Maybe it's just my rather peculiar brand of deceived patriotism, but among the many games that have messed up my hard drive over the years, it's always been especially easy for me to spot the games that have etched into each code code the words' Made I Great Britain'. Prisoner Of War is another game that.
above all else, is very British - a game that, like so many before it, offers an experience that is unlike anything else on the shelves. Originality is something we Brits do well - you just have to keep Shogun and Black & White as two recent examples - and although Prisoner Of War falls far short of perfection, the flaws add almost something intangible to the game's distinctive charm.
As the game's title suggests, Prisoner Of War is so far removed in both setting and execution from the many World War II games that have attacked our screens, that it seems unfair to compare. But compare, we have to, and while POW is very out on its own when it comes to games, for sheer action or strategy, far more skilled games are offered.
More adventure than action, POW is a game that requires you to sneak around a trio of prison camps over five 'chapters', with the ultimate goal of breaking out. Along the way, you discover that the Germans have hatched a devilish plan to develop a rocket to dispose of London and use Allied prisoners of war as a human shield to protect it. In addition to escaping, you must prevent the massacre by stealing documents and sending your findings back to Blighty. It's a plausible and very entertaining story, considering how easy it would have been for the game to focus entirely on escaping.
Immortally Wounded
What will surely attract the interest of many a blocked player, is the very conscious goal on the part of the developer to create a non-violent game set during, to put it mildly, very turbulent times. Talking to other Allied prisoners, hiding in dark corners and collecting keys, stealing German uniforms and watching out for patrolling guards are pretty much all the game tasks you have with you, so those hoping to make a leaf out of a biscuit run and walk around and the split neck of the catch is probably a little frustrated, since throwing stones at guards under the dining table is about as violent as it gets. Of course, the Germans have a much more deadly arsenal at hand, but in line with the nature of the game, even if you ignore their warnings while choosing the lock to the library and run off in the direction of the gym, a few days in solitude or sickness is as bad as it will be. The guards are rather bad shots, and that is probably the reason why they patrol prisons as opposed to fighting in the front line.
Camp Guards
Each of the three prison camps has strict daily routines, which basically means that certain areas of the camp are safe to explore at certain times of the day. Mess Hall is where prisoners can safely mill around in meals and catch gossip in the camp. Training time is when you are otherwise not engaged, you may want to gamble away stash of shocks, smoke or alcohol (collectively known as 'currency'), or practice cutting pebbles on tin cans, and candles are the best time to explore , since it's not only dark outside, but if you can secure a box of boot polish or a German uniform, you can explore almost anywhere. The only times your absence is noted is after the morning and evening call, when the guards' barracks are emptied and the nearest truck, table or wardrobe should be sought and used as a cover for the hoo-ha door.
It must be said that although it is much hyped, Al is hardly what you would call incredibly lifelike. Short-term and deaf deaf people keep their guards strictly to the routine and go the same way day after day. If you are discovered where you should not be. they will seek you out with some degree of intelligence, but you will soon discover places where security against detection is guaranteed. Instead of taking this for granted, it is not long before you will appreciate the predictable Al and routine pace of the game. Knowing how many guards will be in one place at certain times is central to your success, and learning the routines is part of the fun.
Tension and frustration are kept high by not allowing you to store the game where and when you want. In fact, it's the only place you can store your barracks when you go for a walk. Therefore, the more times you save, the longer it will take you to escape. Although there is no time limit on the game, there is certainly some satisfaction in being able to break out as soon as possible.
Friends Like These
Of course, you are not alone in overcoming your captives. In each subsequent camp you meet a number of useful allies who are eager to help, some offer valuable information, others are eager to relieve you of your stash of currency, either in small games with gambling or by offering to cause a short diversion. Despite this, however, you are very much alone, and instead of being supporting characters, the others are little more than cast extras, conscripted in the background instead of in the foreground. Similarly, but very much an adventure in structure, there is little in the way of solving puzzles. Each mission (of which there are around 20) follows just like everyone else, in that you only have to find objects and take them back to your barracks or hand them over to the escape committee. To get through doors you need keys, crowbars or locking pins, and to get past guards all you need is a sense of timing, a uniform or a way to create a diversion. Guards and locked doors offer the only obstacles, and although there is some freedom in how to proceed to find each object, the challenge is not what you would call a brain.
Not that Prisoner Of War is an easy game to complete - opportunities can be hard to spot, and success can only come after many mistakes. There are no multiplayer options at all, although there is some playability when the game is complete. It would have been especially nice to be able to play as different characters, perhaps with different abilities, such as faster running speeds or natural
lockpicking abilities.
Control Freaks
But the biggest problem with the game is the many hangovers from the console incarnation, on which the PC version is too rigid. The context-sensitive controls, mapped to the mouse buttons, are hardly as intuitive as you hope. It is far too easy to open a door by accident when, for example, you just wanted to look through the keyhole. Also, if you are hanging to get close to a fence, you must press the key to stand to climb over.
Something like this should really have been automatic. In the same way, the camera sweeps too close into tight spaces, to the point where you often touch the cloth and see nothing but a couple of buttocks. More often than not this happens at important times where you really need to see a little more of the surroundings. These issues were highlighted in the
PS2 version when it was released a couple of months ago, and should really have been fixed.
Almost as bad is the fact that mouse users can not look up or down without going into a first-person view that on a PC should have been left out. The ability to lean around is also superfluous thanks to mouse control, and if you want to map the controls, you have to end the game completely, which is annoying to say the least. But for all the hang-ups the PC version suffers from the translation, and for all the less missed opportunities, the fact is that Prisoner Of War is one of the most new and original games that has hit any machine in many years. Those with a forgiving nature who are looking for an escape from the endless monotony of mass slaughter will do well to seek out a copy.
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