World War II Combat: Iwo Jima

The Good
Absolutely nothing. This game sucks.

The Bad
Are you sure you want to hear this? Are you ready for the worst game ever made? All right, you requested it. Buckle and tighten your seatbelts, folks, 'cause this is gonna be a really bumpy ride...

If you know about me, you should already know that I truly hate World War II Combat: Road to Berlin. You should already know that everyone truly hates World War II Combat: Road to Berlin. You should already know that World War II Combat: Road to Berlin was easily the worst game to ever grace anyone's Xbox when it was released earlier on this year. That is, until Groove Games suddenly and quietly released Direct Action Games' latest disasterpiece, World War II Combat: Iwo Jima, to disturb everyone's great summer. Wait a minute! Why, just why, would Groove and Direct Action be stupid enough to make a sequel to a game that was so horrible and unpopular in the first place? Why, just why, did they decide to make it even worse than it already was? Why, just why, did they even allow Road to Berlin to be released in the first place? I could go on and on and on with these "why, just why" questions, but for now, we're here to talk about World War II Combat: Iwo Jima's defects.

Since World War II Combat: Iwo Jima has the same gameplay mechanics as its predecessor, you already know that you're in for a horrible time. To be honest, the game seems like it got no testing whatsoever prior to its release. And I'm not just saying this because of the hideous bugs that you'll find crawling throughout the game -- characters that look like cardboard targets sliding on ice, beyond-abysmal AI (yes, you heard that right -- beyond abysmal), frustrating controls, laughable physics, bad collision detection, etc., etc. -- but also because World War II Combat: Iwo Jima is a textbook example of how NOT to design a game.

Like I mentioned above, the AI in World War II Combat: Iwo Jima is beyond abysmal. Enemies are generally unaware of your existence and do the wrong actions at the wrong time. Get this -- they even step on grenades or landmines that they set as traps! No, seriously folks, I'm not joking! Sadly, you won't be able to laugh at all of this due to Direct Action's completely unintuitive remedy to the brain-dead AI. No matter how far an enemy is away from you, or where they actually shoot, EVERY SINGLE SHOT from their guns ALWAYS hits you! And then there's the boring and ineffective weapons, the inability to pick up extra weapons or health, the inability to use a gun turret (even though your enemies can), an inappropriately assigned weapons loadout for each mission, the lack of Allied soldiers to help you out...Such unintuitive game design makes World War II Combat: Iwo Jima the most unplayable game you'll try to play.

World War II Combat: Iwo Jima also has the absolute worst production values that I have ever seen. With World War II Combat: Iwo Jima, Direct Action has managed to transform Epic Games' superb Unreal 2 engine into pure and utter garbage. Abysmal polygon counts, awful level design, dull gray-and-brown textures, bad sound effects and music...you know what I'm talking about.

The Bottom Line
What remains unclear is how Groove Games is going to justify allowing this manure-in-an-Xbox-case to see the light of day. What is clear, however, is that World War II: Iwo Jima is simply an abysmal mess of a game that unfortunately must be seen to be believed. It's just plain garbage.

Besides, with the excellent WarPath already around from the same publisher, why even bother with this game?