The new game from Sniper Elite’s designers is an intriguing change from the sniper series concept. Strange Brigade is largely concerned with teamwork and the well-realized mood of 1960s adventure pictures.
We take on the role of one of four adventurers tasked with bringing Seteka, the Egyptian witch queen, to justice. Daredevils pillage vaults, tombs, and ancient caves of all shiny and expensive stuff along the way. This is one of the most intriguing aspects of the game. The production encourages curiosity and a lack of haste. The maps include important riches and trinkets, so it’s worth investigating every area before going on to the next stage of the game. Each discovery adds gold coins to your account, which you may use to purchase new weapons or powerful disposable weapons. As long as everyone agrees on this kind of gaming, clearing the map to the finish and seeking for trinkets together is a lot of fun. The valuables are buried not just in inaccessible locations, but also behind gates that are visible from the start and can only be unlocked after completing the problem. These are puzzles that need us to manipulate tiles, lasers, or buttons. These pieces, however, come to life only when playing with others – creating and brainstorming together is really entertaining and results in several hilarious situations. The riddles are basic enough not to stifle the action, but complex enough to be gratifying.
Puzzles, on the other hand, are simply brief interludes between waves of opponents. These are predominantly mummies, although there are also animated skeletons, fierce minotaurs, and scorpions. We have sluggish zombies who attack in groups, undead that fling spears, monsters that breathe fire and spit acid, charging and armored opponents, and those that can only be damaged by hitting a weak area. The ability to use multiple traps distinguishes the combat in Strange Brigade. With bursting barrels, revolving blades, and on-demand spikes, slaying hordes of opponents is considerably simpler than with lead. By emphasizing relevant places when we aim, the developers skillfully urge us to employ the mechanics. This helps you to swiftly orient yourself in the environment or escape out of difficulty, which is especially useful because the adversaries do not avoid traps and instead take a direct course towards the players. When you activate an ambush, a chain reaction occurs, allowing you to annihilate a dozen or more opponents with a single shot. The trap system, on the other hand, cannot save the fighting model, which is, at best, a craftsman’s work. The game’s main flaw is its short-range combat, which causes persistent annoyance because the makers chose not to enable firing without aiming, i.e. from the hip.
Aside from the fact that there are no distinct sensitivity settings in the options for gazing around and aiming weapons, monsters racing up to the character cause a lot of issues when the camera zooms in and we have to kill a mummy standing a meter in front of the hero. As a result, using a weapon at a greater distance is far more pleasant. Sniper weapons allow you to shoot foes from a safe distance while not having to worry about aiming issues at close range. Although the images are of high quality, the animations and character design do not provide a favorable impression. Simple, rigid motions and models of characters and most items are aspects that harken back to previous performances. There is also no feeling of the weapon’s potency. The lack of a run button is particularly odd; after a dozen or so steps, the avatar begins to move quicker, but the camera goes far too far away. This gives us the impression that we don’t have complete control, which contributes to the overall sense of underdevelopment of one of the most fundamental aspects of a shooter – character mobility. It’s also unfortunate that the heroes lack any particular abilities. They all have the same arsenal of weapons and devices to pick from. They have a variety of unique abilities, but they always boil down to a somewhat powerful, generally area attack. We do that after collecting a specified quantity of soul stones, i.e. after eliminating enough mummies. However, because these strikes are so ineffectual and uncommon, we rapidly lose sight of the blue reinforcements hovering in the air.
The game has three modes in total. The story campaign is the most detailed and diversified, in which we participate in repeated tasks, visiting numerous locales and battling progressively formidable opponents. The synchronized action eliminates boredom – one minute we’re fending off an attack of mutant scorpions, the next we’re concentrating on a laser puzzle. We’re always on the go. Each mission concludes with a fierce battle in the style of the distinct Horde mode. We are facing a catastrophic monster onslaught that will take all of our focus and collaboration. Because the degree of emotions is so high in such situations, you may forgive the game for the previously listed faults.
Strange Brigade’s novel and out-of-the-box features, such as treasure seeking and countless traps, entice you to play. It’s a lot of fun sharing loot, uncovering mysteries, and communicating throughout a difficult fight. The fighting, on the other hand, does not leave a lasting impact, despite being one of the most crucial aspects of the game.