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	Soldiers of Anarchy
	Developer: Simon and Schuster Interactive Publisher: Silver Style Genre: Squad-Based Strategy Players: 1-8 Similar To: Shadow Company, Jagged Alliance Rating: Teen Published: 12 :09 : 02 Reviewed By: Ryan Newman Overall: 7.5 = Good

Screenshots

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Intro
After a deadly virus is unleashed onto the world, a group of survivors find sanctuary in a bunker deep below the Earth's surface. Years have passed and with supplies dwindling, and boredom ever increasing, the survivors set out to step foot outside to survey the damage that time has done. Finding a ravaged world, the survivors meet humanity as a society of factions: seekers (tradesmen), innocents, and various gangs that range from para military to brute savages. Witnessing the gangs take villagers as slaves, you and your comrades step up to defend the helpless in this enjoyable, but extremely frustrating, squad-based strategy offering from Silver Style.

Gameplay: 7/10
It's amazing how quick these underground dwellers learned how to fight. Over a decade underground and the second they hit the surface, they turn into Rambo. Well, not quite, but that doesn't really matter as the premise is pretty cool and it wouldn't be very fun controlling a bunch of armchair generals playing war.

Similarly to Shadow Company, Soldiers of Anarchy is a 3D squad-based strategy game that is played out in real-time. There's no base-building or resource management, it's all tactics - well, micro-tactics. The biggest flaw with SoA is that it requires a great deal of attention, much more than it should. Since the survivors were low on just about everything, items can't be manufactured, so they must be scavenged for; from dead enemies, strategically placed supply boxes, and traders. The same goes with vehicles, only they are more important and are also given for completing specific missions. So, just about every item that can be taken should be taken, and the loss of any can greatly affect the performance of the team.

It's with this severe need for supplies that the first and most prominent problem comes in, the pathfinding is extremely poor. A single ground soldier isn't so bad, but when they're bundled together, things can get pretty frustrating. Whenever multiple units, infantry or vehicle, are given their target destinations - which can take up to a few seconds to register on the map - they end up being spread out so far that they tend to tell a trooper to go to a spot where an item already is, which causes them to not move at all. I didn't discount the fact that, yes, troops need space, but when soldiers crawl to a position and the distance is almost double their size - not to mention they can be moved singularly to get closer together - there's no reason for the selected unit to make no attempt to fit in close by. Vehicles are much worse than infantry. While neither can change destination while they are on their way to a previous spot without stopping first, it is much more annoying with vehicles as they will stop, go into park, and then proceed to accelerate again. The drivers of the vehicles also mimic someone under the influence as they will swerve wildly or even turn off a path and come to a dead stop, just to reverse and get back on the road and proceed to the destination. All of these factors play a huge role in the difficulty as it becomes extremely difficult to sneak past encampments and to make a break for safety when the soldiers stop every few seconds because they either feel like it, or can't comprehend that the new destination is where they need to run to. This is a major factor in precise supplies being needlessly loss that isn't due to anything the gamer did.

Compounding these problems is a camera that barely does its task. Consisting of two modes, a free and a path, one allows the camera to rotate with the mouse and the other goes along a straight path. Since objects do not go translucent when they are in the way of a character or vehicle, which is something that should be included in all games due to an unwritten law of not making gamers wanting to pull their hair out, constant switching of the views must be done so that the entire field of battle can be seen. One perk is that the entire map can actually be viewed, while enemy placement isn't shown, the layouts of cities and the topography do a great deal in helping with preparing a strategy.

Oh and there's plenty of preparing to do as Soldiers of Anarchy leaves no room for mistakes. This is the quintessential save and reload game - which is made worse by some exceedingly long load times - as even the most perfect plan can go awry as the camera might lock up, one click on a certain spot might send the view of the map in the total opposite direction, or the fact that it takes a whole lot to kill enemy soldiers and not a lot for the player's squad-mates. Either way, the difficulty can skyrocket as the enemy has incredibly powerful weapons earlier than the player. There were also a few missions that gave very distinct instructions, but when they were followed out, unexpected reactions from the computer led to guessing as to how to complete the given objectives.

So, there's a game that's extremely difficult by technical flaws and awkward design, a poor camera, and pathfinding troubles, then why a 7? Well, it's because that no matter how much SoA annoyed me, frustrated me, or made me want to throw my mouse against the wall, it remained an incredibly addictive title.

The soldiers can go prone and crawl, kneel, or walk around in a normal posture. They will also have the option to gain experience in several fields - explosives, heavy weaponry, medicine, etc. - as they survive mission after mission. These aspects enhance each other as postures significantly enhance the difference fields of experience. Someone who is experienced with heavy machine guns will want to stay laying down for better accuracy, while someone trained in medicine will want to be knelt so they can still be somewhat harder to hit and also able to go faster to the aid of fellow soldiers. Weapons are also done extremely well as they are actually unique in their firepower, accuracy, and range. Instead of giving the player an mpk5 or an uzi as a means of a sub machine gun, the player can either outfit the squad with the cheaper uzi, or the more expensive and accurate mpk5. AK's, mines, rocket launchers, kevlar vests, shotguns, and more will all find their way into the possession of the soldiers.

The vehicles are also fun to play with as a machine gun-mounted humvee giving cover to an infiltrating squad is always a lovely sight. Even with their control problems, they are still fun to use and watch in action. They, like the troops, are also very customizable; visits to the base take place before each mission, and here players can use a certain amount of hours to repair vehicles, place extra armor, mount extra weapons, and also stock ammo - troops also benefit from these breaks as they can also be healed, given armor, and also medicine to increase their attributes. The base also allows for newer and more powerful weapons to be gained as a greedy trader will have some heavy ordinance for the player, if they can meet his price.

Backstory and progressive dialogue are also given at the base, as well as within the missions themselves. As the game unfolds, clan rivalries and the mystery as to who created the deadly virus unfold in a timely manner, despite the fact that the game is fairly long. I was glad to see that the developers took such an interesting premise and ran with it, instead of solely relying on a cool idea and try to ride it out throughout the entire experience. Choosing sides, allocating scarce resources, and scouring the land for any extra supplies is the name of the game, and it says a good deal for the positives whenever a title so frustratingly unpolished can remain so enjoyable.

Graphics: 8/10
There's no doubt that this is one heck of a system hog, there were more than a few times when it slowed down to slide-show speed, but some very nice eye-candy helped to soften the blow. Huge maps with several towns and cities are the norm, with incredibly detailed buildings that sport boards on the windows and roofless tops that reveal several layers of once-livable interiors. Fences, street signs, debris, and busted up cars all liter the passages and small things, like a tank's treads causing dirt and dust to fly up, really add a lot.

Most impressive are the soldiers themselves; great looking models and outstanding animations really give them a life of their own. Watching a soldier get out of a humvee and slam the door shut, complete with the vehicle shaking a little, or seeing one of them bounce a few times before jumping up into a raised transport was fantastic. Watching them reload, crawl, and climb over walls gave a great sense of realism to their actions, and the distinct visual appearance of the weapons was an excellent touch. The only problem, aside from the hit in system performance, was that the actual terrain didn't quite match the amount of detail that the buildings and player-controlled units had.

Sound: 7/10
With every character having a different voice, the developers are given a nod for their efforts, even though quite a few sound relatively silly. Weapon and vehicle effects are all above-average, with only a few coming across as being recycled. The soundtrack is fairly average with a rock feel to it, but it did have a tendency to drown out the voices whenever characters would talk within in-game cutscenes. I do wish there had been stronger environmental sounds though, but what's present is more than adequate.

Control: 5.5/10
The camera and pathfinding issues means that the player will have one hand on the keyboard and one hand on the mouse the entire time they are playing. It's upsetting that these problems where left as they were since they are pretty much the only thing keeping the game from the greater status that it so closely reaches. There were also some other troubling problems: some menus had little onscreen help as to what they did, while others were clearly defined, and this gave off a look of the product being a little unfinished; aiming was difficult when a target was moving as right clicking brought up a submenu - think Close Combat - and by the time the cursor was over the target icon, the enemy was already a good distance away from the camera's center and hard to spot; troops also wouldn't go back to their previous stance once they climbed a wall or shot heavy weapons, like a rocket launcher. This is undoubtedly the weakest part of SoA and something I hope gets addressed in possible add-ons or sequels.

Overall: 7.5/10
With missions that can extend into hours, an intriguing story, and enjoyable combat, Soldiers of Anarchy has all the makings of a great game. However, its constant camera and pathfinding problems hamper its overall enjoyment and make the game seem like a chore with constant saving and - lengthy - loading. While I recommend SoA, I do so with a warning that those with a low temper should approach the game, even the demo, with caution, as it can truly be exercise one's patience. An excellent experience and one well worth taking, but one brought down by the most common of problems.

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