I can’t say that X–Squad was over–promised, but it certainly was under–delivered. The concept: Lead a crack team of counter–terrorist operatives on their deadliest mission yet. The reality: Keep them from shooting each other and the walls while flipping switches. Seriously, though, X–Squad is the first squad–based game on PS2, but its AI is so bad that it really becomes a basic third–person action title with only some nice effects and a huge weapons cache to show for it. The missions are uninspired, the levels equally so, and it’s looks are as generic as can be. The only real standout is the lead character’s control, which feels great and uses the Dual Shock 2 nicely. But that’s about it.
With the combined forces of EA and Square behind its development in Japan, you wouldn’t expect X–Squad to be a run–of–the–mill action game, and, at least in concept, it isn’t. There’s been plenty of squad–based titles released on the PC and PS one alike, but none have really tried to fuse the calculated tactics of Rainbow Six with the guns–blazing action of Syphon Filter.
That’s what X–Squad attempts, but for a number of reasons falls short of it’s goal. The first and foremost reason is it’s squad AI or, more accurately, it’s almost the entire lack thereof. In theory, the game has players controlling a team of three crack commandos on a hostage rescue mission. In practice these squad mates might as well be blindfolded and earmuffed and have failed a gun safety course. Several options are available for issuing orders to them — from recon to all–out attack. But all lead to the same outcome almost every time — running into walls or each other and shooting in random directions. Unfortunately, even when stripped of its meager squad–based elements, the game still manages to come up short.
Despite some mild relief located a few levels in, the game’s missions are all painfully similar. The gist: Run through countless same–looking corridors, press buttons to open doors in corridors passed earlier and shoot cookie–cutter enemies.Or, get shot by these same enemies, which evan at the game’s basic difficulty setting, have the eagle–eye shooting skills of life–long NRA members. As for the end–of–level boss encounters, they range from laughably easy to hideously frustrating. One particular multi–boss battle, later in the game, had me ready to turn the game off and never play again until I discovered that sheer luck was the only way to progress. Back to the levels themselves. Not only is their overall design and architecture nothing to write home about, texture quality and variety is dull as a doornail.
Thankfully, there are some elements of the game’s visuals that look at home on the mighty PS2, but certainly don’t push it to any extent. Specifically, the motion–captured animations displayed by the lead character are quite lifelike, and there are some nice particle effects (such as waterfalls and steam jets) put to use every once in a while. The wide selection of weapons and gadgets afforded to the player is also impressive, until one realizes that the dozens of guns (many of which are very similar) are just a poor attempt at making up for X–Squad’s overall game play inadequacies.
You want to know the one truly good thing about X–Squad? The control of its main character, Ash. The ease with which he can be made to shoot around corners, strafe and roll out of the line of fire is great and really makes good use of the full range of the Dual Shock 2’s capabilities. Yet as good as this element may be, it doesn’t make up for the game’s otherwise poor design.
All told, X–Squad is one of those games that started off with a great concept but was under–delivered on all counts. Players who absolutely must have a third–person action game on PS2 will find it utterly mediocre, and everyone else would be best served to wait (perhaps until the inevitable announcement of Syphon Filter 3?). There’s nothing here that anyone hasn’t played before, and played better. Just like its squad AI, none of this game’s components are that good or ever manage to really work together.
