History Channel Civil War: A Nation Divided
Posted December 11, 2006
With the History Channel behind this Civil War game, one has to wonder if entertainment was high on the list of needs in the development process. Heavy on the historic remembrance, the presentation of this title feels more like a boring instructional lesson rather than a form of interesting teaching via video gaming. Strangely, attempting to sell this title as a History Channel approved, realistic reenactment is completely opposite from its actual, arcade nature. 
Gameplay:
The core of the single player campaign is split into six missions apiece for the North and South military. Each level is designed around specific battles, most of which were considered turning points for the war. The Northern battle focuses on the overall victory, while the majority of the Southern campaign is based on smaller, guerilla-style battles. Battles typically focus on completing goals such as delivering papers to a commander or taking the flag of an enemy camp. Finishing out each task is incredibly easy as the in-game compass system always points to the right direction for travel.
In each level, ammo is plentiful as well as health packs on all difficulty levels. Weapons can be picked up off the dead corpses of fallen soldiers. Additionally, a collectable photograph or letter is hidden within each level. These authentic, wartime primary sources provide a slight bit of authenticity to the entire affair. Unfortunately, viewing each item is tough to do in high definition due to the poor condition of the documents and pictures.
The controls are easy to pick up, yet the programming of the game alludes to such simplicity. Aiming is actually far too primitive as the target reticule acts as a homing device. While it doesn’t move automatically to enemies, any bullets fired from the weapon will center in on the target as long at the reticule was red. Enemies that barely graze the sight of the weapon can be taken down. Weapon switching becomes problematic late in the game when enemies are dropping multiple versions of the same type of gun. Shifting through 10 weapons to reach my beloved, quick-action Henry rifle is a huge pain. Hand to Hand combat is terribly clunky, especially when using the melee function with a standard firearm.
The atrocious artificial intelligence will send most shooter fans running back to Gears of War for comfort. Enemy A.I. has three modes of action: stand in the open while shooting, hide behind an environmental item, or charge your position. They have absolutely no flanking abilities or any advanced attacking capabilities for that matter. They will not seek cover when being shot at; rather just continue to slowly reload their antiquated gun. Also, charging enemies can’t alter their melee attack mode back to a firearm, which gives the player a completely unfair advantage.
The achievements are broken into the maximum allowance of 50 tasks for a grand total of 1000 gamerscore points. All the points are awarded for completing single player tasks, as there is no multiplayer included within the game. The majority of achievements are assigned to accuracy awards for each level. The remaining few are shelled out for killing a certain number of enemies, collecting wartime documents / photographs, or completing the game on a specific difficulty level. Oddly, the developer squandered their chance at adding replay value with a proper achievement structure as the vast majority can be accomplished within five hours of play. While gamerscore junkies will rejoice, the rest of the 360 populous will be disgruntled with the lack of challenge.
Graphics:
The graphics engine holds certain similarities to the Call of Duty 2 engine. Smoke and explosion effects look nearly identical as well as the scripted events throughout each level. The linear nature of the level design also holds a strong similarity to CoD2. The most problematic portion of the visuals has to do with the lack of animations and hit detection issues. While I wasn’t expecting rag-dog effects, watching rigid bodies fall down and vanish immediately is hopelessly hilarious. The hit detection is even worse as hiding behind any item is purely futile. Those magic enemy A.I. bullets can cross though barrels, demolished wagons, and even massive stone emplacements. The frame rate is basically solid, but sections toward the end of the game with a large number of enemies on screen will eat away at the frames per second.
Audio:
The musical score is comprised of typical military rousing music. While mostly an auditory backdrop to each level, the most noticeable sections are within the breaks between each level. The narrator’s voice during those scenes is quite resonant and adds slight authority to the overall feel of the game. Other voices from A.I. teammates become grating and repetitive by the third level. The sound effects are well executed; especially the distant rumble of battles when traveling the landscape. Cannon fire is powerful as well giving your subwoofer a healthy workout.
Conclusion:
Replay value is woefully absent within History Channel Civil War: A Nation Divided. Both North and South campaigns can be completed in a short, six hours on Normal and perhaps a couple more for the Hard difficulty. After locating the hidden item in each level for the achievement, there isn’t any reason to continue the game without a multiplayer mode to revisit from time to time. Out of the twelve shooters I’ve played on the Xbox 360, this easily ranks the worst. Leave this Civil War game to collect dust on the retail shelves this holiday season.
Gameplay:
The core of the single player campaign is split into six missions apiece for the North and South military. Each level is designed around specific battles, most of which were considered turning points for the war. The Northern battle focuses on the overall victory, while the majority of the Southern campaign is based on smaller, guerilla-style battles. Battles typically focus on completing goals such as delivering papers to a commander or taking the flag of an enemy camp. Finishing out each task is incredibly easy as the in-game compass system always points to the right direction for travel.
In each level, ammo is plentiful as well as health packs on all difficulty levels. Weapons can be picked up off the dead corpses of fallen soldiers. Additionally, a collectable photograph or letter is hidden within each level. These authentic, wartime primary sources provide a slight bit of authenticity to the entire affair. Unfortunately, viewing each item is tough to do in high definition due to the poor condition of the documents and pictures.
The controls are easy to pick up, yet the programming of the game alludes to such simplicity. Aiming is actually far too primitive as the target reticule acts as a homing device. While it doesn’t move automatically to enemies, any bullets fired from the weapon will center in on the target as long at the reticule was red. Enemies that barely graze the sight of the weapon can be taken down. Weapon switching becomes problematic late in the game when enemies are dropping multiple versions of the same type of gun. Shifting through 10 weapons to reach my beloved, quick-action Henry rifle is a huge pain. Hand to Hand combat is terribly clunky, especially when using the melee function with a standard firearm.
The atrocious artificial intelligence will send most shooter fans running back to Gears of War for comfort. Enemy A.I. has three modes of action: stand in the open while shooting, hide behind an environmental item, or charge your position. They have absolutely no flanking abilities or any advanced attacking capabilities for that matter. They will not seek cover when being shot at; rather just continue to slowly reload their antiquated gun. Also, charging enemies can’t alter their melee attack mode back to a firearm, which gives the player a completely unfair advantage.
The achievements are broken into the maximum allowance of 50 tasks for a grand total of 1000 gamerscore points. All the points are awarded for completing single player tasks, as there is no multiplayer included within the game. The majority of achievements are assigned to accuracy awards for each level. The remaining few are shelled out for killing a certain number of enemies, collecting wartime documents / photographs, or completing the game on a specific difficulty level. Oddly, the developer squandered their chance at adding replay value with a proper achievement structure as the vast majority can be accomplished within five hours of play. While gamerscore junkies will rejoice, the rest of the 360 populous will be disgruntled with the lack of challenge.
Graphics:
The graphics engine holds certain similarities to the Call of Duty 2 engine. Smoke and explosion effects look nearly identical as well as the scripted events throughout each level. The linear nature of the level design also holds a strong similarity to CoD2. The most problematic portion of the visuals has to do with the lack of animations and hit detection issues. While I wasn’t expecting rag-dog effects, watching rigid bodies fall down and vanish immediately is hopelessly hilarious. The hit detection is even worse as hiding behind any item is purely futile. Those magic enemy A.I. bullets can cross though barrels, demolished wagons, and even massive stone emplacements. The frame rate is basically solid, but sections toward the end of the game with a large number of enemies on screen will eat away at the frames per second.
Audio:
The musical score is comprised of typical military rousing music. While mostly an auditory backdrop to each level, the most noticeable sections are within the breaks between each level. The narrator’s voice during those scenes is quite resonant and adds slight authority to the overall feel of the game. Other voices from A.I. teammates become grating and repetitive by the third level. The sound effects are well executed; especially the distant rumble of battles when traveling the landscape. Cannon fire is powerful as well giving your subwoofer a healthy workout.
Conclusion:
Replay value is woefully absent within History Channel Civil War: A Nation Divided. Both North and South campaigns can be completed in a short, six hours on Normal and perhaps a couple more for the Hard difficulty. After locating the hidden item in each level for the achievement, there isn’t any reason to continue the game without a multiplayer mode to revisit from time to time. Out of the twelve shooters I’ve played on the Xbox 360, this easily ranks the worst. Leave this Civil War game to collect dust on the retail shelves this holiday season.