Covert OPS: Nuclear Dawn

Covert Ops is probably best summed up as terrorist-action movie meets Resident Evil. So how does it fare in all the important adventure game categories: puzzles, combat and story? Unfortunately the puzzles are pretty lame--way too literal and usually too easy. The little tasks you have to perform to progress (find the key, put disk into computer, etc.) never get too complicated--you are usually only on one little errand at a time, without many items to keep track of. Combat doesn't take much skill either; you just face the general direction of the enemy and the game auto-aims for you. The biggest problem though, as usual, is the camera. Your view is constantly shifting and cutting to new angles, which is not only disorienting, but really gets in the way of the gameplay. Enemies and items are often obscured when the camera cuts, which leads to incredibly awkward situations like being shot by someone off screen you can't even see. But even with all these gripes, I'd still recommend Nuclear Dawn to fans of this genre. Maybe it's the Die-Hard-esque plot. Or maybe it's the graphics--it looks great, fully polygonal and yet still very detailed and varied (which is especially impressive since the whole thing takes place on a train). The few mini-games are simple fun, and the multiple endings and optional sections make up for the shortish length (5 hours or so). If you find the premise interesting, give CO: NO a try.

Overlooking the rather tedious battle system and annoying music for a moment, Covert Ops is a fairly decent adventure game. There are plenty of neat little features, like peeking through doors that are locked and a couple of mini-games. It also has nice-looking character models, a solid story and interesting level design (considering the game takes place on a train). The multiple endings are a nice touch as well, since games like this often have little replayability. But that darned clunky battle system. Since it's such an integral part of the game, it really takes away from the overall experience. And to make matters worse, the camera acts up sometimes.

It probably looked a lot better on the drawing board, but this shameless hybrid ripoff of Metal Gear and Resident Evil turned out to be a mediocre mess. Nuclear Dawn borrows things from both games, but has very little suspense, a boring environment (whoopee, explore the endless halls of a train!), and lame enemies. Visually, the game is pretty impressive--but you'll never get to see things the way you want to, thanks to the badly designed camera views. Not only do they make exploration frustrating in the claustrophobic train, but they often force you to shoot at enemies you can't see. At least there is one neat feature--the bathrooms are save points.