Difficulty:

Very Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Mixed reactions"

The good news is that the graphics are great and the gameplay itself is intense. I really WANT to like this, and keep coming back to try it again, and every time I just get angry and frustrated. I haven't tried the multiplayer yet; maybe it's better but the single-player campaign on Easy has me so frustrated I'm ready to uninstall the game. Begin mission, die from some unseen enemy, restart, figure out where unseen enemy was, kill him, advance 50 feet, die from unseen enemy, repeat. This may be like real life but then in real life they wouldn't send you on a suicide mission with 3 teammates against an entire army.

Specific frustrations:
* Enemies can see you, but you can't see them.
* Enemies are marked when they are in range, but only sometimes. Was just playing it and two enemies ran in front of me, one marked, one not.
* A lot of the time you really have no idea what your goal is. Wait at square for extraction. You wait and nothing happens. Finally you advance, then 50 enemies suddenly appear and one-hit you.
* Computer teammates are mostly good for getting shot, which results in ...
* Repetitive voices. I am tired of being in the middle of a firefight and a teammate gets shot and the voiceover comes through, "It's a tough decision, but you gotta go on." STFU, I'm in the middle of a firefight myself, you idiot.
* Your teammates won't shut up. I'm trying to use the tactical map and they keep saying, "Captain?" and "Talk to me, sir." In real life they might say that ONCE and then I'd tell them to shut up and that would be the end of it.
* Tactical map is just about useless. At normal view you can't see enemies out of the map's range and often can't see the objective. Go to the overview, however, and you can't see where you are OR where the enemies are.
* They will sometimes give you assets and not tell you. One one mission I kept dying over and over until I was looking at the tactical map, and lo and behold there was a listing for a tank. Where did that come from? Gee, ya coulda told me I had a tank. It was secret?
* I came from Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and that game is soooo much superior it isn't even funny. At least RSV2 gives you a decent cover system and you can actually see what you are shooting at.