Kill Zone: Right Ass Cheek

Tonight I dusted off this game that hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves. The last time I wrote about it, we were just playing the multiplayer mode of the game. Now I’m playing the single player missions so I’ll give a little more detail here. Ravenshield is a continuation of the famous Tom Clancy: Hunt for Russian Citizens series and falls into the genre of tactical first person shooter. It’s got all the tactical planning and action of the earlier Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon games but it uses the Unreal Tournament 2003 engine rather than the homegrown one they have used for earlier games. The difference in graphic quality is significant as you can tell from the screenshots.

Each mission starts with a planning phase where you are presented with your objectives and a blueprint of the area you will be visiting. You can either load a pre-packaged plan of action or design your own if you think you’ve got the right stuff. I do not have the right stuff so I load the default plan of action for every single mission.

More fun than deciperhing the map at the mall

You get either two or three teams of soldiers each with four men apiece. Orders are issued to your fireteams with a handy wheel interface where you can pick an appropriate action for your surroundings. As an example, you can point at a closed door and issue and order to open the door, throw in a smoke grenade and clear the room beyond of all enemies.

You equip your teams with weapons, accessories and prophylactics. This is where I show my military knowhow by equipping my soldiers with M60’s and shotguns for covert hostage rescues. The number of weapons you can choose from is staggering but as my grandmother says, every firearm has its purpose. The accessories include goodies like flashbangs, fragmentation grenades, smoke grenades, remote charges, breaching charges, tear gas, heartbeat sensors, etc.

Many of the missions involve hostage rescue and if any of them dies, the mission is over. I thought I could get away with that idea from Speed of shooting the hostage in the leg to confuse Dennis Hopper, but no such luck. So if I do end up having to shoot the hostage for personal satisfaction, I shoot him in the stomach to make it hurt.

The game is by no means easy and requires a different level of awareness than your average FPS. Hesitate for even a moment and you’re dead (usually with one shot). Fortunately if one man dies, you just possess another member of your fireteam and carry on. I usually repeat this process until all my men are dead then scream obscenities at the hostages, asking why they couldn’t pick up a gun and fight.

Do you know why you shouldn’t pick your nose on the job?

Because there’s usually a sniper waiting to pop you from a balcony in the distance.

The greatest part of this game by far is the multiplayer. You can either play the single player missions cooperatively or go head to head with teams or every man for himself. Combine that with a headset to talk with your friends online and you’re in for some good times. Ready to join in the fun? It’s available for Mac and PC.