The Outfit
Posted April 11, 2006
Developed by Canadian-based Relic, The Outfit is a strategic action title that offers an impressive multiplayer experience and twelve painfully linear, single player levels. The purpose of the game is structured around capturing checkpoints which act as spawn points that unlock vehicles or weaponry. It's an easy concept to grasp, but the execution of a successful assault can often be troublesome if you choose to play it as a shooter. Putting a little brain power toward designing a defensive fallback strategy is recommended for maximum enjoyment.
Wrapped up in the single player game, the storyline is entirely fictional and somewhat comical at times. It's interesting to see a World War II game that takes a lighter approach to the gravity of the war than the rest of the WWII library. Basically, the story revolves around a trio of freelance Allied soldiers that are pursuing a couple of rogue Nazi generals through France. Presented by some fairly ugly cut scenes, the progression of the story never amounts to much unfortunately; nor does it ever enrapture the viewer. In addition, the stereotypes found in characters on both sides of the war are incredibly cliché. The below average storyline is nothing more than a tool to piece together a variety of different level designs.
Gameplay:
At the outset of a level, you get to choose from one of the three Allied soldiers to lead a small group of four men into battle. There are advantages and disadvantages to each character, so it's in your best interest to choose wisely. For instance, choosing Tommy Mac, a beefy muscle-head, will give you excellent health & firepower, but limited purchasing power. On the opposite end, choosing Deuce Williams, a born leader, will give you excellent purchasing power & health, but limited firepower. I recommend going with an assault expert like Tommy early on and use Deuce for defensive situations.
After you come to a decision, an objective will be presented and briefly shown via a quick camera pan. Objectives range from protecting soldiers, capturing beachheads, fending off an assault, or taking control of key buildings such as the armory. As objectives are completed, new tasks will appear and the process repeats itself. As a reward for completing objectives and taking out enemy encampments, you will receive points based on the amount of destruction caused. These points, called field units, are used for purchasing a variety of military equipment.
The variety of equipment keeps the game pretty fresh. Defensive tools such as gun turrets, anti-aircraft guns, and tank busting cannons are excellent for keeping the enemy at bay. Offensive tools such as air strikes, three types of tanks, and various light assault vehicles will keep the enemy on the run. The equipment can be repaired or reinforced at any time if you happen to get in trouble. German vehicles can be repaired for later use as well. All of the equipment will arrive by the way of an airdrop, similar to Mercenaries; so be wary of your position. Also, there is a selection for extra men that can be used when you become an army of one after an unfortunate explosion takes out the troops.
The AI of your soldiers is average as best. They do not actively seek cover, nor are they smart enough to use gun emplacements on their own. There is a group of four orders that can be issued to your group via the directional pad, but they don't react fast enough to them. Many times, I'll give the order to assault, but I've taken out most of the enemy before they even get there. The only thing the soliders do perfectly is enter and exit whatever vehicle you are currently occupying. On the opposite side, the enemy AI is pretty darn ferocious. They always seem to hone in on my direction before I can draw a bead on them. Many times, they seemed overly tough to fend off. Happily, if you happen to get killed, a quick respawn is only seconds away at the nearest checkpoint.
In many ways, things like the spawn system seemed out of place in the single player game. Obviously, it was specifically built for the multiplayer arena. There are three modes of multiplayer which take up to eight players: Standard Deathmatch, Destruction, and Strategic Victory. While the first mode is obvious, the latter two are where the fun is at. Destruction is a fun-filled jaunt at racking up the most points from destroying enemy encampments. Strategic Victory is very similar to Battlefield 1942 in that you are competing for territory. Gathering up the enemy's territory will increase your vantage points and ultimately help you win a round. It can be extremely entertaining if played correctly. Many times, defense can be a much better solution than offense when trying to drain your opponent's resources. On a separate multiplayer note, Relic included a co-op mode for the single player game that can be used over Xbox Live. I found the co-op mode to be enjoyable, but seemingly pointless as the game can be easily beaten.
The 1000 achievement points are broken up over a series of 41 challenges. The points are split pretty much down the middle between single player and multiplayer. The single player challenges usually require extra effort to complete hidden challenges in each level. The multiplayer achievements are based around accumulating kills, objectives, and overall victories. While the single player points can be garnered in about 6 to 8 hours, the multiplayer group of achievements will take considerable longer to collect. Overall, Relic did a decent job assigning their points to a group of challenging tasks.
Graphics:
Visually, The Outfit is a bland portrait of a war-ridden battlefield. The environments are poorly detailed and the textures appear almost fuzzy. The character models are fairly sharp and appropriate to the nature of the game, but their animations are vastly limited. Inclusion of rag doll physics would have been much more impressive. The cut scenes are not using the in-game engine, but seem similar to the old FMV style. This muddy looking movie style is rather outdated and takes away from the storyline. Overall, The Outfit seems much more like a PS2 or Xbox game rather than a title worthy of the Xbox 360 hardware.
Audio:
The voice work is heavy on the celebrity talent, but light on believable dialogue. Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Blade 2), Robert Patrick (Walk the Line, Cop Land), and Terrance Carson (Final Destination 2, U-571) make up the trio of Allied soldiers within the game. While the conversations flow fairly well, the writing borders on ridiculous. It's a shame to hear such talent wasted on a horrific script.
Beyond the voice work, the sound effects are accurate to the weapons and vehicles they represent. Many times, listening for a particular type of cannon fire will warn of an impending attack before the camera angles catch up. Also, the musical score is uplifting in a military band sort of way. For the most part, the music only kicks in during the cut scenes or dramatic moments.
Conclusion:
If it's not clear already, The Outfit's most impressive aspect is the addictive nature of the multiplayer portion. The single player campaign is an excellent effort at originality, but the execution leaves much to be desired. The lack of a compelling storyline, average gameplay mechanics, and linear level design hamper the quality of the title. I can only recommend The Outfit at a $30 to $40 price point for Xbox Live users that are interested in a quirky Battlefield clone. Everyone else should give the title a rent when the current deluge of recent Xbox 360 titles begins to taper off. Also, check out the demo on the Marketplace for further review.
Wrapped up in the single player game, the storyline is entirely fictional and somewhat comical at times. It's interesting to see a World War II game that takes a lighter approach to the gravity of the war than the rest of the WWII library. Basically, the story revolves around a trio of freelance Allied soldiers that are pursuing a couple of rogue Nazi generals through France. Presented by some fairly ugly cut scenes, the progression of the story never amounts to much unfortunately; nor does it ever enrapture the viewer. In addition, the stereotypes found in characters on both sides of the war are incredibly cliché. The below average storyline is nothing more than a tool to piece together a variety of different level designs.
Gameplay:
At the outset of a level, you get to choose from one of the three Allied soldiers to lead a small group of four men into battle. There are advantages and disadvantages to each character, so it's in your best interest to choose wisely. For instance, choosing Tommy Mac, a beefy muscle-head, will give you excellent health & firepower, but limited purchasing power. On the opposite end, choosing Deuce Williams, a born leader, will give you excellent purchasing power & health, but limited firepower. I recommend going with an assault expert like Tommy early on and use Deuce for defensive situations.
After you come to a decision, an objective will be presented and briefly shown via a quick camera pan. Objectives range from protecting soldiers, capturing beachheads, fending off an assault, or taking control of key buildings such as the armory. As objectives are completed, new tasks will appear and the process repeats itself. As a reward for completing objectives and taking out enemy encampments, you will receive points based on the amount of destruction caused. These points, called field units, are used for purchasing a variety of military equipment.
The variety of equipment keeps the game pretty fresh. Defensive tools such as gun turrets, anti-aircraft guns, and tank busting cannons are excellent for keeping the enemy at bay. Offensive tools such as air strikes, three types of tanks, and various light assault vehicles will keep the enemy on the run. The equipment can be repaired or reinforced at any time if you happen to get in trouble. German vehicles can be repaired for later use as well. All of the equipment will arrive by the way of an airdrop, similar to Mercenaries; so be wary of your position. Also, there is a selection for extra men that can be used when you become an army of one after an unfortunate explosion takes out the troops.
The AI of your soldiers is average as best. They do not actively seek cover, nor are they smart enough to use gun emplacements on their own. There is a group of four orders that can be issued to your group via the directional pad, but they don't react fast enough to them. Many times, I'll give the order to assault, but I've taken out most of the enemy before they even get there. The only thing the soliders do perfectly is enter and exit whatever vehicle you are currently occupying. On the opposite side, the enemy AI is pretty darn ferocious. They always seem to hone in on my direction before I can draw a bead on them. Many times, they seemed overly tough to fend off. Happily, if you happen to get killed, a quick respawn is only seconds away at the nearest checkpoint.
In many ways, things like the spawn system seemed out of place in the single player game. Obviously, it was specifically built for the multiplayer arena. There are three modes of multiplayer which take up to eight players: Standard Deathmatch, Destruction, and Strategic Victory. While the first mode is obvious, the latter two are where the fun is at. Destruction is a fun-filled jaunt at racking up the most points from destroying enemy encampments. Strategic Victory is very similar to Battlefield 1942 in that you are competing for territory. Gathering up the enemy's territory will increase your vantage points and ultimately help you win a round. It can be extremely entertaining if played correctly. Many times, defense can be a much better solution than offense when trying to drain your opponent's resources. On a separate multiplayer note, Relic included a co-op mode for the single player game that can be used over Xbox Live. I found the co-op mode to be enjoyable, but seemingly pointless as the game can be easily beaten.
The 1000 achievement points are broken up over a series of 41 challenges. The points are split pretty much down the middle between single player and multiplayer. The single player challenges usually require extra effort to complete hidden challenges in each level. The multiplayer achievements are based around accumulating kills, objectives, and overall victories. While the single player points can be garnered in about 6 to 8 hours, the multiplayer group of achievements will take considerable longer to collect. Overall, Relic did a decent job assigning their points to a group of challenging tasks.
Graphics:
Visually, The Outfit is a bland portrait of a war-ridden battlefield. The environments are poorly detailed and the textures appear almost fuzzy. The character models are fairly sharp and appropriate to the nature of the game, but their animations are vastly limited. Inclusion of rag doll physics would have been much more impressive. The cut scenes are not using the in-game engine, but seem similar to the old FMV style. This muddy looking movie style is rather outdated and takes away from the storyline. Overall, The Outfit seems much more like a PS2 or Xbox game rather than a title worthy of the Xbox 360 hardware.
Audio:
The voice work is heavy on the celebrity talent, but light on believable dialogue. Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Blade 2), Robert Patrick (Walk the Line, Cop Land), and Terrance Carson (Final Destination 2, U-571) make up the trio of Allied soldiers within the game. While the conversations flow fairly well, the writing borders on ridiculous. It's a shame to hear such talent wasted on a horrific script.
Beyond the voice work, the sound effects are accurate to the weapons and vehicles they represent. Many times, listening for a particular type of cannon fire will warn of an impending attack before the camera angles catch up. Also, the musical score is uplifting in a military band sort of way. For the most part, the music only kicks in during the cut scenes or dramatic moments.
Conclusion:
If it's not clear already, The Outfit's most impressive aspect is the addictive nature of the multiplayer portion. The single player campaign is an excellent effort at originality, but the execution leaves much to be desired. The lack of a compelling storyline, average gameplay mechanics, and linear level design hamper the quality of the title. I can only recommend The Outfit at a $30 to $40 price point for Xbox Live users that are interested in a quirky Battlefield clone. Everyone else should give the title a rent when the current deluge of recent Xbox 360 titles begins to taper off. Also, check out the demo on the Marketplace for further review.