Iron Storm
by Joe "Impaler" HighmanArticle Type: Review
Article Date: November 05, 2002
Product Info
Product Name: Iron StormCategory: First-Person Shooter
Developer: 4X Technologies
Publisher: Dreamcatcher Interactive
Release Date: 2002/25/10 (Released)
Files & Links: Click Here
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Audacious: o-'dA-sh&s
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines audacity as “the quality or state of being audacious; bold or arrogant disregard of normal restraints.” Being a lifelong fan of both the American sport of football and the application of military doctrine and tactics, a correlation between audacious action and success becomes readily apparent. No matter if it’s third and six or if its Operation Market Garden, audacity can either make or break the outcome. However, a lack of success on the heels of such bold action almost always garnishes an equal and opposite amount of praise. Audacity of action and a stunning victory be it on the field of battle or the gridiron, and the tactician whose brainchild won the day is lauded as a genius beyond compare and a hero for the ages. Alternately, the same plan gone awry and that same tactician becomes a reckless and wasteful blunderer. And that brings us to the latest offering from Dreamcatcher Interactive, Iron Storm.A Fly on the Wall
Imagine the pitch meeting, and right away, you will know that the good folks at Dreamcatcher were certainly trampling the fine line of bold and arrogant disregard for normal restraints!  |
| The shattered surface above the trenches |
We begin with the initial design point…a World War I first-person shooter. Fair enough, you say, and quite a novel entry into the FPS market. Oh, did we mention that the story is set in 1964, 50 years after the historical start of The War to End All Wars? And that, my dear reader, is where the first indication that the folks at Dreamcatcher Interactive are either a few sandwiches short of a picnic, or could be among the most innovative thinkers in our community. Trench warfare mixes with helicopter gunships and machine pistols, and as if that isn’t outrageous enough for you, lets throw in a handful of Dobermans with several pounds of antipersonnel mines strapped to their backs. The war has continued into this alternate reality universe due to the profitability of warfare, and in fact, world stock markets in the game list and are driven by the success or failures of individual combat units. Does that count as disregarding normal restraints?
All in all, the story sounds compelling and interesting, to be sure. However, concept alone isn’t enough; programmers must transform the concept into a playable, entertaining, and hopefully addicting game. Sadly, the execution of the transformation from paper into a stream of binary 1’s and 0’s is just one of the many areas where this game begins to fall short.
That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It
Call me a purist if you must, but lets start with brass tacks. We are fans of combat simulation, and to call this game a simulation, no matter how many firearms it adds is like calling Q-bert a simulation. Iron Storm is better classified with that class of single player first-person shooter that concerns itself with mowing down hordes of demons and infinite quantities of event-generated and spawned bad guys.  |
| You gotta love it! So surreal a game that they feel the need to attach a disclaimer! |
A compelling story line is vital to the success or failure of any entertainment venue, which is why people cheer for the underdog or why people can watch movies like Apollo 13 over and over and over and over again! Guess what, folks… they make it back to Earth safely every time! A poor story, or even a wonderful one that is terribly performed, is proportionately disinteresting. Remember any high school readings of Shakespeare? Iron Storm recalls all the best pain of high school English class through a combination of a failing story line and uninspired, almost labored voice acting by the characters. While the initial premise of the story is quite aggressive and fresh; so innovative in fact that Dreamcatcher Interactive felt the need to insert a disclaimer, once involved in the action, the story disintegrates and the only real motivation for the player is the simple and mindless conquest of the map. Several computer kiosks lay sprinkled throughout the landscape and trenches, many of which give the player thinly veiled hints to help complete a task. Not that hints are necessary, as there are very few situations in the game where enough randomly directed firepower cannot solve the issue.
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| A self-contained, self-powered hint system |
Again, you might call me a purist, but even the character bios are hokey enough to make you wonder if anyone bothered to do any research at all into the proper military structure or tactics when designing this game. The main character is a 40 year old man, and 20-year veteran of the war. He is alleged to be a hero beyond compare, having proven his metal in campaign after campaign. Yet, despite this, our character is merely a Second Lieutenant, the least and most junior of the commissioned officer grades. In and of itself, not a detail that affects the gameplay, but we gather together to discuss simulation, so it would seem reasonable to at least research grade structure before using that as a selling point for the credibility of the character.
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| Our hero in a sniper low crawl. Note the five weapons attachment points. |
Let’s move on to the meat and potatoes, shall we?
Those Who Do Not Know History…
For those of you who have lost track, the year is 2002, and late 2002, at that. Nearly a decade has passed since Wolfenstein 3D and Doom have forged the rules that govern almost all successful FPS franchises. Of course, the modern successors simply follow the example set by their older groundbreaking kin, and almost always the gaming community can expect to continually see the outside edge of that performance envelope pushed further and further. Today’s FPS title offers everything from rolling, volumetric smoke to individually lighted and rendered chunks of virtual viscera.While some titles are obviously better looking than others, Iron Storm is quite frankly among one of the least visually appealing games I have ever seen. The color schemes are shockingly brilliant with very little use of shading or other lighting effects that might give some character to the terrain. The entire game, especially the ashen faces of the players during cut-scenes seemed as if the developers had given a tenth grade art class a selection of eight Crayola crayons and asked the students to draw their own version of a Thunderbirds episode.
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| FAB! - Looks like someone could use some sun! |
The so-highly vaunted trench network seems to be less an innovation than just a cheap way of taking the roofs off of an old Quake map and passing them off as cutting edge. But even that is forgivable, to a degree.
What aren’t forgivable are the shockingly ridiculous character animations in the game. In-game humans jaunt about with a floppy, almost marionette-like looseness to their gate, especially when running. Enemy reactions to incoming fire do not show any of the elements of fear or concern that so many other titles have had in the past three years, but rather scores of supposedly elite troops think nothing of bounding into a kill zone taking round after exaggerated round.
Why am I hammering away at such a minute detail as the way a character walks or stands or moves? Frankly, the reason is because every little bit of it distracts from the primary purpose of the game. You take enough petty annoyances and lump them together and eventually you have a condition that is simply too obnoxious to be ignored. Any element of the design, especially one that could just as easily be avoided using today’s engines and code, that detracts from the maximum enjoyment derived from your gaming dollar, is one too many.
And Another Thing!
After that lambasting, you might wonder if there is anything worthwhile about this game. I didn’t yet mention the sound effects, so perhaps you thought that would escape my attention. Sadly, no.The farcical weapons effects bring no feeling of resonance or depth to this “world gone mad” environment that the story line attempts to sell us on. Sniper rifles pling with none of the furious power that normally accompanies a large propellant charge burning behind a small projectile. Grenades pop with all the danger of a wine glass falling to the kitchen floor. All weapons seem to sound the same during the reloading process, more reminiscent of a sliding desk drawer than a steel spring-fed magazine loaded for bear. Even heavy stationary turret mounted machine guns whine rather than roar thunderously.
One saving grace has to be the speech of the allies and enemy you will meet in your travels. While some are quite annoying, it is amusing, if only for the moment to cook off a grenade, then to lob it over an obstacle and hear the surprised troops use some not at all polite language in their native tongues. I applaud the use of profanity in the game, not to the point where it becomes a sticky point, but at least it suggests something more realistic to human behavior on the front lines. As Bill Cosby said when discussing the phenomenon of wearing clean underwear just in case you are in an accident and need to go to the hospital. “It doesn’t matter if you hit the car or not, because first you say it, then you do it.”
Throwing In The Towel
Dreamcatcher Interactive took a bold and aggressive concept to the drawing boards. I’m sure that the idea sounded remarkable at the time, and I certainly salute their notions. However, this is one title that very clearly did not have the expertise or the resources to provide anything other than a sub-par performer using outdated thinking and outdated methods. This title, had it come out in 1998 might have fared very well, but in 2002, it’s legacy, as we say in the computer trade. Perhaps it is unfair to compare it against the combat simulations that we specialize in, as there is remarkably little simulation to be had, and almost as little combat!  |
| A once-stately cathedral, without a sanctuary! |
My wholehearted recommendation is that you avoid this game like you avoid talking to that unpopular uncle at the reunion that smells like the floor of a taxicab. If you haven’t invested the bandwidth in downloading the demo, save yourself the effort. If you haven’t spent your money on the retail version, save your cash! However, if you have spent the money, and you are fortunate and patient enough to have not broken the seal on the box, then find that receipt and take it back… today… now. Go ahead. I’ll wait for you.
Resources
Articles:- 2002/11/05: Iron Storm (Review)
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