Techtite's PC Game Reviews!

"This bargain-level game uses the Lithtech Talon game engine. This piece of information will lead some to shudder, others to reminisce fondly, though few to run out and buy it."

---from the review

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Sidebar :

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Choose your voice actors wisely! One additional problem I had with this game was the voice actress for Nina. While the face of Nina is credited as that of Iza Czarnecka, she clearly did not provide the voice, and therein lies a big problem. To be blunt, this is an actress that tries so hard to sound like she has a different foreign dialect it is just one laugh shy of being unintentionally funny.

Blonde...? Brunette...? Redhead...? Who knows what color Nina's hair is; it's all in who you believe! The game box, for example, is clearly a redhead. However, the model used for the load screens is blonde. Adding to the confusion, the model of Nina in the game --shown whenever you fall prior to a "game over" screen-- appears to be brunette on occasion. What-ever.

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Codename: Nina 

Click picture to order this game (PC/windows version)

A Techtite Review

It seems a little pointless to review anything distributed by "Valusoft" in the same league as the regularly-priced games. What do you expect from a game retail priced at $19.99, and currently (as of this review) marked down to a mere $12 bucks? All it really takes for such a $12 game, is to be one-third as good as the $39 games you can buy elsewhere. That said, Codename: Nina comes close. It doesn't quite get there, but yes, it comes very close.

First, let's cover the "name games" for this title, just in case someone is looking for a review of this game and they look for a title other than Codename: Nina. This game originated in Poland, where it is called Nina Agent Chronicles. Apparently, the idea was to release it as an anti-terrorist game in the U.S., so its full title is now Codename Nina: Global Terrorism Strike Force! Open the box's front flap, and you'll even see a very terrorist-savvy picture of a middle-eastern country amassing massive missile stockpiles, ready to be defeated by "Nina." Enjoy the picture, friends, because this isn't even a picture from the actual game! It's just promotional artwork, made to look like it was part of the game. Even for $12, this is a pretty cheap sales tactic.

Not that the game isn't about anti-terrorist strike forces. You must go from place to place, shooting a batch of baddies that indeed are made to look just like terrorists. This shouldn't take a diehard First Person Shooter fan a lot of time, however, since there is a certain amount of "reality" here. Unlike other shooter games, a gunshot to the head can kill instantly. Unfortunately this applies to you as well so don't jump with reckless abandon into any area which may include more than one terrorist to fight. As in most First Person Shooters, the deal is to just keep shooting until you reach the final "boss," then it's game over.

The game designers did have one cute idea, though it doesn't pay off: Nina is paranormally gifted. She can drain the information out of any higher-ranking terrorist she comes in contact with, leading to key information. Trouble is, this doesn't amount to much. In fact, it's just an added hassle. Shoot any of the guys you're supposed to mind-meld with, and it's game over! While finding who to mind meld with would've been an intriguing added puzzle, it's actually just another way for the game to surprise you with yet another "mission failure" message and yet another need to restore the game. This is more tedious than entertaining; it's just a matter of learning where and when to use your mind-powers, which is gratefully not often.

This game uses the Lithtech Talon game engine. This piece of information will lead some to shudder, others to reminisce fondly, though few to run out and buy it. The truth is, ever since Lithtech released its "Jupiter" game engine (No One Lives Forever 2), little need or want for the Talon game engine (No One Lives Forever 1) exists anymore. In fact, although Aliens Vs. Predator 2 (a "Talon" game engine product) was quite inspired, it was the vast exception to the rule. Disney's Atlantis: Trial By Fire and Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza are just two drops in the bucket of Talon-engine flops in the past two years alone. It isn't the engine's fault, though it's clear it takes an expert programmer to get the original Talon engine to do anything that resembles a fun game.

The shame of it is, there are signs that this could've been a good game, if given a slight amount of polish. Instead, the game just seems abandoned and rushed. The box's promise of "nine levels" is pitiful enough until you realize this amounts to a mere three missions, divided into three parts. You thwart a chemical weapons threat, then seek out a possible "mole" in your organization, and later, infiltrate a sort of Mayan-temple looking stronghold of the main bad guy. Some levels look pretty even if they don't make much sense --what are terrorists doing inside a bunch of ancient Mayan-style ruins?-- though even with nine "levels," the game is over in as little as three hours. This is a shame, because based on these nine levels, this could've been an at least tolerable bargain-level game, if the map editors worked twice as hard for, say, 18 levels. Otherwise, there just isn't enough game here.

Other gripes pull the fun factor down even more. For one, each mission has only TWO guns to choose from: one, two. Ammo is plentiful though come on; two weapons, against all these enemies? You do come across a sniper rifle on occasion, though they're "mounted" and can only be shot in the location they're stationed in. Added to the mix of flaws is an "automatic" game save feature, where you are not in control of when or where your game is saved; it's saved automatically, based on where you are in the game. While the game does give you the courtesy of saving your game before the most dangerous areas of the level, the truth is, a legitimate save game option would've been even better.

Yeah, I know; this is a bargain priced game; how much "game" can one expect? However, ever since Serious Sam and its sequel, the bar for under-$20-games has been raised. Those Serious Sam games seemed to last incredibly long for the price. Even by the box's own admission, this is a mere nine-level game. It just isn't worth it.

---Techtite