Brute Force

Four mediocre action heroes. Six mediocre action worlds. One mediocre action game.

Brute Force wants really, really badly to be the next Halo, what with its squads of space commandos, dual-weapon-wielding heroes, sniper rifles, and alien worlds. It?s good to want things.

The Drawing of the Four
Brute Force?s biggest draw is its squad mechanics?now you actually get to control the commandoes fighting next to you instead of just watching them?but unfortunately it?s more interesting in theory than in practice. Each of your four commandoes has a ?superpower,? but only one (Brutus?s thermal vision) is really all that useful. Switching between members is easy, but it?s more a hassle than it is fun?you?ll wind up wishing you just had one character to worry about with all the ?powers? bundled in one. Plus, the game design isn?t ?tactical? enough to even warrant the squads?this is as straightforward a shooting gallery as they come, and missions essentially boil down to ?follow the yellow dots down the canyon.? It?s cool that 3 friends can control the other squadmates, but there?s no Xbox Live multiplayer?a really glaring omission for a squad-based shooter.

Conformity Has Its Place
Brute Force apes Halo?s control scheme almost note-for-note, but does it from a third-person perspective just for the sake of being different. You?ll wish it had chosen 100% conformity?the angle change removes some of the grace that comes with the setup. Cheers to the helpful grenade ?guidance? system, however; jeers to slightly awkward inventory management system.

The visual design is very Halo-esque, too, but the frame rate and overall gleam isn?t up to Bungie?s high standard. The game makes textbook good use of Dolby Digital 5.1 for explosions and sound effects, but sometimes the in-game vocals are drowned out, and dumb one-liners from your not-all-that-likeable-in-the-first-place lead characters get dumber each time you hear them

Brute Force is fun for a while, a forgettable destruct-a-thon with an OK squadly gimmick, but that?s about it. This gang of four doesn?t add up to one Master Chief.

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