Sunday 16 June 2013

3dsWare Review; Heavy Fire Special Operations 3d

Hard as nails

At the beginning of this game, you are given a choice of 3 different save files. After selecting one, 3 different classes with slightly differing characteristics appear; Recon, Gunner and Support. After taking a shameless selfie, which is then transferred underneath a tacked-on army helmet, your profile is complete. Apart from buying guns, this is just about as far as customization goes.

You are a generic American soldier sent off to kill some generic Middle Eastern "insurgents" in generic middle eastern enviroments. However, unlike its WiiWare predecessor, you can now lose health and can die (very easily).

large.jpgWithin this, there are only 6 levels, but each one is a significant step up from the next. Grinding on previous levels is a must, simply so you can earn enough in-game cash to get a better weapon. You can also buy reload and ammo size upgrades which become necessary later on. One touch I really fell in love with was the exploding cars, barrels and destructible scenery. While only a small proportion of the maps is like this, it is a lovely touch.

The graphics are quite impressive for and Eshop title but can seem a bit muted due to the colours in which the game is set out in. The music is very standard, but does its job. The controls are very nice, with the touchscreen for aiming and L or R for shooting. This can give you a bit of cramp during extended play sessions, so if you have your Kid Icarus stand, then I suggest you use it.

Enemies which will harm you have an exclamation mark over their heads, and although this is a nice touch, there are some gimmicky kills, where an enemy runs out in front of you while you are on your last life.




The low-down


Overall, this is a satisfying buy with incredible potential. However, it falls short in story aspects and makes you want to cry in frustration with some of the times you are killed! Online leaderboards would be nice, seeing as this is a highscore game at heart. This reminds me a lot of the Arcades of my youth, so it is a huge let down to see that this has no story cutscenes or twists, and only a few lines text description before each level. Maybe if there was an option to play this out with checkpoints, it would help people like me, who found the difficulty spikes at time very frustrating.

8/10- Good in all aspects but falls short in length




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