Hidden and Dangerous

THE BAD:
Frustrating control system
Complex interface
Slowdown in places

SUMMARY:
'War! Huh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!' That's right, kids. War is officially a Bad Thing that accomplishes absolutely nothing. Except for two things. The first, obviously, is to provide a hilarious scene in the Jackie Chan film, Rush Hour. The second, and slightly more relevant, use for war is to create awesome gaming experiences, and it is with much enthusiasm that Illusion Software has thrown themselves into the latter with their latest title, Hidden and Dangerous.
Send yourself back in time. The Second World War is the familiar canvas, the SAS the tools for you to leave your mark. Killing Jerry and sabotaging their plans are once again your main objectives, so
what does Hidden and Dangerous offer to make it stand out from the crowd?

Tactical Storm

From the outset, it's pretty clear that this game is not for those of you that merely want a quick blast. No jumping out, guns drawn, shouting 'Die, Kraut!'. Careful planning is required at every stage of the game - from choosing your equipment and personnel before each mission, to the actual deployment of your troops on the field. You control a team of upto eight people in every mission, four of which can be deployed in each stage. There is a wide and varied selection of 40-odd men at your disposal, each having a percentage ranking in areas of skill such as shooting, stealth, strength and endurance. Obviously, these statistics will affect the performance of your team - a Private with 95% shooting accuracy will be alot more reliable in battle than one who has 60%. Similarly, the stronger the character, the more equipment they can hold. Be warned, however - once a trooper is killed, he can never be selected again for that game. Selecting equipment, too, takes thought. The choice of weapons, from rifles to machine guns to grenades, is standard in any war game. The range in Hidden and Dangerous, while nothing special, suit the game well and do the job efficiently. Unfortunately, this is perhaps the first failing point of the game. Sorting through the stats of each man, deciding the equipment needed - it can all get tedious very quickly. The interface provided isn't the greatest to use either, resulting more often than not in the player clicking on the 'auto-selection' option which allows the computer to pick for you. This is a lot quicker than manual browsing, but does not guarentee the best results - finding that you have a Private with rubbish statistics hardly warms you towards the game. But bear through the process, and it's soon onto the game proper.
This is where the tacticians among you will rejoice. Each stage has several objectives for you to accomplish, but these are usually cleverly protected by all sorts of ambushes and traps. You will die. A lot. But as you begin to learn what happens, you can really plan ahead using one of the main features of the game - the map. This is where you can organise and plot the route each member of your team takes and what actions they perform, allowing for excellant simultaneous strikes. You're not just a spectator to these events, though, since you can take direct control of any of the men at any time, helping with the mission. Variety is a key factor to these tasks, and fortunately Hidden and Dangerous acomplishes this well. Objectives range from rescuing hostages to blowing up trains to escaping from military complexes. The environments are detailed with plenty to see, if not to do. And this is another aspect that left me slightly dissatisfied with the game. There are so many pointless places to go to in each stage - why didn't Illusion Software make more use of them? It's possible to bypass huge chunks of each map by following the objectives to the word, and there is no incentive to explore because there is no reward for storming every building or every thicket of land. Even on the higher difficulty levels, there are no extra aims for you to accomplish. In fact, the chances are you'll probably end up dying if you explore, since the game is so hard. However, it's not frustratingly hard and even if you die, you'll want to replay the stage. The use of vehicles in the later stages add nice gameplay touches, though some of these create large amounts of slowdown.
Atmosphere is an important part of Hidden and Dangerous, and the developers have bundled loads of it into the game. The storm-drenched landscape of the first stage immediately sucks you in, and it doesn't let go from there on. Truly, this is one of the most atmospheric and tense games I have ever played, especially when you find yourself on the wrong side of an ambush. Attempting to then safely outmanoeuvre the enemy and return fire brings on an incredible rush, hampered only by the sticky controls.

Command and Conquer...?

Which brings me to my main criticism of the game - the control method. Hidden and Dangerous supports both the controller and keyboard and mouse. As you might guess, the latter command method is much more reliable, but immediately alienates the less financially fortunate of us. Having experienced both ways, I can honestly say that much of the fun is only achieved with the keyboard/mouse combination. While the Dreamcast control pad has been optimised in the most practical way, it is still a cumbersome device, often leading to wild, sweeping targeting and ultimately another dead character. Also, much of the time the computer controlled players are killed too easily, and I found myself taking complete manual charge, rather losing the point of the teamplay. Utilisation of the map is made slightly laborious as well by the way the Dreamcast has to load it each time, several times forcing me to reconsider using it. This game, ported over from PC roots, is clearly more suited to computer rather than console gaming. Another slightly irksome thing about the conversion is how little Illusion Software have done to it. There is nothing new for the Dreamcast version, even the graphics remain a decidedly sub-standard affair.
Overall, the package remains a engrossing and enjoyable experience, though won't set your Dreamcast alight with it's invention. Besides, who can't love a game that allows you to kill Germans? War - it's good for something.

NB. No Germans were harmed during the production of this review.