Operation Darkness Review

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(More customer reviews)"Operation Darkness" is the first Japanese strategic role-playing game (JSRPG) to arrive on a Microsoft console and I say not a moment too soon.After all, Final Fantasy Tactics is one of my favorite games of all time and OD is very similar in gameplay to that groundbreaking gem.The story takes place during World War II with your main character being wounded in battle.He receives an emergency blood transfusion from a British special forces officer who shows up just in time.You join the unit known as The Wolf Pack and for a while, everything is as it should be; you find Nazis, you shoot Nazis, life is good.And so it goes until after one battle when zombies suddenly appear out of nowhere.Promises of forthcoming explanations keep you going until a friggin' vampire shows up and starts demolishing everyone.So your commanding officer -who was so generous as to have given his own blood for your transfusion- transforms into a werewolf and tosses the bloodsucker into the air as the anime hottie you have a crush on blasts him in mid-air with a fireball from her hand.Alrighty then."Operation Darkness" mixes and melds a wonderful historically accurate account of the greatest of all wars with supernatural horror aspects and presents it as a solid JSRPG video game.These are a few of my favorite things.

Now, if you've read the professional reviews for this game you are thinking, "Hey, man, didn't this get like a 40 out of 100 on Metacritic?".Yes. Yes it did.But the professional reviews are from the standpoint of video game industry insiders who are more concerned about a game's programming, graphics, and technical proficiency then they are it's capacity to entertain.Screw that.Lost Odyssey garnered some decent scores and it has endless loading screens, outdated gameplay, limited voice-acting, technical issues, AND it needed four discs to do it; all for a few awesome-looking cutscenes.This is a stripped-down game by comparison that focuses on it's key aspects well and does away with endless cutscenes and the loading screens that go with them in favor of a solid fully-voiced story often (well) told with non-animated characters.It may be last-gen, but it is still effective.

Now let me give you full disclosure about what IS wrong with OD.First, foremost, and most flagrantly there is the in-battle camera.Atlus tried somethinga little different and went for a up-close-and-personal view reminiscent of a third-person shooter rather than the standard eagle's eye-view typical of most strategy games.This succeeds in making the battle seem more in your face and personal, but the fact that you often can't line up your shots because there is a tree or building blocking your view from behind your character is awful at times.It's not as bad as some reviewers would have you believe once you get used to it (the mini-map is your friend), but it is a fault nonetheless.Next, you get most of the best skills early in the game and every character gets the same selection to choose from.So basically, while the characters are customizable, you'll more than likely have most of them with the same stat boosts for most of the game.The good is that those skills level up according to how you play the game with each character and that's very cool.The fact that most of your characters can die permanent deaths puts a big damper on this game as well.There are no revival items and only one character (who CAN die) has magic to bring them back.Two of the characters look similar so at one point I wasn't even aware that one had died until after the hour+ battle was done so I had to restart because who the hell wants to play an RPG without a major character's dialogue?Silly.

This game is hardcore and unforgiving.One-shot kills abound and the fact that the 100% required feature of having a mortally wounded soldier heal themselves with items from their personal inventory is a skill that takes a space away from the other skills I could be equipping is a headache.You are typically (over)matched against a group of nearly- indestructible tanks and an army of soldiers where you have to run and hide until you can bring your slow-moving bazooka troops to bear.Then, out of ammo, out of healing items, and feeling good about yourself after an hour or so of pitched battle, the game tosses another large volley of fresh troops and/or tanks at you in an obvious attempt to make you throw your controller at the screen.However, this does make for a real feeling of accomplishment when you send those Jerrys packing.Each move you make must be carefully planned, each attack carefully weighed for risk, and skillful strategizing is usually rewarded with success. In spite of it's issues, this is a great strategy game.

As well as many historical figures, there are some horror icons that make appearances as well.Jack The Ripper is particularly awesome in his role and vampire legend Carmilla turns up leading the supernatural Nazi forces.One of your comrades-in-arms is a bespectacled Re-Animator known as Herbert East.I KNEW that guy's needle-brandishing pose looked familiar!So cool.You even get a sword-swinging Van Helsing descendant on your team.Add plenty more interesting characters and horror homages to that pile. The story is solid and it such that it never fails to point out that not all Germans were Nazis and many actually opposed Hitler.In fact, your aforementioned love interest is a German citizen, driving the point home.And there you are with your German-hating ways.For shame.I'll take this over 90% of what's out there any day of the week, last-gen or not.

"Operation Darkness" is a great game IF YOU ARE A FAN OF THE GENRE.If you are not, the camera will drive you nuts, the graphics will not impress you, the presentation will strike you as PSP-worthy, and you will not have a good time.But if you read what I wrote and said "hell yeah!" then download the free demo from Xbox Live.It's a level where the camera is at it's worst so if you can enjoy that particular battle than this game is all about you.There is nothing else like this on a current console and I highly recommend it to true strategy game aficionados who are into WWII history and horror films.

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Operation Darkness X360

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