Codename: Outbreak

The Good
I think this game got a bad rap in the U.S. because it was released as a budget title and the developers were a little no-name group from Eastern Europe (who have since gone on to create S.T.A.L.K.E.R.). Strangely, it fared much better overseas where I believe it was released as a full-price game.

I bought this game on the cheap, not expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised. It had a lot more depth and features than a lot of games I've paid a lot more for.

You have a partner in your missions (you can jump back and forth between your two soldiers) that you can give simple orders to (Hold position, Cover Me, Hold Fire, Fire At Will). The AI is surprisingly good for your partner. I had an occasional hang up when I would climb a ladder and he wouldn't follow, but that was rare. For the most part, he will go up ladders, through doors, etc. with no problem.

The graphics themselves are very good. Not award winning, but they do a good job. Also, the graphics have this neat filter effect. When you get close to any texture (wall, grass, etc.) it becomes extra detailed.

The levels are pretty expansive, usually indoors and outdoors. I remember one of the early missions where I started on a mountain road. At the top of the mountain, far away you could see a neat domed building. I was surprised to find that in the course of the mission you actually work your way up to and inside the building. The only other game I remember with such big levels was Project: IGI.

You are relatively weak in this game. You aren't often going to charge in like Rambo machine-gunning ten guards. On those rare occasions where you and your partner are suddenly forced to mix it up with a group, it's a rush. Usually, sniping is where it's at. I never got tired of concealing myself in the branches of an evergreen and picking off passing guards. Be careful though. A dead body won't just be ignored by the next guy.

I like that they tried to rationalize the amount of weapons one person carries. You have a sort of 'Swiss-army gun' that has several different features. When you choose a new weapon, you hold the same gun, but the barrel rotates. It may not be realistic to assume that the same frame that holds shot-gun shells can also serve as a sniper rifle, but its no worse than being able to carry ten weapons on your back.

The Bad
I've mentioned the graphics and game-play already. I had to hold on to sounds for this section. The weapon sounds and ambiance are perfectly fine. It's the voice 'acting' that makes the sound category a bad one.

I believe I mentioned that this game has eastern European origins. It really shows when anybody talks. It's not that I have anything against accents. Just the first mission is set in Oregon. I never realized that Oregon had so many Croatian immigrants. To tell you the truth, it's more comical than terrible, but I sure got tired of hearing 'where ARE they', 'Isee no-one', 'Here h'is!' and 'WHERE arethey shooting from?'

One other complaint is that from time to time, I would be unable to switch control from one team-mate to the other. I wish they would release a patch for this, even though it's rare.

The Bottom Line
The game was twenty bucks when it was first released. Now you can probably find it for ten or less. I highly recommend you pick it up and am looking forward to further games from GSC.

Edit: I was checking out game-play videos on YouTube (yes, I do have that much time on my hands!) and noticed that that player's version had much better voice acting than my copy did. Well, English was these voice actor's primary language anyway. If you purchase a copy of the game at this late date, may you get the one with the better voices (though the Eastern European accents do have a kind of a charm).

The Good
The graphics are okay - nothing special, though. Nice cut-scenes.

The Bad
The biggest problem with this game is that it's buggy like hell. When I tested it, it crashed about every two minutes without reason (see screenshot). And NO, I don't have an Athlon/Duron processor and I tested it with other OS than WXP too. Behaving like that makes the game impossible to play. I suppose the beta team didn't put too much time into testing.

Besides that, the weapons are lame (okay, I didn't see much of them because of the crashes), the comrade who should support you doesn't - he just shoots but doesn't seem to aim :) Sound effects are nothing special too.

The Bottom Line
Buying Codename: Outbreak will result in an access violation at address 1234:5678 in module "brain.dll" - in other words, this game is not needed (unless you want to see some nice crashes on your bomb-proof WindowsXP system :)