Shadow Company: Left for Dead

INFORMATION                                                     
Publisher: Ubisoft                                        
Genre: Real time 3d combat
Reviewer:Salman  Siddiqui                                                                                                                          

INTRODUCTION
There have been very few good realtime 3d combat games for the PC. Shadow Company: Left for Dead, represents the best of the genre. The story line is nothing new. Basically you work for a private company named Granite that hires mercenaries to take care of some business and kick some ass! The game begins as you find out that you team of mercenaries have suffered heavy casualties. As the remaining squad members retreat they realize that they have been left for dead (hence the title). Although such a plot has been overused in games and particularly throughout the movie industry, Shadow Company : Left  for Dead, captures all of the usual plot into one excellent and enjoyable game. It utilizes a little bit of Commandos, Rainbow Six and Jagged Alliance to cultivate something quite exciting. I mean how often do you a see a game where you get to be a cold blooded killer, a sniper, drive a boat, helicopter, tank, a street car,snowmobiles and even jet skis? Well Shadow Company: Left for Dead offers all this!

GRAPHICS – 90
To see all the grahpical glory of Shadow Company: Left for Dead, you must have a 3d card (see system requirements). The default view in 3rd person perspective with the camera being  zoomed out considerably to allow you give you a better view of your little mercenary buddies and obstacles such as bunkers, camps, trees and most importantly enemy soldiers. The best part is you can angle the camera and zoom in as much as you want by using the mouse. When zoomed in the graphics are very good, particularly the terrain. The animations for the soldiers and mercenaries are okay and look decently realistic.

INTERFACE and MENUS. - 80
The interface takes some getting used to because you have several things to control and or take into account. Its just a matter of time. The menus are well done and getting started into any type of game is quite easy. The one thing I really like about the interface was that you can use the mouse to view the entire map realtime. You can see where you might run into trouble or where the enemy could strike you. This forces you to do some planning rather then just going in and blasting everything you see.

GAMEPLAY - 85
Shadow Company: Left for Dead offers some of the best and most addictive gameplay I have ever seen. You have the choice of playing single player mission, which is the main campaign as you guide your mercenary team to various mission. Shadow Company: Left for Dead also includes LAN and modem multiplayer capabilites that I have yet to try out, although it sounds like fun as you get to play in teams. The single player experience is loads of fun. Each and every time, mission by mission you will be forced to think and act accordinly. After all, in most missions you are outnumberd by a large margin. For example, the first mission of the game requires you to complete several objectives. At first, I thought it would be easy, as I used a mercenary to slash the throat of an enemy soldier using my knife. I proceded quickly and accordingly executing as fast as I could. All of a sudden I realize that I had made a major mistake! It turns out there were several henchman inside the bunkers that I had failed to see. I lasted all but two minutes against the enemy and soon the game was over and I had to go back and think again. After another two dismal attempts, I finally completed the first level. The key throughout the game is simply being smarter,  most of the time you can be sneaky enough to avoid confrontation in most cases.

AUDIO - 78
The sounds of Shadow Company: Left for Dead are decent. As you attempt to complete the each mission, you will face different surroundings. If the setting of the combat mission is during the night, expect to hear the crickets chirping. Often times you can hear a pack of enemy soldiers appraching you and or blabbing, this I thought was a nice touch.

DIFFICULTY – 80
Mission by mission, you have to take many variables into account, one screw up and your team or a member of you team is dead. You must plan ahead, think of all possibilities snoop around and focus at what your doing if you want to be successful. The AI on the default setting is pretty good. Many instances require you to go and kill the enemy silently, when you go to use that knife you hear voices and all of a sudden there are a team of enemy soldiers at your throat firing at you. Again, Shadow Company: Left for Dead makes you accountable for such horrid mistakes in planning. Often times even if you do plan ahead properly you will have to engage in combat unexpectedly because a few enemy soldiers were inside a tent or hiding by tree. Such surprises, although frustrating while playing certainly add to the level of difficulty and most importantly realism.

OVERALL - 82
I enjoyed Shadow Company: Left for Dead. As aforementioned it brings a good mix of things to the table. As any good game does, it requires you to think, strategize and execute, culminating in an exciting experience. If you are someone looking to buy a good game, wanting all the things mentioned above, I highly recommend Shadow Company: Left for Dead.