IMAGINE the 60's without hippies, flower power and free love. Well that's exactly what you need to so if you're going to enter the world of Iron Storm.

In this first/third person shooter the year is 1964 and it's 50 years since the First World War started and it shows no sign of ending.

You play Lieutenant James Anderson, born in a bunker and now a legend in the trenches with the heavy burden of putting an end to this god-forsaken war.

The game takes Lieutenant Anderson through six campaigns to destroy the megalomaniac called Baron Nikolia Aleksandrovitch Ugenberg, and with a name like that you'd think he'd have enough problems, well now he has one more you.

The controls for the game take a bit of getting used to and although the option to change exists you'll need to download the patch to make this possible.

However, graphically the environments are excellent, with all the gloom and destruction you expect after so many years of war.

Unfortunately, the enemy aren't quite so well conceived and look slightly alien but this can be forgiven because you're out to get them all anyway.

The sound was brilliant with bombs exploding all around you and bullets whizzing past your head turn off the lights and you'll really think you're there.

This isn't a game to be beaten by any trigger-happy gamer either it requires you to think, although only a little.

There is information provided at various parts of the game, which can give you a clue as to how to proceed, but its relevance is not always clear.

Add to this the intelligent enemy soldiers who don't just stand around aimlessly waiting for you to fill them full of holes these guys think as well, and they're deadly accurate.

What you do have though are some meaty weapons the guns are made of massive hunks of metal that give them the look of spanning this long period with some modernday technology thrown in.

However, I did find the sniper gun particularly difficult to use because there was no zoom to line up the enemy, which made the gun pretty useless.

The game does have some problems.

I've killed one bad guy standing right next to his mate, who hasn't moved because he hasn't seen me, but once they do they're swift and deadly.

Also the character's movements can be a bit difficult and sometimes you can get caught up in the surroundings and it can be very difficult to release yourself.

As you progress through the game, killing almost anything that moves, you do have to be careful not to kill Allied troops, dressed in blue.

These guys will fight with you but beware they tend to run straight into the line of fire like rabbits in the headlights, so they may be of little help.

This isn't a groundbreaking game, forsure.

But, nevertheless, it is a solid shooter that'll have you gripped for many hours with many good aspects that overshadow its few weaknesses.

Overall the developers seem to have got it almost right.

With perhaps a bit more depth to the game play and slightly better graphics for the bad guys it would've been right up there with the best.

Don't be put off though this is still a good competitor.

Rating: 4/5

January 28, 2003 16:00