Combat: Task Force 121

The Good
Graphics and audio are great, thanks to the use of the Unreal 2 engine.

The Bad
Don't be fooled by the fact that this is basically a mod for the excellent Shadow Ops: Red Mercury: this is likely as mediocre as a game gets. So stubbornly mediocre, in fact, that it actually turns out terrible. The level designs are cramped and uninspired, something that could've been forgiven if the gameplay was fun, which it isn't. The AI? I've seen rocks that are smarter than this. Their behavior is random, doing one of the following actions:

1. Stationary target that shoots at target until it's dead, but constantly misses target
   
2. Just sitting there and doing nothing (do they want to die or something?)
   
3. Taking cover but not bothering to shoot target

In a failed attempt to make the game more difficult, there are absolutely no health packs that you can pick up, so your health only recharges at the end of each level. There's only one save slot per profile, and you can't save manually, so if you get to a mid-level checkpoint with only a little bit of health left, you might need to restart the level all over again. Ugh.

The Bottom Line
Here's a word to the developers: Budget titles don't have to be as mediocre as possible, because they can turn out to be terrible if you just develop them that way. How about playing Serious Sam or Painkiller if you want proof that budget titles can be great games?

Here's a word to the consumers: Under no circumstances should you play Combat: Task Force 121 or use it as a role model for other games. (Unless you're masochistic or want to laugh at it, that is.)