Review: Covert Operations

John Romero envisioned Doom as “Aliens meets the Evil Dead”. So it makes karmic sense that Covert Ops, the new EDGE only TC from Black Shadow Software, should be the Evil Dead II of projects. Those of you who have seen the two movies will know what I’m talking about – Evil Dead II was not so much a sequel as it was a remake with much better effects.

This perfectly sums up Covert Ops progression from its predecessor, Twilight Warrior. One of my favourite TCs, Twilight Warrior put you into the role of a Special Forces soldier in a variety of anti terrorist and assassinations missions. In short, it rocked, getting 4/5 in my review. It wasn’t without it’s problems, though, which kept that final star from shining through – these were mostly the limitations of the Doom engine at the time. For example, when a hostage died, the level ended, but this feels more like a reward than a punishment, as you just went straight onto the next level as if you had completed the mission successfully.

This is where the Evil Dead II factor comes in. Covert Ops, originally envisioned as a sequel to Twilight Warrior, is just the same game with tweaked levels and some nifty effects, courtesy of the very spunky but very wobbly EDGE engine. I don’t mean to shout it down, it’s still worth downloading even if you’ve played Twilight Warrior to death, as these changes make all the difference and it’s by far the superior game. There are some new levels as well, all of which are good, but most of the levels will be familiar to old fans – Denied Area is the most guilty of this, being more or less identical.

EDGE is both this projects shining star and its biggest problem. It ups the special forces feel of the game, with mission briefings, starting each level at full health and with the weapons needed for the mission rather than Doom, where weapons and wounds are carried over. You gotta save hostages or you restart the level. Real 3D floors were one of the coolest things I witnessed in QDooM, and they really come into their own here, and the project feels more like a game on it’s own than just a collection of levels. The weapons kick ass.

But you can’t freaking well save. That’s a big, big problem for most people, as this game is much harder than normal Doom, due to its very nature. The level select also doesn’t work properly, so to see all the levels you have to plough right through them all. There are a couple of other major gripes with EDGE like, bad guys being able to see you through 3D floors (annoying) and the mouse being far too sensitive (dangerous). Once EDGE becomes stable though, this is gonna be it’s flagship – flying a plain black flag.

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Author:
Black Shadow Software

Requires: EDGE

Play Type:SP only

Downloads
sourceforge.net

Rating
11110
4/5




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