Well, this could be classed as minor necro, so sue me.
I can remember playing Seek and Destroy a few years back when I rented it out from blockbuster on a whim. When I first started playing it I was like WTF? See, Blockbuster puts their own inserts into the cases and that insert had failed to mention that you were a tank. Permanently. I was expecting to be able to run around the place on foot.
Second WTF moment was meandering around the first town. I saw loads of 'tanks' around the place... they were pink and had ?!Boxes and shopping!? on their roof. At that moment my hopes started to dim.
I don't want to annoy anyone who liked the game but frankly it seemed like a cheap, month long development failure that someone decided to release. Some dot points from what I remember.
Pros:
- Storyline: When I payed attention there was a reletively good storyline to the game with some openness about it. There was always a main mission you had to perform to continue but there were also side missions that could help you in the main one (think Armed Assault, or google it...).
- Replayability: Whenever you finished the campaign you could (were forced to) start again from the beginning, but keeping all of you extras like weapons etc. It was fun flying around the second mission on the wing parts I had annihilating everything.
- Customisation of tank: There were, if memory serves, a large number of parts to choose from each having different effects. You unlocked more parts by completing missions and some special parts could be acquired by discovering secrets.
Cons:
- Bright and Cheerful: I don't care what company made the game, with a name like 'Seek and Destroy' I DO NOT (read: DO NOT) want to see bright pink tanks roaming the streets with freaking boxes and crap on their roof. I want to see destruction and carnage. Frankly I think that this game is a disgrace to the name 'Seek and Destroy' and should be renamed something else so as to free the name up for a game that actually resembles a proper tank sim / war game / f/tps / similar.
- Translation: From what I can remember there were various translation errors (not quite as bad as 'all your base are belong to us', but niggling things) that really dettracted from the immersion.
- Difficulty variance: There was a lot of fluctuation in the difficulty of the missions. I managed to clean sweep the entire last level (including the 3 stage boss) in one go without dying, yet it took me countless attempts to do certain other levels.
- Replayability: I know I put this in the pros, but there were problems with this too. The game basically forced you to replay it, there was no 'Would you like to play again?' it was just 'Game finished - Restarting'. On top of that once you've played it once you basically already know how to clean sweep the game, and the game adds no new features or anything after the first play thru. After about 3 goes you will most likely have done EVERYTHING possible in the entire game and will either shelf it or start a whole new game with a clean tank.
- AI: The AI, from what I remember, was average at its best, often times you simply needed to find a basic weakness and you could steamroll the AI. I remember one of the cities you ad to capture featured a heavily defended fortress. One could simply either strafe the turrets on the walls or sit at max range, zoom in, fire and zoom out and you would have no problems.
Overall:
S&D sounds like a ripper of a game, but it really turns out to be a cheap Japanese knock up of a tank combat game. That said it was still moderately fun to play the first time thru. Gave me about 10 - 15 hours worth of playing time. Get it if you find it at a really low price and want a few hours burnt, you enjoy Japanese game or you have a tank fetish.
Yay for massive post!
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Topic: Have you ever played Seek and Destroy? (Read 1093 times)