Developer: Wide Games
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Game URL:WWW.CODEMASTERSUSA.COM
Genre: Action/Adventure
MSRP: $49.95
Online: No
Platform: Xbox, PC CD-ROM
Players: 1
Publisher:Codemasters

Introduction:

Let’s face it; the military has always played a part in incorporating some part of itself into video gaming, ever since the birth and boom of it. The first person creation of doom, helped paved the way for soldiers, marines and master chiefs everywhere, and somewhere along the lines, became the ideal model for most first person shooters of today. Now, years later along the double barrel timeline which is gaming, the outcome, as of late, has been a trickling hash of more and more of the same. The FPS genre has risen the cultural clout of the pissed off soldier who is out to save the world with his rifle, to a ridiculously repetitive level. So when Codemasters landed Prisoners of War on my door step, I was more then intrigued to find a title with a strong military atmosphere to be different from the rest, from the covert ops officers gritting their teeth, packing their pistols and just inching for the first sign of World War III. Opposite of guerilla warfare, the emphasis on POW is stealth, you play the part of US pilot Captain L. Stone, who was shot down and quickly finds himself trapped behind the various walls of German concentration camps. And while we’ve all gotten a hefty taste of stealth loving gameplay from Metal Gear Solid, there’s going to be a long while before we actually get to see the sequel on the Xbox. So POW will help sustain your craving for zesty ninja-like sneaking for the time being. While the graphics might be a bit under the belt, the game was challenging enough to keep me semi-satisfied and entertained.

Presentation:

Perhaps one of the worst features of POW is its poor presentation. You’ll notice this after the introduction scene. Main character and pilot Captain L. Stone is sent on a reconnaissance mission to scout suspicious territory behind German lines by means of air. Taking heavy anti aircraft fire from below, Stone is shot down and captured. While all this is taking place Stone is chatting with co pilot JD, trying to keep him calm, that’s when you’ll notice the lack of depth in POW There’s no real sense of the danger of what’s happening around you in your environment. You’ll find that a lot of the cut scenes in POW will do little to immerse the player into the on going story. Presentation could have been better.

Controls:

There are only 2 primary buttons in POW, of course all buttons are used but you’ll find yourself getting much more familiar with the X and A buttons. They initiate your actions. You’ll be able to talk, open doors, disguise yourself and pick up objects using the X and A buttons alone. On the top right corner of the screen there are images of both the X and A buttons. Whenever Captain L. Stone is able to perform an action such as using an object, then you’ll get the cue when the X or A button’s image changes into another image in its place letting you know that a certain task can be preformed when that button is pressed. Walk up to a fence and the game makes you aware that you are able to climb that fence by replacing the image of where the X and A buttons once were, and exchanging them with another symbol that would represent scaling the wall. The little amount of button reactions make for a slim learning curve...

Gameplay:

Uniquely different and can be extremely challenging…

Your main objective is to escape, which is divided into different missions. On some missions you’ll have to prove yourself to others. In order to do this, you must perform favors. Favors consist of you sneaking around to perform a chore of some sort. Whatever the task, you’ve got to get the job done. But like I’ve stated before, you have to be a shadow. There is no absolutely correct way to finish a task in POW; the game is, for the most part, open-ended. This means there are numerous ways for you to complete an objective without there being a right way of doing things. There may be a few ideal ways for completing a mission, but not anything scripted. There’s also a crucial part of the gameplay which forces you to become a strategist. Whatever it is you have to do, most of the time, you’ll have the opinion of doing it during the day, or waiting until nightfall. Along with different time frames comes and goes guards at their post. The guard that was guarding the barrack door at 11 o clock earlier may not be there at 4 o clock in the morning. Or maybe he is, just fallen asleep on the job. Forcing the player to gather intelligence and execute according to his own style, and further adding to eliminating linearity. There are also a number of actions you can perform to help you accomplish your goal in more tactful ways. Guards can be ether extremely intelligent or extremely stupid at times. They respond to changes in the environment and investigate them if things seem too suspicious. To this end Captain L. Stone can throw rocks in a certain direction or at certain things to misdirect attention and sneak by. Stone can also deliberately cause a ruckus by pounding on a wall and running in the other direction, leaving guards to investigate and buying him enough time to do what he’s got to do. Stone can even disguise himself as one of the guards, provided that you’ve successfully stolen a German guard uniform. Even then, some guards tend to get real smart, real fast, and are able to spot you out. To which, you will be fine a day in the cooler (solitary confinement) which will be the price you pay for most of your mistakes in POW. To that end, there is no pressure to finish things in a quick manor in POW, if you fail or get caught, you’ll get 1 or 2 outcomes. Ether your character (Captain Stone.) will give up, and frustratingly put his hands in the air, if this happens your next stop will be in the cooler, where you’ll be greeted to a German guard usually spouting some smart mouth comment. Or, you can get shot in the leg, to which you wake up to the only female you’ve seen in a long while, a nurse. Ether way, there’s no punishment for getting caught or recaptured, other then the fact that your things get taken away. (your ability to hold things in your pocket and hand, if the guards catch you then they confiscate them away from you.)
The game would be made a little bit more interesting if you had to escape before 90 days (example) or so.

Visuals:

There’s no real trump card for the graphical standings of POW The games’ plot doesn’t put you behind any vast environments like a game such as Morrowind and uses little to none of the graphical prowess of the Xbox. That’s not to say that the graphics aren’t good, there just not up to Xbox capabilities. The Characters are modeled decently with no real remarkable attention to detail, same as for the Environments and surroundings except for weather effects. I found myself pretty impressed with the way the raindrops actually sparkle around the camera as they fall, something personally, I’ve never seen done. While not an absolute mouth watering effect, it’s still a welcomed addition to the atmospheric events happening around you and a nice change.

Audio:

While there isn’t much to show for as far as Audio diversity, POW certainly gets the audio job done. Voice acting is done well, Germans actually speak German (most of the time.) with short, high-pitched voices, while all other nationalities speak English with accents, and the characters actually move their lips in sync with the voice acting. POW’s soundtrack actually picks up where the poor cut scenes left off, by serving their purpose better by further immersing the player and letting them grasp a sense of the action by incorporating interactive sound. That just means the sound scales the volume and tempo of the in-game music and sound effects to coordinate with the action. When you’re off sneaking around guard towers, the already suspenseful music quickens and intensifies with the toppled sound of your heart beating ever faster the closer you come to getting caught. If your not doing anything your not suppose to, then you wont hear the music change tempos.

Final Thoughts:

Despite its flaws, Prisoner of War is actually a good title a different style of gameplay and a very high replay value rate. The game might appeal most to gamers whom pride themselves on being strategist. If you’re interested in just beating the game then only rent it, if you’re interested in exploring a slew of solutions to a problem then consider a purchase.

+ THE GOOD:

- A wartime theme that doesn’t involve Sgt. Slaughter and his best friends Colt and Beretta.
-Really challenging
-Simple control scheme
-Interactive sound.
-High replay value for those whom want to explore different ways to accomplishing an end goal.
- Numerous escape options
- Open ended, none linear gameplay.
- First game to authentically recreate the experience of a WWII prisoner of war.
- May appeal to strategist the most.

+THE BAD:

- Doesn’t take advantage of the power of the Xbox.
- Dialogue can be corny while trying to be funny at times.
- Doesn’t involve Sgt Slaughter and his friends.
- Bad presentation, cut scenes fail to immerse the player.

+THE STUPID:

- Guards can be incredibly stupid. While running around from a site I had been spotted at, a guard ran right passed me and watched me as I went back to my barracks.