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Hidden and Dangerous 2 - Preview Preview
Mark Simons
11/08/2003
We examine this squad based tactical shooter following a SAS unit during WWII...
The original 'Hidden and Dangerous' went down rather well when it was released in 1999; despite having a number of small flaws and being a bit buggy, the fine balance between action and tactics shone through to win over a legion of fans. Now a few years later, with even more squad based tactical third and first person shooters released in the meantime, do developers Illusion Softworks have what it takes to make a game that stands out from the increasingly large crowd?
'Hidden and Dangerous 2' follows the exploits of a crack SAS team during WWII; players have to select a team of four members from a total of over 40 different characters before each mission. You'll have to spend a bit of time thinking about who, and what, is suited to a particular operation, matching the men with the tools to get the job done. You can specify things down to the smallest detail - deciding whether to take helmets or back packs, trading off speed for equipment, stealth or firepower. Interestingly once a character is gone, they're gone for good, this should hopefully up the realism levels and could lead you to getting attached to characters that do well for you. This reminds us of 'Cannon Fodder', where even without different statistics and skills being leveled up, seeing a character who has become a veteran in front of your eyes get gunned down by a merciless enemy would be enough to make most of us cry like sissies.
Once in the mission things get more interesting than choosing what to put in your rucksack, although we're not knocking it if that's your thing. There will be a total of twenty-five vehicles, including tanks, transport trucks, faster jeep style transports and even nippier motorbikes; 'Great Escape' style chases anyone? You can easily swap positions in vehicles that allow gunners and drivers in different seats, in multi-player you will have to choose, either tactically or by calling 'shotgun', or perhaps by who makes it to the drivers' side first.
Whilst there is a fair amount of driving and shooting to be done, it is important to remember that as part of a squad, planning is all-important. This is where 'Hidden and Dangerous 2' becomes rather interesting, bringing tactical gameplay right into the heart of a shooter, but with a bit more accessibility than say, 'Operation Flashpoint' or the 'Rainbow Six' games. Commands can be given to your squad via a menu system, telling them to advance, stay put, cover, fire at will, you know, what you expect to be able to tell a team of top killers to be able to do. With a number of missions involving infiltrations where you need to move and fire, move and fire, and hold and repeat, it is important you have smart team-mates who don't get themselves killed when you're not looking, perhaps even providing life-saving covering fire when you need it.
To enable easy on the fly planning of your next move there is a new tactical screen that allows you to move your troops in a manner akin to real time strategy titles. Because of the game engine, as seen in 'Mafia', you can be playing in a first person perspective, then zoom right out into a top down view that allows you command your troops with a clearer view of the battlefield. If you desired you could play the entire game from this tactical view, or none of it, we feel that a healthy balance between the two extremes should serve you best.
Whilst a lot of titles limit themselves to one theatre of operations, the SAS squad you command in 'Hidden and Dangerous 2' travels to a number of diverse locations. From the streets of Czechoslovakia, jungle in Burma, beaches of deserts of North Africa, chilly Arctic, slightly less chilly Norway and the high mountainous regions of the Alps. In your international adventures you'll have to contend with environments that offer slightly different survival challenges, be it moving ice flows, a lack of cover, too much cover and no visibility or just plain unusual terrain - you'll have to have your wits about you to keep one step ahead of the enemy and mother nature.
With a large single player campaign, a number of multi-player modes, decent graphics, good balance between tactics and action, vehicles and interesting locations, there is a lot going for 'Hidden and Dangerous 2'. However we have seen a large number of first and third person shooters using real-life War scenarios as their basis, making us wonder if the market may well be too saturated at this point.
