Brigade E5: New Jagged Union
Preview
Mix of fighting, puzzle solving and RPG elements
by Valpo
previewed on PC
Ingenious ways to earn money
Hegan, of course, wanted a bit more money than Coyote - $3,000. When I said no because I simply did not have the money, he suggested that I go rob the bank. Great idea, I thought again, but I need a gun to do that. So I went and visited the gun shop only to find out that the gun shop was more like an armory from which one could equip a small army and carry out a small war if he so chooses.
But with only $1,000 all I could afford was a USP and some ammo to help me rob the bank. After blasting the poor soul whose job it was to tell us that the bank was closed, I went inside and stirred up a hornets' nest. There were two men covering the door, both armed with pistols. Trying to awkwardly use the opened doors as cover, Player and Coyote were able to dispatch these guards. Unfortunately, Player took a hit and had to run outside. And just when Coyote was searching the corpses, another two guards arrived from their important task of hiding in the closet. After a firefight broke out yet again, I managed to kill those guys.
I gathered up their pistols and was angry to find out that I couldn't use two pistols one in each hand like they do in the movies. I then set about the business of robbing the bank. I looked through the bank and found two safes. Apparently no one thought to lock these safes and I took a total of $16,000 from them. Not much for a bank guarded by four men.
Armed and ready to go
I took the money ran back to the gun shop, hired Hagen and talked to the gun shop owner again. Party time! Hagen was already pretty well equipped but with the money I was able to equip Player and Coyote with a belt and a vest to carry stuff in, some body armor, a helmet, a MP5 submachine gun, an M4, and some ammo. Please note that purchasing ammo is important because the gun shop owner doesn't sell free bullets with his guns. I also had to buy extra magazines because ammo comes in boxes but a magazine is for shooting. Realistically, you can do a quick reload switching magazines, but you also need to place the much cheaper boxed ammo inside of the magazine which can take a bit of time.
After spending a half hour trying to figure out how to use a medic kit on Player, I just gave up and started the assault on the villa. In scouting out the villa I found 5 guards lining up against the front outside wall. A sniper on the roof and two guys to the south west surrounded by sandbags.
I tried to make my guys use the buildings as cover as the fighting started. Unfortunately I couldn't seem to make my guys peek around the corners and fire so they all just stood out in the open and had the Gun Fight at the OK Villa with automatic weapons. After the firefight started more guards naturally came out to assist and eventually I was outgunned. All my mercenaries died and I failed to complete my mission which the game informed me didn't actually matter now since I was dead.
Last word
This game looks to be very interesting mix of fighting, puzzle solving, and RPG elements. I personally found picking out the proper array of weapons I wanted to employ a blast and the wide variety of weapons and gear make the game very interesting. Given my knowledge from rooming with a marine / gun enthusiast in college, I'm not sure how realistic some of the weapons are, such as the Bullpup with an M203 attachment, but the variety is a great plus regardless. The biggest negative was that in the demo there was no way to find out the uses of a particular item, just its size and weight. This let my imagination run wild trying to figure out exactly what an elite mercenary squad is going to do with a porn magazine.
If the tutorial and in-game help such as info on each item is improved/added and the controls made a bit easier to handle, there is no reason to believe that Brigade E5 can't be a hit much like Knights of the Old Republic was.
