CT Special Forces: Fire For Effect PS2 Review
Being a games reviewer isn’t easy. You might think that it’s all perched in an easy chair, pad in hand, beer in the fridge, ciggie in the ashtray, playing free games earlier than anyone else. Well it is all that, but it isn’t easy. You see if you play a game that you dislike it’s okay, simply turn the console off, and walk away. Not us though, oh no, we have to sit there, night after night, playing till our stunted thumbs are mere bloodied stumps just so you don’t have to.
Then after all that we have to review it. Writing is as laborious as playing a shite game, and that’s a FACT. Yet there is a rule that goes like this: The worse the game, the easier it is to review. This isn’t strictly true, yet does yield truth. An exceptionally bad game is easy to review in the same way that slagging someone off behind their back is easy if you hate them. And reviewing a tremendous game is difficult as you attempt to do it the rich justice it deserves. But this theory bottoms out; the most difficult review to write is one that is about an average game.
CT Special Forces: Fire For Effect is an average 3rd person shooter. Worst still it’s boring – a rehash of Metal Gear Solid with a bit of Kill.Switch thrown in as well, but the laborious bits of both.
You play the part of two characters, both parts to a two-man counter terrorist cell. Yes, a government plan to counter terrorism, with only two men. Quite obviously both are hard nuts, part man – part-killing machine, who only exist to stamp out terror, ‘we shit bullets’ mentality. It’s hard to ignore the apt title or the timely release, and leaves an element of distain. Rather than cashing out on a movie-release or anything like it, we’re, instead, sold on the feigned glory of saving the world from evil terrorists.
Still, games are for fun, yet Fire For Effect is difficult to enjoy. Little planning has gone into mission structure or even less thought has gone into serving the gamer. Save points are non-existent; instead, you have to reach checkpoints. It’s an archaic way of noting progress and leaves you facing the age-old problem with playing the same parts over and over again. What this usually does is mark a games lack of genuine challenge and actual depth. A game isn’t really doing you any favours when persistence rather than skill is what sees you through.
There are the occasional glimpses of decency – notably the sky diving missions are worthy of a mention – but little else tantilises the gamer. In a genre that already holds three Metal Gear Solid titles CT Special Forces: Fire For Effect is lost. It’s a pointless endeavor. You’ll be bombarded with endless clichés and frustrating gameplay, it’s one to avoid, and if possible ignore completely.
It’s arcade, fast paced shooting action that’ll keep you entertained for, if you’re pig-headed, an hour but little more. Yet another example of poor craft in an industry already swamped with mediocre products.
2/10
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