Deadly Dozen Preview

The skies seem to match the mood of the day. The rain is beating down on a dreary gray day. You can feel it thumb against your helmet, its steady beat interrupted occasionally by the sound of a plane flying overhead.

The trees and brush give way as your squad moves alongside the road. The enemy is ahead, and much like your squad, they take no prisoners.

The first-person perspective (you can toggle it to a third person view) gives Deadly Dozen a terrific feel, and makes this World War II mission-based first-person shooter – from nFusion Interactive and Infogrames – an intense PC combat game.

The preview of this product still had some kinks, but a look beyond those revealed a product that is sure to thrill FPS gamers.

The Deadly Dozen are a group of men picked for their ability to think outside the lines of traditional combat. They are skilled, physically fit and disrespectful of just about anything except getting the job done. And they will do it in any manner that gets it accomplished.

The introductory mission is known as Operation Lafayette. Five miles northwest of Outreau is a chateau that is used as headquarters for Hauptmann Emil Strauss, a military intelligence officer with German HQ in Calais. Strauss is at the chateau and he is carrying a briefcase full of important documents. The mission is rather simple: Pick a detail of four soldiers, trek across the countryside undetected (or reasonably so), enter the chateau, kill Strauss, steal the briefcase and transmit the information back to the allies, then get to the exit zone.

Now a cocky individual would just walk right up the road, gunning down any German soldiers who happen to get in the way and accepting the losses of his own squad. The careful mission commander uses formation, keeps to the woods and moves as silently as possible, using scopes to site in and kill the enemy. One way is the path to certain death; the other may allow you to accomplish the mission.

When completed, this game will feature 10 missions in western Europe and North Africa. Expect not only soldiers, but armored vehicles like the Tiger tank to stand between you and your objective.

The controls of the game are keyboard based, and the learning curve (to effectively employ them) is about 20 minutes. In addition to movement keys, you are presented with formations, which will help effectively deploy the fire power your squad has.

The Nazis are liable to be anywhere, and sometimes the first sign you have that they are present is when they are shooting at your unit. It’s best to avoid the mine fields altogether – one errant step and its game over. Besides, slowing working across a mine field is akin to standing up and yelling, “hey, shoot me” to the enemy.

The sound of this game is very crisp. Environmental sound effects, like the rain, or pushing through the brush are wonderfully rendered, and the crack of the gunfire if faithfully reproduced.

Graphically the game is excellent. The world has a nice look to it, the soldiers themselves may be a little stiffly animated, but remember this was a preview disk, and that may improve.

Deadly Dozen should prove to be a crackerjack World War II combat game. It places the action squarely in the cyber combat boots of game players. Time to pick up that carbine, soldier, shoulder that pack, strap on your helmet and work into the teeth of the enemy in occupied territory.

Deadly Dozen should hit the retail shelves sometime this month.