Hidden Gems #41 Brute Force
History: To finish the Xbox feel let's go with a game that I almost considered to be in the greatest games for the original Xbox and that is Brute Force. Released in 2003 and was intended to originally be a PC exclusive instead ends up making it on console more less the Original Xbox destination. At the time Microsoft was still very limited in what they had to show and Halo was their massive success, and they needed more exclusives to fill in that next big star to have. It was developed by Anvil Games which prior were responsible for the titles such as Freelancer, and Starlancer which are two different games, but still feel the same otherwise both forgettable at best so with their final attempt how does it go?Showcase Game: After looking at the opening cutscene i'm a bit interested in what were gonna jump into exactly, and oh the games cover is not the greatest pitch I must say to have the actual gameplay of the characters be a odd decision to go with. The menu feels like its based around the Matrix or something I don't know with a quiet tone music setting okay I guess. By default you could play as Tex, or just a generic soldier if you wanted to. You start to know the idea of the game real quick... ''Brute Force takes place in the year 2340, when the human race has spread out across the galaxy and settled around 50 star systems, which are collectively known as the Known Worlds. The major colonies and some alien races are governed by what is known as the Confederation of Allied worlds. They patrol borders, protect their people, and keep watch on hostile alien races, as well as humans who wish to work for the aliens.'' You are apart of this kinda secret ops type of group to hunt down certain leaders pretty much,a nd must take them down by any means necessarily. Another thing I like is the character introductions are very impressive as they show off each one. Some of the mission has something related to that one in this case Tex is the first one you start off with, and you eventually get Brutus the Feral Alien, Hawk a Spy, and flint the Sniper of the team. They have their strengths and weaknesses as the levels progress to be fair the difficulty can vary from sub-par hard playing alone to fairly enjoyable co-op mode where you have a pair of four and that's where this game shines most. While were at it gameplay is good in the 3rd person tactical shooter that it is not many are like this well maybe there has been some sense, but not in this way.
Verdict: For a game that from the early going Microsoft had a pitch since 2001 while it may seem somewhat disappointing to some in fact it has a mundane type tone by its dark light look but it feels right for that time, and yet that may look fairly outdated as well. Some say this was a clone of Halo I don't agree with that this was its own unique style too bad it had no online adaption especially when Xbox Live just came out in 2002 that was a surprise to gamers not to see that, but otherwise it has great elements that other games don't always have include 4 players in one story mode. Although the ending to the game kinda falls flat a bit, but still a fun game for its time.
Score: 7.5/10