On December 12th, 1941, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered Major Quintin Maxwell, the Army?s leading expert on commando/unconventional warfare, to form a small special operations group to be designated as the 1st Special Missions Unit. Eisenhower informed Maxwell that he wanted a unit able to ?take the war right to the enemy in a big way?.

GAMEPLAY:


When it comes to gameplay, Deadly Dozen is crazy. I mean that in a good way of course. The game is like Commandos, but in a first-person or third-person (depending one which you choose) view. The story line is nothing really spectacular, but it fits the game pretty nicely. Basically, in this game your goal is to defeat the Nazis. You must complete missions like stealing information, killing important leaders, or destroying equipment.

You can select realistic or arcade damage realism. In realistic you can be killed in one shot if hit in the right spot, on the other hand in arcade mode it takes a couple of shots to get killed. You must pick easy, medium or hard difficulty, but I suggest starting off with easy. The game is very hard even in easy mode on the first level. The enemies can see you before you can even spot them, which should be changed in easy difficulty. You must learn to use stealth instead of just running around Duke Nukem style ;). The A.I. of the enemies is very well done, but the A.I. of your teammates is totally different. The enemies shoot at you from far ranges with good aim and whistle for back up, but your men shoot at the Nazis all right, but they shoot at the hills when the enemy is behind them. They don?t wait for the enemy to come out. They just waste their ammunition on grass. It is hard to rely on your men unless you?re using one of them. Each soldier has different skills that he excels at and depending on what skill, you must choose the items you think he?ll be able to use efficiently. In your mission you may use various commands like hold fire, attack target, fire at will, hold fire, and hold position. There are also different formations you can set yourselves up in like wedge, arrowhead, ranger file and more. At some parts of the missions you may actually drive a vehicle to get to a desired location much faster. The controls are very user friendly so you shouldn?t have a problem dodging enemy fire or maneuvering through roads. The gameplay would be perfect, but the A.I. must be tweaked.

Gameplay Rating: 4.5 out of 5


GRAPHICS:


I thought that the graphics were also very well done. If you?re playing on a mission where it?s raining and the wind blows in a certain direction, the rain and grass move in that direction as well. The textures are well done for the environment and the buildings (inside and outside). The faces of the soldiers? look realistic as well as the dogs. When I was being chased by one of those German Shepherds I felt like it was actually going to jump out on top of me. One thing that I would like to see improved is the damage realism done on vehicles, because no matter where you shoot them, there?s just bullet holes. I think it would be cool if you could flatten the tires. All in all, the graphics are very impressive.

Graphics Rating: 4 out of 5


AUDIO:


Wow! The game?s audio makes you believe that you are actually in the battlefield. The detail of the sound is incredible. You can hear raindrops falling and hitting the ground and it all sounds very real. The voices are also very nice. You can hear the Nazis yelling or whistling and the dogs barking in the distance if you get in their view. The best part of the audio is probably the music. The music changes depending on what is happening. The music is calm when you are just moving around, but when the action starts, the music gets louder and changes to something more exciting to keep you on the edge of your seat. The audio is excellent and needs no improvement at all.

Audio Rating: 5 out of 5


OVERALL:


This game has it all: Fun and intense gameplay, wonderful graphics, and amazingly realistic sound. The only thing you must do is get good at it, so you can pass all the missions. This game is worth purchasing for sure, especially if you are a WWII fan. I think that if the A.I. was improved it would be even more pleasurable to play for beginners, but other than that it?s great.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5


SCREENSHOTS:

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