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Operation Darkness
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Graphics & Sound:
Remember Screech? He wasn't much to look at and rather quirky, yet he also had an endearing quality that made you want to like him. Then, just as your were warming up and realizing that books really shouldn't be judged by their covers, he'd do something completely awkward, ruining everything. The same can be said for Operation Darkness; the story is odd, but it does enough things right that you want to enjoy the experience, only to have a variety of really silly technical flaws screw it all up.
Even with the semi-destructible environments that allow both trees and buildings to crumble, and a handful of good animations, Operation Darkness isn't much to look at. The drab, blurry environments would probably feel more at home on the PS2 or Xbox, and the character models look wrong. The details are there, so maybe the PS2/ Xbox comparison is a bit off, but all of the characters are just "off".
Both the soundtrack and voicework are pretty decent. All of the characters have their appropriate accents and word pronunciations (most are British), which is a big plus. Only the Germans come off as parodies, mostly because it sounds like they're all trying to sound like Colonel Klink. There are a few "war time" sounding songs, predominantly during mission briefings, though most of the soundtrack is made up of more techno-y sounding music, which works pretty well. |
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Gameplay:
If you don't take Operation Darkness's story seriously, it can be pretty enjoyable in a Command & Conquer: Red Alert type fashion. The game takes place during WWII, but in a whacked-out "Coast to Coast AM" sort of way. Nearly all of the events that transpired during the real WWII happen and are introduced via narration and WWII stock footage, though there's also an undercurrent of supernatural antics. Zombies are the more common threat, but before you're done you'll fight a few werewolves, vampires and even a few skeleton warriors. But wait - that's not all! Playing as a member of the elite British Special Ops unit, the Wolf Pack, you'll team up with a few werewolves, a chick who wields fire (basically Liz from Hellboy) and Jack the Ripper. It's great fun - if only the gameplay had carried through.
The biggest problem in Operation Darkness is its camera. We've all dealt with less-than-cooperative camera systems, but this one goes beyond tolerable and can easily K.O. the game for anyone not in the mood to fight it. As a strategy RPG, the game really shouldn't have this sort of problem. Most games in the genre stick with top-down and isometric views, but neither of those are possible. You can finagle the camera into a usable position, but every time it refocuses on a character, it immediately pops back into something unusable - forcing you to spend a minute readjusting the camera or roll with the hand you're dealt. It's usually better to spend the time coaxing the camera into position, but only if you can overlook the other issues.
There are two types of missions, Campaign and Armed Recon. Both follow the same basic mechanics, only Armed Recon missions are side-missions that you don't have to complete (but probably will need to) in order to complete the game. My biggest issue with missions is the planning. It's clear that some thought when into them, but it doesn't feel like the player's experience was much of a priority. Some missions drag on and force you to take on multiple waves of enemies while others just start you off in a really bad position. For instance, one of the Armed Recon missions pits your small group of eight against five tanks. All five tanks are capable of one-hit kills, are long-range and do area damage; so naturally, they have first shot at your small party that is smartly grouped together right in the open. I'm all for obstacles that can be overcome with planning, but this is just pure luck (which, incidentally, you need a whole lot of throughout the game). |
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Difficulty:
Operation Darkness commits what I consider to be a cardinal sin for SRPGs. If any member of your team, except for select "core" members, is dead at the end of the battle, they're gone forever. This was the very reason I swore off Fire Emblem and was a real turn off with Operation Darkness. On top of that, only one of your characters can revive dead party members, so if he's gone you're screwed. You can always bring in new recruits, but they come in as Level 1 characters and make your job even harder. Plus there's a whole issue of replacing useful, likeable characters with generic ones. It's like killing off Bones and Scotty and replacing them with red shirts.
If any of the "core" members fall in battle, the mission is over and you have to start from the beginning. Missions can sometimes go for over an hour or two and you're usually outgunned. It's rough to have to restart a mission becuase someone got lucky or, worse, a technical snafu.
You'll face waves of enemies in some missions and though some go down after one attack, you'll start to see whole armies wielding cheap one-hit attacks. Add to that the camera and the inability to confirm moves after making them (something most SRPGs allow) and things can get out of hand quickly.
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Game Mechanics:
Gameplay follows the same basic structure as other SRPGs. During each player's turn, they can move all of the characters around on a grid-based map. Characters can also attack, use items or evoke special abilities. For some illogical reason, characters can only use special attacks before moving, further crippling the strategy elements.
The character move order is displayed to the right of the screen, but when you attack characters, their position on the map isn't highlighted, so you can't identify threats as easily. Most of the time you're okay with going for the closest guy, but every once in a while it can really hurt.
Operation Darkness adds a few new abilities that are somewhat useful provided that you can figure out how to use them correctly. Cover Attack and Cover Ambush each give you an extra attack move. With Attack, characters will attack when other characters in range attack; with Ambush, if an enemy moves into range, your character will immediately open fire. The last move, Cover Move, adds more movement range to a character by linking character's moves together. While Attack and Ambush are incredibly useful, Move is really only good if you have a slow character who is constantly bringing up the rear and not contributing to battle.
After enemies die, you can loot their bodies for items. This becomes a very important mechanic as missions get longer, but also alters your movement strategies. Rather than going for the best strategic position, you'll go for the loot, and even that isn't always worth the risk.
The reoccurring theme throughout Operation Darkness is for everything that it gets right, at least 2 - 3 small things go wrong. Even with its flaws, there are moments that are genuinely fun, so I was able to overlook certain issues. Unfortunately, the small things add up to the point where you can't ignore them. Operation Darkness is really hard to recommend, even with the 360's lack of SRPGs. |
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-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker |
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