SimHQ.com - Land Combat Zone

The audio in the game is absolutely fantastic. The background music is well done and changes with the in-game situation. It's nice and slow when clearing, then speeds up and gets intense when suspect contact is made. The voice acting is pretty good, but I personally get tired of the accent most of the officers seem to have. What they say, when they say it, and what the subjects and hostages say are downright realistic in police work and deserves the M rating the game has. Phases like "get down before I put you down" from the officers, "You f----- pigs" from the subjects, and even "you b-----, you call this a rescue" from the hostages add to the realism and chaos of the game.

The background and environment graphics are incredible. The places you will visit in the game range from a roach infested hotel, to a heavy guarded jewelry warehouse. The lighting and shadows are nicely done, and just the right amount of clutter in most locations. One mission has all those pretty stars that glow in the dark that most kids have in there bedrooms, and it looked pretty cool in the dark, till I took a bullet while checking them out. It wasn't pretty anymore. You'll see flies and roaches along with pretty balloons that just begged to take a round, for the good of a weapons check.

The levels / maps are pretty well done and laid out. There are 13 single player maps along with a few extras for multiplayer mode. Most of the maps give you an option, picked during the excellent briefing and prep screens, of two separate entry locations. A few of the missions have nice little introduction scenes that happen while your getting ready to take control of your character. For example, the last man getting out of the helicopter on the roof, the SWAT van pulling off a steel bar security door, or the last man climbing over the ledge the element just climbed. These add a very nice touch.

The officers, suspects and hostages character models rendered in the game serve their purpose — but are not as crisp or clean as the environmental graphics. I don't know if it's because I just finished playing Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 before this game was released, but the character models look a little dated. You still see the proper weapons, with the proper hand placements, like the fingers out of the trigger well when moving. You still see what equipment your team has like flash bangs, CS grenades, and rubber ball grenades on their belts, which is nice quick reference when deciding how to clear the next room.

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