes more enjoyable.

Review: Documentation

The full-color manual offers large pictures and screen shots to illustrate controls as well as the interface. Also included are character bios, item descriptions, and a weapons list.

Production Credits

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