If there is one thing Xbox isn’t short of then it has to be First person shooters (FPS). With many thrusting players into the leading role as you attempt to save the world or stop terrorists, it is obvious that it’s pretty hard now for developers to come up with new an exciting scenarios for these games.

Military or special ops type games have always been popular with the gaming masses as many players assume a role that they would never achieve in real life. Maybe most people wouldn’t want to as I’m sure the element of fear is perhaps too much for people to stomach. With a sense of realism in these types of games its obvious why they are so popular. Armchair heroes can stand proud and step right up for their next mission. Shadow Ops Red Mercury another FPS whereby the player travels the globe, kicking terrorist butt.

I remember watching a program on TV a few years back on this little publicised substance, remembering that it was highly destructive in even the smallest quantities however the substance itself wasn’t lethal on it own and needed a catalyst to unleash its destructive qualities. Well shadow ops as its title suggests is about terrorists, red mercury and someone having to clean up the mess. That will be you then.

Gameplay:

Shadow Ops works like any other first person shooter that is currently available, with some slight differences in controller layout the basics are pretty much the same. With its movie like military scenario the core game play revolves around take cover, point gun, shoot, kill terrorist, next! However these terrorists are rather aggressive and will stop at nothing to see you taken out. Some may ignore you completely or take cover whilst firing wildly at you while others will suddenly charge at you from out of nowhere. Mostly though your enemies will be on you like a hungry pack of wolves throughout the game.

The very first mission throws you in at the deep end with a full blown fire fight to contend with. Luckily at this point you are accompanied by several other troops to help you out, although help is a questionable word in this instance. While generally making a lot of noise and looking military style cool your help might as well put their guns down and make small talk with each other while you do all the work.

The first thing you will discover after the rather intense intro mission and especially if you die is how the developers have gone for a level structure where the player is granted no checkpoints what so ever (a little like Goldeneye). Although there are plenty of medical kits lying around which should be used tactically, if you die then its back to the very beginning of the mission to start over. Depending on what type of player you are then this will either annoy the hell out of you or force you to adjust your play style slightly. The problem here for me stems from the fact that the game is trying to offer all out action yet at the same time can be rather unforgiving, especially when a group of terrorist will magically appear behind you sometimes. There are also very few moments in the game where stealth plays any part, which to some might be a welcome change. However for me it made the game feel very scripted as it seemed like I would trip an invisible marker which then unleashed terrorist hell from nowhere. On a plus note the game play of shadow ops can be very fulfilling and extremely engaging. As I mentioned before, the onus is on pure action sequences rather than snooping around. Armed with a reasonable range of weaponry (which you will no doubt be experts in their use from countless other games you have played) to mess around with, each displaying their own traits combat is well realised overall.

The level design itself is pretty linear although offers as much variety as you can with a real world terrorist type game. Jungles, war torn town centres, docks , warehouses you name it appear. Although you have probably been to these types of places in other games, rarely do you get the chance to pay much attention to your surroundings, other than looking for an explosive barrel to shoot.

Graphics:

The graphics are of a reasonable quality and display some nice looking textures when viewing objects up close. However don’t be expecting too much detail overall as Shadow ops is no where near as good as it could be on Xbox. Whilst some areas of the game look ok others look more bland and uninspiring. The character models are also very dated looking especially for some of the terrorists which is a shame.

Rag doll physics have been employed (I think) however its use is rather limited as some of the death animations look comical at best. That aside and I shall mention it again, the developers have gone for action rather than admiring the scenery for hours. This means the issue of graphics shouldn’t hamper your playing experience at all, although anyone watching you play will notice perhaps. There were some instances where there was some frame rate problems but these moment were quite rare and didn’t affect the on screen action.

Sound:

The sound team have done a pretty good job with the games sound overall. If I were to complain then that would be because of some lacklustre and contrived music in places. However the ambient and weapons fire sounds are excellent and create a real sense of raging gun battles. Some reasonable voice acting has been used as well with the hero being suitably gruff sounding during cut scenes. Overall in my opinion turn down the music and let the ambience of the game take over especially if you have surround sound which the game supports.

Longevity:

Shadow Ops offers 25 missions to play with and several levels of difficulty. However due to the scripted nature of the game any element of surprise is lost after beating the game. Luckily split screen, system link and Xbox Live play are included which extend the life of the game somewhat. I won’t go into many details here as the options are the same as any other game of this type. Overall a reasonable length game although after playing the single player I was left with the feeling that none of the levels were memorable enough to want to play again.

Overall:

I enjoyed playing Shadow Ops because it captured combat and intensity very well. With some excellent sound used and the core structure of the game pretty good Shadow ops is well worth playing. The niggling gripes I have with the game were an issue at times but generally didn’t make me want to give up. With its no nonsense game play I recommend this title for those bored of the Tom Clancey approach to gaming. However I will say that a rental is probably a safer bet if you are unsure. There is definitely a lot of fun to be had here but also a lot of potential frustration.