| X Squad The X stands for X-cellent it seems. Ok that beginning sentence was a joke; not meaning X squad isn�t excellent because in truth it is one of the stronger titles on the PS2 I have played so far, what isn�t true is that the meaning of the X is X-CELELENT (don�t know what it means). Now all that rubbish is out of the way lets get on with the review. So you have already learned that X-squad is a pretty high scoring game and I�m sorry about telling you so early on in the review, but find out why. The game-play involves you as Ash (the leader of X squad) taking your squad of four members in to mammoth shoot-outs with an army of cold-blooded killers and solving the odd easy puzzle along the way, then at the end of each stage a boss which are in fact such a challenge to defeat, you could be trying for hours to make them fall. Now back to the subject of the spectacular shoot-outs, which when I say spectacular I mean spectacular, each gun-battle is very satisfying with tasty explosions and flame effects and not to mention the cool bullet holes and the bullets themselves zipping past your ear that really add something and give you the feeling that you are taking part in a huge war, the amount of enemies on screen is also very impressive when you consider that your own characters are crafted out of I don�t know how many polygons but certainly a lot as there isn�t a jagged edge to be sighted on any of the lead characters. All this aggression and chaos and no slow down, PS2 is such a god. That last paragraph moves me on nicely to the next subject: the ordering system or whatever its called where you can shout orders to your squad such as hide behind something for cover or use stealth, anyway you get what I mean. You would think with PS2 this system would be perfect but a lot of the time like when you tell them to spread out they will remain crammed together making it very frustrating as they aren�t following their leaders orders and it�s a shame that the Artificial intelligence doesn�t allow them to do so. This is a big blow to an excellent game and is the first down-point. Need to do better EA. In between these amazing shoot-outs at the end of stages are cut sequences where Ash, Melinda, Mia and Judd plan their next strategy. These scenes use the in game engine and show the characters to even greater effect complete with facial movements which are a bit dodgy as even when the characters have stopped speaking their mouths will still move in the motion as if they were still speaking, what makes it even worse is the acting as with most games (with Metall Gear solid being the exception) is not too good. But it is some of the better voice-overs on a game you could find and is superior to that of Resident Evil�s cheesy acting and that�s saying something. The puzzles are basic (find a switch release door lock, that kind of thing) but at least add more to the game-play then just mindless shooting and gives you a bit of a breather from all the chaos you have been experiencing. X squad is a very strong title that may be quite basic (team work makes it less traditional) and proves EA.GAMES are going to be one of the better developers on PS2 (remember SSX) Action fans get this now, you won�t regret it. Simon Wigham 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Opinions Round-Up "I more a less agree with the review apart from the lack of a mention of the frustration levels, which are pretty high, as hours upon hours can get frustrating because I was constantly getting killed, but X Squad is a quality title, not the best but certainly not the worst of titles!"Chris Wigham |