Word Tactical is recently thrown around a lot and it usually refers to games like Operation Flashpoint, Armed Assault, Ghost Recon, Swat etc. Despite their history, many tactical shooters have being changed over the years and they are going further and further from their origins with each new entry.
Among the good old games there was a small first person shooter developed by Innerloop studios called Project IGI.
IGI series was not very popular and was killed after the release of a second game, IGI 2 Covert Strike. Despite that the series is unfairly underrated, both games are very enjoyable to play even today.
As a huge fan of IGI series I got quite excited when I first discovered Beyond Enemy Lines, because like every other fan, I was waiting for IGI 3, even though I knew it won't happen. Now 14 years later we get a spiritual successor to IGI, developed by a single developer.
After playing alpha version for several weeks and finally getting hands on the finished game I can proudly say Polygon Arts you did it!
Project IGI is a first person shooter set during Cold war. You play as an IGI agent David Jones, who is tasked to track down stolen nuclear warhead by infiltrating various locations to get the right information and blowing up a few things along a way. If the lack of creative narrative is pushing you from buying Project IGI, gameplay certainly won't.
Beyond Enemy Lines shares the same formula and throws you into mud from the start. Levels are large and each offers multiple routes and a long list of hidden items.
Unlike most games of today, health doesn't regenerate when you're injured. In order to recover, you need to search for medic kits. So exploration is highly recommended.
One thing you can really count on is that this game will kick your a55 and if you're not purely focused on a mission from start to finish, you're gonna take a serious beating. Enemies, although not very smart, have very powerful weapons and they rarely miss and if they catch you by surprise you'll end up six feet under. It can get very frustrating at times, but it becomes very satisfying when you return them a favor and beat a level.
As I've said, enemies can be problematic. Once they lose sight of you, they'll come back to their regular patrols or even get easily distracted once they see a dead body or hear you whistle. As silly as that sounds their dumbness is the only way you're gonna beat the game. If enemies would chase you mercilessly, as in Far Cry 2 for example, game would be nearly impossible to complete.
Once they take damage, some enemies will return fire, while others will run and hide.
Animations are not done very well. Once enemies see you, they all react in a same way before they open fire. You no longer see arms when climbing a ladder, nor when using a map computer and also barrel of your rifle can go through walls and objects.
It's important to know that none of these things break the game, nor ruin the experience.
If going in alone into a fortress full of well trained enemies sounds like a mission impossible to you, then what I'm about to say will break you completely. There is no mid-mission saving. No quick saves. No checkpoints.
When just one mistake could wipe up your entire progress and push you back to start of a mission, you'll play the way it's meant to be played by carefully planning your each move and checking every corner. This kind of gameplay creates a huge amount of tension from start to finish and gives you a feel as if you are in a real life situation.
Like every game, it has it's faults, but if you are failing, it's simply because you're not playing well. This is a game about critical planning and surveillance. It forces you to think before you act, search for elevated positions, tall grass and bushes and attack enemies when they least expect. Enemies in this game are like obstacles, like switches you need to turn off in order to progress, but the real challenge is to figure the order you need to turn them off that best fits your playstyle and unlike Project IGI, some enemies change patrol patterns or spawn on different locations every time you start a mission, so you have to think on a fly.
Game doesn't have a huge list of weapons, as you might expect, but weapons are varied. Weapons like your pistol and MP5 are equipped with silencer for stealthier approach. Assault rifles like M4 and AK47 are very powerful, but not very accurate.
This totally makes sense because most enemies carry a Kalashnikov and if it wasn't nerfed, it'd be overpowered and because it's very common, you'd never round out of ammunition. M4 in the other hand fires 3 rounds burst and is very useful at medium and short range.
Shotgun is useful to devastate enemies at short range, just as a Dragunov for a long range.
Overall, weapons are far easier to handle than in alpha version. When using a medical syringe, you can see the percent of health points left in a syringe, just as you see an ammo on a screen when holding a weapon. You can choose to heal yourself as little or as much as you won't, until you run out of points of course.
Heads Up Display is very small and simple and controls are easy to remember.
There are no grenades, machine guns, nor grenade launchers. However, there are plenty other useful tools, like a map computer, night vision and binoculars. Map computer gives you a satelite view of a whole mission and highlights enemies and the objectives. Binoculars is very useful for seeing enemies in the distance. You're not forced to use of these and I personally prefer listening to enemy footsteps and run and hide when things go wrong, rather than searching for them on a map computer.
Beyond Enemy Lines sadly doesn't have a multiplayer, but considering I'm a developer as well and I understand how big trouble it is to set the server running, I can't blame him. After all everything from gameplay, to story and level design, website, trailers, articles and so much more was done by just one man.
At the end of a day, Beyond Enemy Lines is a great game that lives on it's promises. No one ever said that this game will be easy, nor feature scripted sequences with a groundbreaking narrative. It's what it's meant to be, but if you don't like IGI games, chances are they you'll not like this one either.
While many may say that Beyond Enemy Lines is a modern game with an old school gameplay, unlike most so called tactical shooters, Beyond Enemy Lines stayed true to it's original formula that made IGI games great in a first place and improved upon it.
It's a game that takes time to master, but once get the hang of it, it will become very enjoyable and addictive.
Rating: 8.5/10
