Mobile Forces Review

After testing several beta copies we finally received the full retail version of Mobile Forces. As you probably know the game was created by Majesco Entertainment and Rage Software, and has already caught the attention of a respectable bunch of players worldwide, ever since the first demo was released back in March. We've already extensively covered the general info on Mobile Forces, so I'll just refer you to our two previews if you're not familiar with the nuts and bolts of this project. For this review thought, I'll stick to some of the issues that have been left unchanged from the BETA (and that really should've been addressed), and highlight the better points of this fast-paced racing / FPS genre-bender.

It's no good camping here. Let's sally forth to glory.

I'll try taking out the tires.

What I hopped the developers would take care of until the retail version hits the shelves, were the appalling weapon models; well their appearance actually. However, besides their "tremendous" appearance, there are even more reasons why the weapons represent the Achilles' heel of Mobile Forces. The variety of the arsenal is commendable, but you'll find that your choice often boils down to just two of these: the Rocket Launcher and the M4 assault rifle. Why is that? The reason is simple really. Both of these have a great advantage over other weapons in your arsenal. For example, the shotgun is mostly used for close encounters, but since you'll usually sight opponents from a great distance the weapon becomes pretty useless; especially if your enemy is armed with an M4. It would be logical to assume that for remote targets the sniper rifle is the most useful weapon. Well, in Mobile Forces the support weapons, such as the sniper rifle, are quite ineffective because of their penetration power (or the lack of thereof) and the fact they have a pretty strong kick. In any case, the weapon is not nearly as deadly as the Rocket Launcher/M4 combo. The same goes for the rest of the weapons in the arsenal (like the HIGHLY inaccurate mini-gun. Yeah, it's supposed to provide cover fire, but c'mon! You can hit an APC from a couple of dozen meters away). The said choice of whore weapons is unfairly strong, making the weapons balancing a virtually non-existent issue in Mobile Forces. Just fire away with your rocket launcher and don't bother changing to a different weapon until you run out of ammo. Because this is a game where you get to drive plenty of vehicles, most of the action takes place outdoors, on rather large levels, and get this; the RL has a sniper scope! Talk about a supreme weapon!

Regardless of the aforementioned flaws the weapons do have their good points. The recoiling of the automatic rifle for instance: this wasn't exactly true-to-life in the previous BETA's. Luckily, the development team has tweaked that segment, so now it won't be that easy to ice the enemy at mid-range with automatic fire on your M4 (still, even with these tweaks, M4 should be your No.1 weapon of choice in close-quarter and mid-range combat).

Generally, the gameplay is reminiscent of titles like Tribes, which is actually the game's strongest point, but it's a lot more fast-paced, and dare I say dynamic. The vehicles play a key role throughout the matches and they give a great boost to the game's replay value. Each vessel handles differently and has a unique way of responding to the terrain. This means that if you ride an APC or a truck, it will take you longer to arrive to the desired destination. Whereas riding a Humvee or a Buggy gives you greater chance of getting to a certain point on the map. Of course, the vehicle's engine power, shocks, and weight play a huge role here. But the bigger your transport, the less chance you have of getting burned alive inside. Beware however, because slow armored vehicles can be an easy target for the opposing RL-wielding players. You have to mind the in-game physics!

Which brings me to one of the best aspects of this game - the physics engine; even with the aforementioned drawbacks, it's the physics engine that saves the day and makes this game what it is: a fast paced and at times hella fun to play vehicular shooter. The damage model is excellent and the same goes for both the vehicles and player models. The UT engine plays its part well and offers plenty of juicy effects such as explosions, fire, and enormous, skillfully designed levels. But the best thing is that the vehicles and player models will react according to the engine's excellent physics, making the action seem more dynamic, and hence more fun. Just shoot off a rocket at an oncoming buggy and you'll instantly know what I mean. For a game that is supposed to combine frantic driving with high-caliber shooting, this is a pretty important factor to consider.

Admiring the sunset in an industrial zone.

Meet my ill-tempered teammate.

There's one more aspect, which made me want to play the game repeatedly. This was of course the inclusion of modes such as Trailer, Detonation, and SafeCracker. Which is quite an improvement over the standard Deathmatch, CTF, and so on. The inventive missions are certainly one of the most attractive features of the game, next to the great physics engine.

Besides that, it's good to see truthful shadow and lighting effects in a multiplayer game. The textures in the environment are abundant in detail. But alas, the game would receive great praise from yours truly, if it weren't for the utterly crappy weapon models, and the completely uninventive player models. There are only two types of characters to choose from per squad, and both are uninspiring to say the least. Luckily, given the potential mod community support for this game, and the willingness of the programmers to keep adding new content to the game, I guess this problem will be easily solved in the future.

As for the woeful textures and (the lack) of dynamic reflections on the weapon models the M4 is definitely a good example for that, although, the rocket launcher is not far behind. One of the things that can easily be noticed is that some of the weapons will remain shadowed in, even if the player is standing in a bright area! Overall, the visuals definitely seem like a mixed bag of impressions. At times very good, and at times looking like someone just didn't want to bother with the art design one tiny bit.

Remembering the BETA once again, there was something that really annoyed me, but I could not put my finger on it. Later, I realized that the game was deprived of any sort of sound effect and smarter BOTS.

You'd be happy to know that this flaw was rectified in the final release. Mobile Forces has a wide range of high-quality sounds, which were enriched by cool soft music in the background, and the bots are now a good enough opponent to warm you up for the real thing...

It's amazing, but even through all of the obvious flaws regarding the weapons, Mobile Forces can be quite catching! Playing the game in LAN mode wasn't as fun as joining a match on an online Internet Server. When you a match with a lot of other players, Mobile Forces can offer many hours of fun and exciting gameplay. Sadly, sometimes a huge number of players can clog the game - which is when we encounter the dreaded lagish atmosphere (I've played on a 256Kbit DSL connection). Otherwise, the whole system works pretty well and thanks to the vehicles, the awesome physics engine, and the variety of modes and missions, Mobile Forces can keep you hooked for some time.