| There is no question that Brute Force has devised its major assets after the classic first-person shooter, Halo. The gameplay designs are unmistakably similar between the two games. Halo fans will have no problem adapting to the new controls. While Bruce Force is an exceptional first-person shooter in its own right, the game doesn't live up to its full potential. The sci-fi style settings are too simple. It lacks Xbox Live support, which could have helped expand its competitive multiplayer features. In certain mission, the objectives are unclear. You sometimes feel that you are lost somewhere in a jungle, and you don't know where the yellow signal on the radar is telling you to go. Nonetheless, the game packs solid action.
Brute Force is made of a four-character squad, which you control throughout the game. Tex is the leader of the group. Hawk is your typical G.I. Jane who specializes in the art of stealth. She can cloak near unsuspecting foes and then dispose them with a deadly blade attack. Brutus is a walking reptilian, quick and powerful. He has the ability to regenerate health. Flint is a female cyborg with mechanical arms built for sniping. She has the ability to auto-lock foes from long range. Together, they must sweep through a campaign of 20 different missions, some of which are divided into smaller chapters. This gruesome foursome will battle as a group through thick and thin but unfortunately, they are one-dimensional. Adding insult to their mission is the game's weak plot. Their whole operation turns into just a series of linear battles that involve a lot of blowing up.
Your basic objectives include retrieving a specific artifact, eliminating a particular target and knocking buildings out of commission. These are simple goals and there is nothing more to these objectives than an ordinary key hunt. You might get the feeling that the missions are short on suspense. You will go in to battle, you will get one, and then you will be done. Brute Force may seem like a tactical shooter with its ability to command your squad; but you can easily get through the game without issuing any orders. You can switch between characters at any time using the directional pad. Hawk is the least useful of the group while Brutus is the perfect character to lead an assault. The characters are not that different from each other except for their special abilities.
The game's solid action is what makes Brute Force so appealing despite some setbacks. The controls work very well. The game has excellent enemy AI and utilizes convincing physics. You will soon find out that your opponents use cover to their advantage. They are alert and they know how to defend themselves. They are not going to stand in front of a grenade and get killed. They will attack in groups. The challenge that the AI gives makes Brute Force a compelling World War III simulation. After a fierce battle, you are sometimes left with one-man army. If you can get through a mission with at least one of the four characters intact, you will get your entire squad back for the next fight. Though it can be tough having to complete a mission with just one character, going at it alone can make it that much more intense! You also feel a sense of personal accomplishment of sort.
The types of weapons available to you are limited in this game. They are not as devastating as Halo's arsenals. Many of them shoot flimsy plasma blasts and emit dismal zapping sounds. However, players can carry up to two weapons at a time and numerous grenades of different power. The game has an auto-aim feature, which makes aiming a breeze. Grenades are especially fun to use since they can be thrown far and accurately. They will come in handy when attacks surge from all different directions. With fireworks coming from left and right, not once did Brute Force fail to maintain a good balance of close-range and long-range attacks, whereas some games focus too much on “direct” combat, leaving no thrill in long-range fights.
One of Brute Force's best features is its cooperative play in which up to three players can participate. Playing cooperatively is a lot of fun, much like Halo back in those days. There are several challenging levels to keep you busy. The only drawback to this joint operation is dealing with smaller onscreen visibility. The graphics in Brute Force certainly looks nice. The character models look good and are well animated, but the limited assortment of enemies and environments keep the game from being in the same league with Halo. There is not much interaction with the environments either and the frame rate bogs down when more one player is active. Nonetheless, the game does a good job of using particle effects and balanced physics.
On the audio department, Brute Force features solid voice acting, heart-pounding explosions, and realistic battlefield sounds. There is also an intergalactic musical score to fit the game's combative theme. The Dolby Digital 5.1 support certainly adds extension to other ambient sounds for more serious effects. Brute Force is a good game overall, but the lack of variety in missions, weaponries, environments, and certain gameplay issues give the impression that this game was rushed. There is no doubt that Brute Force is an excellent first-person shooter but don't expect it to be Halo. | 
