Operation Darkness Game Sample - Xbox 360
67If you weren't a fan of the X360 during the seventh generation of consoles, I suppose one couldn't fault you for not hearing about this title. Actually, if you DID hear about this game back in the day, you wouldn't have heard much good about it anyway; most reviews of the game were incredibly scathing in nature, but that's not to say the game didn't have its share of problems... the game has A LOT of problems, big and small, and anyone who tells you otherwise is pulling your leg. At the end of the day though, Success and Atlus' 2007/2008 "Operation Darkness" is a rough gem that demands a ton of patience not just because of its pacing or sometimes brutal difficulty, but because of some of its archaic and sometimes baffling design decisions.
If you wanted to describe the game in the simplest terms, you could chock it up as an SRPG anime alternative fantasy version of World War II with characters that run the gamut from ordinary humans to Van Helsing’s grand-daughter, but that wouldn't quite do it justice. It's also a decent marriage between "Valkyria Chronicels" and "Fire Emblem", though it's worth noting that this game predates VC and was only released on the X360 by a group of devs who specialize in budget releases. Due to its subject matter, the amount of Nazi symbolism and the ultimate goal to shoot the mighty Führer, Adolf Hitler, in the head, the game was also understandably not released in PAL territories and only released in the U.S. as a mild collector's item. If you're still interested after reading this, then keep reading and watching. If you don't like strategy/tactical games or are deterred by the overwhelming amount of negative publicity this game garnered, then I couldn't blame you and this game probably won't appeal to you.
OD follows a special squad of British SAS soldiers known as the "Wolf Pack" that fight Nazis across the European Theater. The plot covers quite a bit of non-fictional events throughout the 1940s but embellishes in ways that only a video game can -- each primary member of the Wolf Pack (sans one) has undergone some kind of trauma or near-death experience that has caused them to be scouted by James Gallant, Keith Miller, and Frank Gaunt, the three primary leaders of the group. They are picked up, experimented on or trained to utilize innate abilities, and ultimately gain supernatural powers that give them an edge in the war against the Germans, but the Germans have also been conducting their own experiments by reanimating the dead, raising dragons and collaborating with a group known as the "Blood Clan". The main characters, Edward and Jude, are the latest two unwitting participants to join the Pack after Gallant saves Edward's life with a blood transfusion... what Edward doesn't know (but quickly discovers) is that Gallant is a Werewolf and has been fighting for longer than most... hundreds of years actually.
The characters and story only get more bonkers from there and it's an above average experience for two main reasons; the game does a nice job of developing characters without trying too hard to feed into tropes and the game is articulated very well, especially the English voice acting, which is stellar and characters actually emphasize lines and sound like they're actually European, German, etc. This alone almost makes up for most of the game's faults... which include a terrible camera, performance issues, long battles with no way to save in-between (which average between 30-60+ minutes each), a clumsy interface, downright unfair ambush waves on many missions which make maps drag, and even simple things like no easy way to discard items when your inventory gets full, nobody who can revive your sole healer, etc. You know a game is tough when dying in the tutorial battle is a real possibility.
However, while all that sounds pretty bad, there's some redeeming qualities to the gameplay. First and foremost, it is highly strategic in nature and there's a constant emphasis between balancing load-out, passive skills and managing resources. This is illustrated through "permadeath" and the game's three cool "cover" systems: Cover Move, Attack and Ambush. Simply put, by utilizing characters and/or markers, you can gain movement bonuses or attack people within a certain radius preemptively. While CM is most useful, the other two can come in handy occasionally. Next, you can confiscate a lot of cool stuff from dead enemies, train on optional missions, radically change turn order based on weight, and utilize special attacks and weapons to defeat heavily armored foes or large swarms of enemies. While the game takes what feels like FOREVER to get good (until at least Mission 6), the game really starts to take off when most people probably retired the game. The soundtrack is also pretty cool in spots.
I'm not trying to convert people into a fan of the game, but if you do manage to get your hands on it, at least give it a chance. This is a simple video of the game in action. Enjoy.