Codename Eagle

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Review: Codename Eagle

This 3D action/adventure-set in an expansionist Tsarist Russia in the 1920s-supplements the usual blasting with basic puzzles, limited character interaction, and the opportunity to pilot a wide range of vehicles. There's a lot to do aside from leaving messy red stains on the ground, and, generally, it's fun doing it.

Eagle's appeal owes something to Incoming-a pure arcade shooter from 1998 that found players alternately manning an anti-aircraft gun, a tank, a helicopter, a plane and so forth. A little variety is always welcome and it's liberating not to feel hemmed in by a game's scenery. (If you see a truck in Eagle, you can drive it.) It's especially refreshing to be able to see the game world from the air. (One of the 12 missions is fought entirely from an aircraft carrier.)

And it's not just the odd vehicle here and there. They are a consistent presence throughout Eagle. For instance, in the second mission-a sabotage run against a Russian rocket-your solitary commando can commandeer a motorcycle, an armored car, and a biplane. You just right-click on the craft to get in, right click again to get out, and use basic, re-configurable arcade controls to set it in motion and steer. The effect is to close up the game's distances-these levels are immense-and make them seem more like places to be traversed rather than to be meticulously emptied of people.

This is not to say the shooting stuff is bad. It's just comparatively ordinary. The explosions, however, are brilliant and hot-the use of light and darkness is excellent throughout-and the missions with access to the sniper rifle are a blast. In the dark woods south of the Volga dam, I had an authentic Computer Game Moment. Looking through my scope and trying to pick out enemies among the silhouettes of skeletal trees, with the howling of wolves in my ears, I was genuinely lost in the game.

Multiplay, while laggy on a 56K modem, would be super in a low-ping setting like a network, as the maps seem well tuned to the multi-vehicle style. Codename Eagle could be Team Fortress Classic with vehicles.

If only the computer-controlled enemies in the single-player game showed a little human gumption. As in so many other recent games, the artificial intelligence here is a letdown. When fired upon, enemies sometimes dash around to make themselves hard to hit, but otherwise they run toward the player and take it on the chin, contributing to a sense that the game is too easy. (Eagle doesn't have a difficulty setting.)

In addition, Eagle crashed when the game couldn't find the bomb I'd liberated with the destruction of an armored car. The story and the "alternate universe" concept aren't particularly gripping. At extremely close range, you can't hit the enemy and the enemy can't hit you. You can't crouch or shoot through open-mesh fences, and in one mission, I kept hearing footsteps even when I was standing still.

It must have been Codename Eagle sneaking up on me.-- Peter Olafson / GamePro