Reviews
Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising
Great tactical shooter—for team players
I
n Novalogic’s new tactical shooter Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising,
Indonesian militants fight for sovereignty while international peacekeeping
forces attempt to maintain stability. This overly political premise doesn’t
intrude on the fun, though—behind the vague politics and Vietnam compari-
sons lies an extremely strong Battlefield- style tactical FPS.
Massive, frenetic, balls-to-the-wall battles are the focus in Joint
Operations. The largest maps cover 50 square kilometers, and can accommo-
date up to 150 players. With a balanced team that works effectively together,
these giant battlefields make for some hair-raising skirmishes.
Even a couple kilometers is a long distance to travel on foot. Thankfully
several land, sea, and air vehicles are available to get you to the action fast.
Driving and piloting the various craft is surprisingly easy, using a simplified
control scheme rather than the tricky “realistic” controls of the Battlefield
games. Pilots can invite comrades-in-arms into their helicopter for a ride
while trucks full of soldiers speed toward their objective. Once inside a
vehicle you can ride shotgun, control mounted weapons, or even just hang
out the side and take potshots with your rifle. It’s a great system that requires
cooperation from every player, and can result in an extremely fulfilling combat
experience with the right crew.
Initially, the large scope of the battles makes Joint Ops seem intimidating,
but we found that this sensation passed as we settled into the joy of battle.
The learning curve isn’t too steep; the play and maps are designed in such a
way that you’ll intuitively find yourself working with other players through voice
chat, text, and radio macros. The result is strategic gameplay that is satisfying
and deep, without being painfully complex.
We particularly appreciate the clean and direct interface. The minimalistHUD presents just enough information, which let us watch the action instead of
our health and ammo counts.
Given the game’s massive maps and strategic combat, finding good team-
mates who can work together
is crucial to enjoying Joint
Ops. Casual FPS players will
have a hard time navigating the
game’s deliberate strategy, but
cooperative, tactically minded
players will find extremely
satisfying, compelling strategic
action here.
—E. WILL GREENWALDJoint Ops requires you to work with your teammates if you
want any chance of victory. We’re OK with that—this game
makes it easy to work together.True Crime: Streets of L.A.
The verdict is in: This game is guilty of being mediocre
R
egardless of how you feel about Grand Theft Auto III, the fact is it was
a bona fide success, both in terms of commercial sales and criti-
cal praise. So it wasn’t a big surprise to anyone when a gaggle of
imitators and copycats soon began to appear on store shelves. True Crime:
Streets of L.A. is the latest of these wannabes, but those expecting an
entertaining GTA -esque romp had better look elsewhere. The fact is, this
game fails to deliver the goods.
Our biggest complaint about True Crime is that it tries to do too
much of everything and succeeds in doing almost none of it right. The
gameplay, which is divided amongst shooting, driving, and fighting, is
uninspired and riddled with problems. The shooting portion is ruined
by unforgiving controls and a wonky camera, the driving portion suf-
fers from poor vehicle physics, and the hand-to-hand combat quickly
degenerates into mindless button-mashing. The missions themselves
are poorly scripted and often result in ridiculous outcomes. One mission,
for example, involves a trip to a strip club: You go with the intention of
investigating some bank robberies but end up brawling with a room full
of strippers to a techno beat. Huh?
In an attempt to spice things up, the developers added some new
features to True Crime, but they’re so poorly implemented that they actu-
ally detract from the game’s appeal. A prime example of this is the karma
meter which “polices” your actions and dictates the path you take through
the game’s hackneyed plot. This sounds great in theory, but thanks to the
game’s crappy controls, our karma stayed well below the equator as stray
bullets and out-of-control vehicles resulted in a ton of accidental homicides.
There were moments when True Crime’s lack of polish and brokengameplay made us think we
were playing a GTA III total
conversion mod instead of a
retail product. But surely that’s
an insult to the modding com-
munity at large: Not only could
they have done better but it
would have been free to boot.
—TAE K. KIMHuge maps, easy-to-control vehicles, and great
emphasis on strategy.M.A.S.H.CHIPS
Not for the casual player, no single-player mode.MA XIMUMPCVERDICT 9
Those who find furious button mashing an enjoyable
activity will no doubt enjoy True Crime’s brand of combat.We’ll get back to you if we find anything positive
to say.
HAMBURGLAR
Uninspired, unoriginal and not much fun to play.
$50, http://www.truecrimela.comMA XIMUMPCVERDICT 4
CAT BURGLAR$40, http://www.jointopsthegame.com86 MA XIMUMPC SEPTEMBER 2004