Special Forces X Review

When it comes to FPS (First Person Shooter) Games most companies; for example EA and smaller Indie companies seem to follow the trend that has been set down by the Call of Duty Franchise from Activision, highly addictive, fun and easily playable. Now we have a new contender  Special Forces X from Micropose which is relatively cheap and surprisingly a very fun game, though it has a few rough edges that if fixed, could turn this game into quite the little gem.

A 3^rd person arena shooter with a cartoony, cell shaded look; it’s different enough to make the game feel fresh but enough similarity to jump into the game and knowing what to do. If you’ve played Gears of War and liked it; you will feel very at home here (apart from the lack of necks the size of trees). This is what the game does best and where it should as well. The shooting and the combat mechanics have been done very well. It seems simple enough; if you shoot whilst running, your accuracy drops and if you’re aiming and crouching you can basically snipe; though it’s funny how many bigger games forget this part.

Choosing your weapons is the standard fare of unlocking weapons/perks and equipment as you travel through the ranks. Each weapon can then be customised with: different scopes, magazines and attachments. It will allow most people to play the game any way they want: stealthy or loud, long ranged or short; there is a lot of customisation for the weapons in this game which is nice to see.

Extra equipment comes in the form of different explosives and attack dogs. Currently the attack dogs are gained very early on in the game and are relatively useless. The dogs will either run and then not move again or just run around ignoring all opposing players. This is something that needs to be fixed because even though its not the usual over powered weapon, it just makes it a pointless piece of equipment but hopefully the developers will get on this with a patch.

One of the bigger points that was advertised for this game, was that the levels are always random. Each level is split into 3 sections and there are about 4-5 choices for each section. The players can then vote on which section they want where; this leads to over 100 different map variations. Whilst this does allow for a massive amount of maps; it is also fun to learn the maps, where the choke points are and routes around the map. It’s an exchange for the amount of different maps though; because there are only 4-5 different sections for each map, it doesn’t really make each map seem different. This isn’t helped by each of the maps also being what seems like midday, there is no choice for time of day or weather effects, though even with this, it never felt like I was playing the same map repeatedly, just as though I was seeing the same parts over and over again.

Graphically the game looks different; with a nice cell shaded look, it does make the characters stand out. It’s nice to have a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously and not try and have a realistic look like every other game; because of this, it manages to make it stand out a little more than the rest.

This is one game that was impressive to see, it’s nice to see a game that tries to take a popular formula and change it in a way. It’s something that most developers are scared to try in fear of failing. Although this game currently has a average player base; I’ve never had a problem finding a full game with good connection. With the problems found in the lower levels of equipment; there may be problems in the higher ones but hopefully the game will have a patch released that fixes these little problems.

My one worry for this game is that on the main menu there is an option for Downloadable Content. Now I’m all for extra content in a game to extend the game’s life but I do dislike DLC in multiplayer games as it cuts the player base down, if not enough people buy the DLC. The ones who did will have no one to play the game with any more and if too many do, the ones who don’t want to or cannot afford to buy it are then left with a game that they are unable to play any more due to a lack of players. This is especially problematic with a game with a low player count; if this game does release a DLC pack with maps or anything else, the already small player base will be lost. It seems the current trend to shoehorn DLC into every aspect of video games but I don’t understand why a smaller indie company, whose income, will basically come from only word of mouth advertising and a dedicated player base. You then just expect them to start paying for DLC before a good relationship has been established; Killing Floor and Team Fortress 2 are some of the best examples of how DLC is handled, and it shows by the fan base both have managed to gain.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.