It really was only a matter of time before the WWII genre become so over-saturated that somebody would think about taking it to the next level. No, I don't mean improved realism, super-advanced squad tactics, or anything similarly substantive. I mean it in the pejorative sense - we're talking World War II, to the extreme! This is, in essence, what Relic has done with the oh-so-overused backdrop of the European front - they've condensed all the explosion-laden, super-soldier machismo that was merely latent in other games, and put it front and center as the star of the show. The Outfit is, from start to finish, a simplistic and orgiastic revelry of war, never deviating from its linear and predictable path. While it is redeemed in part by the novelty of its multiplayer component, the main thrust of the game is poorly thought out and coarsely executed.The main component of The Outfit's story arc is that a particularly blood-thirsty nazi general by the name Hans Von Beck is wreaking havoc on the French countryside, massacring whole villages full of people, and driving the French Resistance heavily under ground. The American military brass calls on the titular outfit to root out and destroy Von Beck, and rid France of this particularly nasty Nazi menace. The three main characters are torn straight from the pages of an old G.I. Joe comic book. The group is lead by Captain Deuce Williams who, if his aviator sunglasses and default armament of a bazooka are any indication, could give R. Lee Ermey a run for his money. Sergeant Thomas "Mac" Macintyre is a sort of beefy John Wayne/Arnold Schwarzenegger hybrid whose primary role in the story is a hokey romance with a member of the French Resistance. And finally, there's Lieutenant John Davis Tyler, who really doesn't do much else besides being the token "gruff introverted minority" character. None of the characters are particularly memorable insofar as the story is concerned, their armament being the biggest distinction between them when you choose your character prior to a battle.

With your cardboard cutout of a hero picked out, you are then given a four-man squad who you lead into combat against those Nazi shyster bastards. The game's levels are extremely linear; starting from the beginning of the level, you move from objective to objective, capturing checkpoints and buildings as you advance. Buildings serve not only as checkpoints that let you spawn closer to the frontlines upon death, but certain buildings also confer on you certain equipment upgrades. Part of the supposedly "tactical" element of The Outfit is the ability to purchase weapon emplacements and vehicles on the fly using credits earned by destroying enemies and completing objectives. And to be clear, personally setting up .50 cal. machine guns around an objective in anticipation of an enemy counterattack is a pretty cool idea. But the terrain in the Outfit is so crushingly linear that there is rarely ever any chance for tactical maneuvering - there are only so many places to put a machine gun when, for all intents and purposes, you're in a tunnel.

The 'shooty' action element of the game, while vaguely reminiscent of The Mercenaries, is imprecise and sloppy. To put a bigger emphasis on your squad and tactical weaponry, your characters' arsenals are supremely underwhelming - the ability to just personally shoot your way through the enemy just isn't there. Your bullets, if you manage to get them anywhere near your target with the imprecise aiming reticle, have all the stopping power of BBs. The explosives are similarly disappointing, with a notable lack of splash damage. Even with Deuce's bazooka, you're going to have to peg each individual enemy if you have any intention of stopping them for good. And as if it wasn't bad enough - the collision detection for the scenery is extremely wonky - sometimes you'll find yourself getting shot through buildings, and other times your ordinance hits invisible walls.

The vehicular combat also stands out as among the worst I've seen in a long time. It's nearly impossible to steer the vehicles how you'd like, and smashing into scenery is an all-too-common occurrence. Considering many of the vehicles require you to be facing forward to fire, the best use of many of the game's vehicles is simply as a battering ram. You can run over enemy soldiers just as easily if not more easily than you can shoot them. The only reason to bother with the vehicles in the first place is the murderous accuracy of enemy tanks and anti-personnel machine guns, who will easily tear through you at certain points if you're not behind some sort of armor.

And even in the face of such obstacles, there's no sense of urgency to the game. You're given an unlimited number of respawns for each level, allowing you to just keep zerging from your forward-most spawn point. The story isn't compelling enough to keep you interested, and is really incidental to the mission objectives, which all essentially amount to a repetitive smash and grab. Really, the only variety to the game, and the only incentive to play all the way through, are the mission-specific objectives like blowing up searchlights or shooting down enemy fighters that net you gamerpoints. Beyond that, it's hard to imagine anybody wanting to play the game to completion.

The multiplayer mode is about the only facet of the game worth your time, and even then, it's a fleeting romance. It's an interesting change of pace for an online shooter to focus on strategy, instead of on who has the fastest twitch reflexes. The core gameplay mechanics don't help matters though, and it's only a matter of time before the fun and ease of Xbox Live's social dynamic ceases to be an adequate crutch for the game's failings.

Graphically, The Outfit doesn't look too many steps above what was possible on the Xbox. It's nice having it in HD and all, but nothing about the game stands out as so technically impressive that you couldn't just go with the cheaper version. One of the biggest selling points for the game graphically is that nearly everything is destructible. You can level buildings, destroy bridges, burn trees, and all sorts of other weird stuff. Even the enemy soldiers themselves crumble into bite-sized fascist pieces when you peg them with an explosive. At this stage in the game though, is it really too much to ask for dynamic physics with our explosions? When I flatten a building, I want to feel it. The Outfit just doesn't feel of this generation in this respect.

There is certainly no lack of war games for the Xbox 360, even this early in the console's development. Any new franchise trying to break into the genre faces stiff competition and a market full of experienced, jaded gamers who expect nothing less than the best from developers. The Outfit, while it presents an interesting spin on the traditional take for a game of its sort, falls short of not only of its own developmental aspirations, but also of the rigorous standards of console gamers. It might be worth a rent for sheer novelty, but it certainly doesn't belong in your collection.

Score: 69%

Apr 5, 2006 | 0 comments
Chris Chester