Without Warning

The clock is ticking and your life, as well as the lives of others, is hanging on your every move and decision. Trained to combat terrorist cells, you make your way into a chemical plant seized by terrorist with an agenda yet to be revealed. Kicking the door into an office, you move deeper into the facility. A split second later we see the world through the eyes of a seasoned news cameraman. For a full minute you were trying to find away inside the main facility but all the doors were shut … that is until somebody kicked the door in and thus ajar. In Without Warning for the Xbox, what you do as one character can affect what can happen to yet another character.  Now this is the stuff that great drama is made of and the fans of television’s 24 can attest to that.

It seems that a terrorist leader known as Corbin Derbec and his trained cronies have seized control of the Peterson-Daniels chemical plant. Nothing is really known except that Derbec is not a madman that should be ignored so the government sends in a Special Ops team lead by Kyle Rivers. Yet the mission fails right before it even started and Rivers and his inexperienced squad mate Jack Hooper and bomb disposal expert Ed Reagan are the only ones left alive. Deep in the facility, though, there’s chemical plant security guard Dave Wilson who is skillful enough to have survived the onslaught. Even deeper in the facilities offices is secretary Tanya Shaw who manages to break free from the other hostages. To make matters worse, a news cameraman named Ben Harrison manages to slip into the plant unnoticed to get some footage. The lives of all six characters hang on the balance as they attempt to survive the situation that just grows more critical as the terrorist deadline is a countdown that could mean the deaths of thousands of innocent lives.

It sounds interesting, doesn’t it? The best part about Without Warning is that the concept has all the makings of a really intense nail-biting game where the clock is ticking and your every action counts. Best of all is that you’ll be able to control all six of these characters at different points of the game. As one character progresses and does something like, say, unlock a door as Rivers does then when you assume control of another character like Wilson you will be able to go through that door that was once closed to you. You’ll even get to see the other character in action since the game takes place within different timeframes.

As Rivers and Hooper, you’ll be able to blast your way through the levels while Reagan has the ability to disarm powerful explosives. Meanwhile Wilson, armed with a mere pistol, has the benefit of being in the main facility. The game also features stealth segments that come in the form of Tanya who doesn’t have any combat skills but can sure use her pepper spray or a fire extinguisher but she’s familiar with security door passwords. Cameraman Harrison can use a gun when it’s called for but his main skill is really to capture footage of the terrorists.

The game relies heavily on time and does so creatively since, as I mentioned, a character might have done something an hour ago that a person at the present time can take advantage of as the game progresses. Kill an enemy in one room and when you play Tanya that will allow you the freedom to reach a security door you can easily open. At another hour Wilson, who was locked on the other side of facility can no go through the door Tanya just unlocked. Sadly, this is as far as the innovative ideas go because the game suffers from a number of flaws.

One such flaw, and it’s a major one, is that the controls are just plain awkward. Up means down and down means up and you can never really target an enemy even if said enemy is just a few inches away from you. The problem is that the game begins as Rivers and thus is filled with plenty of third-person shooter action. You’ll find it incredibly hard just moving the shooting reticule on an enemy. Not only is it frustrating but it will try the patience of most gamers out there. Worse yet is that the controls also affect the stealth segments in the game as well as Reagan’s bomb disposal mini games (using a volt meter and wire cutters you‘ll come to know true frustration). Even the mini games will not fail to make you want to yank your hair out of its roots. Really, I don’t see many gamers wanting to complete this one to the very end.

The game also suffers from poor enemy AI. I accidentally tossed a grenade through an open door only to have the enemies stop shooting and run into said room where the grenade blows up. It was as if I had said: “Go on boys, fetch the grenade I tossed into the other room.” Most enemies don’t even duck for cover when you shoot at them so don’t expect much resistance. The enemy is great as shooting but the main reason you’ll die a lot is because of the controls. There’s not even any control options that can remedy the problem.

Without Warning’s graphics range from pretty decent to mighty plain and that’s too bad since the character models aren’t that bad.  Up close the characters are chock full of personality and they move naturally enough during the game’s action and cutscenes. If anything it’s the environments that drag the game down with walls the lack smooth textures. Really, this doesn’t look like an Xbox game. Even the visual effects such as explosives stand out.

The game’s sound also falls victim to mediocre sound effects (bullets don’t carry that sharp retort found in many of Capcom’s games) and there's a horrible miscast of voice actors. While the dialogue isn’t exactly dripping with witty remarks or wonderfully written conversations, at least good voice acting could have made everything sound plausible. Instead the dialogue is read amateurishly and it won’t fail to produce an unintentional chuckle or two during one part in the middle of the game. The soundtrack is actually pretty decent and does a good job of making you feel the urgency. 

Despite its clever concept and dramatic setup, Without Warning really fails to introduce these interesting elements to solid gameplay mechanics. The game’s main difficulty comes from its most glaring faults that get in the way of the action and stealth parts in the game. I hardly see even the most patient of gamers seeing the game to the very end and you won’t blame them. Sorry, action fans, but you’ll want to stay away from this one.

Gameplay: 4.0
The good news is that you assume the role of six different characters each with his or her own interesting view of the events that go down at the plant. The bad news is that the controls and the game’s weak action will seem more frustrating than entertaining. Top it off with some poorly designed lock-picking and bomb-disposal mini games and you have a game that truly disappoints.

Graphics: 6.5
The game’s graphics range from sharp to really dull. The characters are nicely rendered and although they don’t offer a good variety of animations they still move naturally enough. It’s the environments that look rather plain. The visual effects are only so-so.

Sound: 6.5
As far as the voice acting is concerned, the game fails in this aspect as well. Just about the only decent acting comes from the Tanya Shaw character. The game’s score isn’t bad at all and it does a somewhat decent job of setting the tension. As for the sound effects, they’re not bad but not spectacular either.

Difficulty: Hard
The game is incredibly hard and you will die a most gruesome death frequently throughout the entire experience but it’s mostly due to wrestling with the game’s horrible controls. Aiming alone will cause you much of the frustration as will the erratic enemy AI.

Concept: 5.0
What one character does in the game affects what the other character gets to experience. This alone is the game’s biggest strength but when it comes to action or the game’s stealth parts, it’s handled so badly that most gamers will want to give up early.

Overall: 4.5
Completely flawed in almost every aspect, Without Warning is a good idea that just isn’t executed as smoothly as it should have been.  Its more-than-interesting concept has all the makings of a unique action game but with awful controls, poor AI and uninteresting mini games there isn’t much here that will make gamers want to see this through to the end.