Secret Service In Harms Way

Things were going smoothly, that is until the lead car in the convoy blew up and bad guys, all brandishing automatic weapons, seemingly crawled out of every conceivable spot.

Kingsize is in deep trouble, and you have to rely on your skill with your own weapons to save his life, as well as your own.

Secret Service, an Activision Value PC release in conjunction with Fun Labs, is a first-person shooter program that moves quickly. Sometimes it is hard to tell the civilians from the bad guys, unless you take into account that the civilians aren’t the ones firing at you.

The game features 16 single-player maps and a variety of missions. You begin as a rookie member of the Secret Service. By successfully accomplishing your missions, you get promoted and that means tougher missions with higher profile assignments.

But let’s get back to that first one. It is rated easy, and is called “Acceptable Risk.” The mission itself is fairly straightforward. The National Security Advisor, Arthur McMilan (codename Kingsize) is due to meet with a VIP in a Middle East country. Your job, as a member of the Secret Service, is to escort him safely to the rendezvous spot while following all the instructions from your team leader.

Herein lies one of the problems with the game. The default for the instructions from the team leader is typed messages appearing on the monitor. However, you will be so busy shooting, and avoiding getting shot, that you really have to be quick to catch them. Failure to follow those instructions results in just about every one of the ‘good guys’ getting more than their daily allowance of lead.

Problem two is that almost everyone on the streets looks the same, and unless one turns around and is holding a weapon, it is almost impossible to tell who to shoot, and who not to shoot. Gunning down unarmed civilians is definitely frowned upon.

The interesting thing about this game is that there seems to be no middle ground, no respite, and no chance to ease into a mission. This is action that takes off at a frenetic pace, and does not slow down.

The game has a tactical element. You can plan missions and assign agents to certain locations. The program also features a realistic representation of the tactical equipment and weapons used by the Secret Service.

The environments are also interactive. If you have a strong feeling that an enemy is on the other side of that door, don’t bother to open it – shoot through it. You can also put rounds through walls, and shoot out the lights.

Graphically the game is solid. The polygonal characters move well, and the map boards are huge. Ok, so some of the characters are a little silly – which means the AI isn’t all the strong. But let’s get serious here. If you were a civilian standing on the street with machinegun fire coming from behind you and gunmen moving toward you with automatic weapons blasting away, would you stand there like you were waiting for a taxi? With bullets flying all over the place, you would probably be ducking, running, or screaming – perhaps all three, but not standing there waiting to be shot (see problem two, above).

The sound effects are excellent. From explosion to the sound of various weapons going off, this game definitely takes off with a bang. If you have played any FPS games before, you will take to the controls easily. The options menu will allow you to set up your own hot keys.

Missions do get successfully harder, and therein lays the game’s challenge. While there are some cerebral elements, this program puts a high value on reflexive action – with a touch of intuition thrown in for good measure.

Secret Service is perhaps not the best FPS of 2001, but it certainly does not lack for action, and that is what shooter games are all about. If you want a quick-paced game, target-rich environments, and an in-game sense that you are one of the good guys, this may well by your type of game.

This program is rated Teen for animated blood and animated violence.

Install: Easy
This game will ask for up to 450 megs of hard-drive space, and installs quickly.

Gameplay: 7.8
The map boards are very big, and once you launch a mission, you are immersed in firestorm where it is hard to tell the targets from the innocents.

Graphics: 7.8
There is little difference in reaction between civilians and the bad guys, and the animation can seem a little stilted at times. However, the environments are nicely interactive.

Sound: 7.5
This is more or less what you would anticipate, but the sound effects are still delivered realistically.

Difficulty: 8
So the first mission is deemed easy, but there are parameters that must be adhered to in order to succeed. You can’t just run wherever you wish, taking out the bad guys. And the missions get harder as your character climbs the ‘company’ ladder. The controls are kept simple and are easy to grasp.

Concept: 7
The Rainbow Six (Red Storm) and Sierra’s SWAT series really set the stage for tactical firefights, but Secret Service still manages to survive in that elite company with its steady action sequences.

Multiplayer: 7
Though there are a variety of map boards to use, the game basically offers four multiplayer game options: deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag and survival.

Overall: 7.6
There are a couple of drawbacks to this game, but it still manages to challenge and entertain.