Kuma/War: The War on Terror Review

There have been many war games released recently, many dealing with WWII and Vietnam. Kuma War decided to get a little bit more recent. This is a game about the war that we are fighting right now.

Before each mission, you are bombarded with information on the mission. You have briefings, newspaper articles, audio clips, images, and even a fictional news bulletin. Every mission has a good reason for being fought.

Unfortunately, this deepness is not apparent in the actual game. There are several features missing. First, you are unable to peek around corners. Instead, you have to walk out into open space to see and fire at the enemy. The AI is pretty dumb, too. Your allies will just stand around and get shot at. Plus they are very bad at shooting. There were instances where they emptied clips without hitting people. Your squad also tends to run into poles or walls and get stuck. The best way to get around this is make your squad stay and complete the mission yourself.

The enemies will either stand and shoot at you, or they will crouch to shoot. But that's about it. The enemy is really a lacking opponent. This game has many bugs that keep it from being very good.

This game is not too pretty. The game is rather bland and uneventful. The animations are poorly done. The graphics are complete with the "haze" effect so you cannot see too far into the horizon. There is still pop-up visible at the end of the map. The graphics could have been a lot better. But your squad looks pretty good, at least.

The sound may be the highlight of the game. The assault riffles sound good. They sound different from the other guns available, too. The audio in the pre-mission briefing is very well done. The sound of this game is definitely done well.

The game was very short (only four missions) and the AI was lacking. But, this is a game that could be the foundation for a very well done series. If the AI was more intelligent, there were more missions, if there were more moves (for example, being able to peek around corners) and if the graphics had a face lift, this game could be very good. But, as it stands right now, the game is worthy of picking up as a budget title.