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Categories: Preview
Tags: demo, turn-based, xbox 360
I checked out the demo for Operation Darkness last night and, at its core, it’s the type of game I’d like to play. Beyond its core is a game with poor graphics and shoddy controls making it not the type of game I’d like to buy.
Operation Darkness is a turn-based strategy game with a supernaturally-infused WWII setting. You control a squad who are tasked with taking out Axis troops, living and undead. Basic movement orders are issued on a grid and squad members can open fire provided they are within range of the enemy. Weapons in the demo included bayonnets, hand grenades, and bazookas, which opens up strategy options even before you consider the game’s magic system. Deeper commands, like setting up zones of cover fire, also bolster the game’s tactical side. Sadly, nothing bolsters the game’s must-have side.
When a demo ends, I should be left with the feeling that I’d pay $60 on the spot to continue the gaming experience. That didn’t happen here. In Operation Darkness you issue orders from a third-person perspective so you can see a bit beyond what the squad members can see, but surveying the battlefield means fighting the camera. Let me be clear on this: the camera flails around like a drunken sailor.
Also, Operation Darkness looks more like Operation Washed Out. I’ve come to expect crisp, detailed graphics in my next-gen games. Here I saw generic buildings, muted colors, and generally uninspired effects. In short, there’s nothing in this demo that warrants the game’s $60 price point and I doubt Atlus can tighten this up by the June 24, 2008 release date.