SAS: Secure Tomorrow is the
first City Interactive title I've decided to
try, having received mixed (but not bad) reviews
from Gamespot and IGN. Not sure what game they
were playing, but SAS was barely worth the $10
I paid for it.
The game is so short you'll
be done in under 3 hours. You start in a prison,
followed by a building complex then a snowy
base in Greenland. In most games, that would
be three levels but City Interactive spreads
it out across 10 levels. It's basically just
F.E.A.R. inspired room-corridor-room design.
Even the outdoor snow levels are just a series
of medium sized outdoor areas connected by snowy
passageways (corridors). There's no great detail,
no setpieces whatsover or even mildly interesting
environment backgrounds. Compared to other 2008
games, SAS will be a big let-down, as it looks
about as good as games released five years ago.
In fact if this was released in 2003/2004 it
would have been quite popular, apart from the
length.
The engine is a little better
than the art, being the Jupiter EX from Lithtech
that powered F.E.A.R. and Condemned. But by
2008 this engine is a few years old and hasn't
aged well.
Ultimately if you liked the
look of F.E.A.R., then SAS is more of the same.
Just a little worse.
The gameplay has you fighting
terrorists with two comrades. Unfortunately
they are a beefy source of frustration, constantly
getting in your way. They run into rooms gung
hoe because they're invicible, but they're also
really bad shots and often will just stand around
not shooting and often facing towards you while
there's enemies RIGHT BEHIND THEM. Perhaps it's
a good thing, otherwise they'd complete the
entire game for you.
You get some variety with plenty
of weapons, although they're all very similar
machine guns, but all fairly fun. The enemies
have mixed AI, sometimes retreating to cover.
But overall it's quite an easy game. I probably
only died a few times on medium difficulty,
mostly due to being reckless. Sometimes you
need to be careful and lean around corners using
cover, while you can also run into a room blasting.
It's the kind of gameplay I enjoy.
So overall, below average design
and extremely short length, but it's generally
kind of fun. If you can find it for under $10
and have absolutely nothing else to play, then
it's perhaps worth a few hours of your time.
