Tom Clancy and his ideas still hold the throne for most of us when it comes down to playing squad based shooters like Rainbow 6 or Ghost Recon, and any fan of those military, squad based shooters will know what I’m talking about. Well, now and then a title comes along which looks to get up in the rankings with fans of the genre, so lo and behold … out comes KUMA / War for PC squad shooting fans. While this has some really cool ideas to it that make it unique and really neat in it’s own right, the buggy gameplay may wind up turning potential fans off.

KUMA / War is (as stated before) a squad based shooting game where you have more than one soldier at your disposal to move through levels completing mission objectives. The really neat twist to this is that the missions and scenarios that you play are based around real world things that are currently going on in Iraq, and the way that the game works is that subscribers to the service pay $9.99 per month to download new missions to play either on or offline.

Once you have an account set up, you are then sent to the website where you can see missions that are available to download, and military gamers can expect to do such things as go after Saddam’s two sons or stop a militia led by Al Sharif shortly before Iraqi control is handed over to establish a new government. The controls to KUMA are pretty standard to these kinds of games, with W,A,S, and D moving the character forwards, backwards, and strafing … while keyboard commands will do things like telling your squad to fire at your current target or setting up movement patterns to try and get the best formation to move through hostile territory.

Now from the overall creation standpoint of the game, this to me was really a great idea. I mean, with all of the news coverage that’s going on and the situation in Iraq, people who are interested in actually playing through scenarios can now do so from the comfort of their own home. In addition, each mission is also accompanied by a video that can be downloaded which explains the situation at hand and what you have to do, and in addition also brings in Generals, game designers, and even Tad Low to go over hints and tips as well as mission objectives.

Now all of this is a great idea, but when the execution of the game doesn’t quite work out as well, this can quickly make even the best idea start turning south. For starters, let’s talk AI … or “where is it” for that matter. In KUMA, the AI of your teammates doesn’t really seem to be too existent. Squad members will get stuck behind objects and will forget to return fire at oncoming enemies a lot of the time, regardless of commands given, and on the first try with a mission I downloaded one of my soldiers got shot 5 seconds into the game since he refused to return fire at an enemy who jumped out of a dark alley. Walk down the street a bit, and the second guy gets popped by a terrorist behind a car. Walk a little more, and I got drilled by a sniper who appeared on a balcony with no warning. Well, looks like time to try again. Basically, be expecting to save a lot while playing single player.

To add to the frustration, the AI for your enemies is extremely difficult regardless of what level the game is set to. Enemies will pop out of nowhere unexpectedly … and while this isn’t such a bad thing in games like Unreal or another fictional shooter, make realistic damage coupled by surprise and unavoidable attacks and you’re in for a long, tough fight with a lot of “do overs”. While it’s cool that you can go in and get a new mission each month, it seems like the $10.00 may be better spent elsewhere if you’re going to get frustrated with it.

Other issues that I encountered in the game may seem like more personal ones, but they were aggravating to me nonetheless. The map feature is brought up by the ESC key, which means that all movement and actions by your character stop while trying to see what’s going on, and if an enemy comes running out this can quickly spell disaster. In addition, your soldiers cannot jump, which cuts out the opportunity for some free exploration and starts making the game seem a little linear as you wind up following set street patterns to get from A to B.

Graphically, KUMA can’t stand up to most things that are out on the market right now. The environments all start looking the same after playing a few of them, and the colors seem drab and dull overall. The character animation seemed very stiff to me while running forwards, and effects like smoke and blood spray had some weird little black net looking thing over the top of them when they were present. There were some neat additions, like your character stopping to cautiously glance around, but these little additions hardly make up for the overall lackluster look of the game.

The sound to KUMA wasn’t quite as bad as the graphics, and since they used real people in the movie cuts it wasn’t a bad job in the voiceovers. The in game music tended to cut in and out in places for some reason (mostly it seemed like times when the action heated up), but the music score was actually done quite well. In addition, the sounds of gunfire and grenade explosions weren’t bad at all either, and the overall ambiance of the game was set pretty well there.

Overall, KUMA / War is one of those titles that will appeal to the online multiplayer war fan who is keeping an eye on current events. Since none of the AI issues are really present in a multiplayer mode, this helps to fix a lot of the major problems. The issue here though is that there’s not that many people online at the moment, so let’s hope that it picks up soon. If you are a single player only kind of person, you may want to leave this title be and wait for the next Clancy game. If you are looking to play online your $10.00 may be better spent, but you may also find that there are better titles out there for your money. 

Gameplay: 5.9
The controls are pretty standard for this type of squad based gaming, but the overall execution is done poorly. Team AI is glitchy and definitely not on the bright side, and soldiers will stand idly while getting gunned down or will get stuck behind objects when moving forwards. In addition, the single player gameplay is frustratingly difficult, and may not be worth the price for a lot of you.

Graphics: 5.4
The environments all seem to start looking the same after playing a few of them, and the overall presentation looks outdated. The models are stiffly animated, and while they will do some things like looking around while moving, it doesn’t really make up for some collision detection issues or weird mats that appear over blood or smoke effects.

Sound: 6.4
The gunfire and voiceovers were done well, especially considering that they used live talent to go over missions and briefings. The music would clip or cut out at times, but overall the orchestration turned out nicely.

Difficulty: Hard
Well, since my finely trained group of soldiers was apparently absent the day they taught “Shooting Back 101” or “How to move without getting stuck behind a tree” class, the overall single player experience was more frustrating than enjoyable.

Concept: 6.0
This is one of those games that you would love to see be great, but unfortunately just turns out to be somewhat aggravating and more annoying than enjoyable at times. If the AI can be fixed and the graphics updated a tad, this could be a good idea and a good title.

Multiplayer: 6.5

The multiplayer aspect to the game (like most shooters) ultimately is more enjoyable than playing single player since you won’t have as many issues. Unfortunately, there were never that many people on when I got on (like three games to choose from, none of which were full), and most are just playing FPS style with no real teamwork or attempt at strategy.

Overall: 5.7
All being said and done, I would have loved to see this be a top slot game title due to the fact that the developers were looking to do something based on actual current events. Unfortunately, the very sub par AI and difficulty of the single player mode isn’t going to be worth $9.99 per month for a lot of you out there, and even multiplayer fans won’t get much at the moment since there aren’t many people online. Check it out if you must, but be cautious.