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A nice addition to the game is the stealth or sound sensitive option. When the sound cones are activated you can see how far the sounds you make go. This is very helpful as the AI in this game reacts to everything the same way, shoot first, blow into space later. The sight cone is another nice feature which allows right-click on an enemy or camera to see its point of view.
The strategy aspect is great and forces you to slow down a
LOT before you do something. One pet peeve I had, while playing STVOY:
Elite Forces, was the relative ease with which I completed the entire game, 6
hours in total I think. This problem is not to be had by me in this game. In
addition to having to use strategy such as "throw the emp grenade to take
out that camera you have to run by and then snipe the guard who will definitely
see you 'cause you're out in the open" (LOL), you have to move slowly and
sometimes VERY much so to plan out your next move to get to the next part of
your mission. It is definitely a "thinking mans" game in that you
can't just pull a “shoot 'em up” to win, especially when it tells you not to
harm anyone (Stunning SUCKS!)
Right now I am on a space station and unfortunately they
split up my team, so while two of my people are on-planet awaiting our next
move, the two people (with the equipment I DON'T need) are on the station. So
far it's been a challenge to complete each level. Let's hope it stays that way.
AUDIO, VIDEO and a BOAT LOAD OF "TREK" KNOW HOW
(thanks TWEETER :) )
 The
audio is great (although not very extensive), and as in most games each
character has it's own attitude and speech. It doesn't vary much in the grand
scheme of things, but we're not here to be told a story, we're here to save the
princess so to speak.
In the first few missions involving Klingons, you can tell
by the tone of their voice and the things that they've said that they're on to
you. Other than that, there is just a smattering of phrases to add atmosphere.
With my Creative Soundblaster LIVE onboard sound and 5 speaker (and one nice
subwoofer) surround sound system courtesy of Cambridge Soundworks, I get a nice
feel of being in the environment I'm viewing.
The video is nice and crisp, and the characters nicely
rendered in 3D. The backgrounds are okay, but might have been done a smidge
better. All in all, still nice eye candy and while I am running with a Viper V77
AGP 16 meg video card I'm sure that those of you with monster gamer systems will
enjoy it even more. The colors are vibrant and clear.
Interface, interface, interface. One thing I dread about
some games is the interface or GUI for us PC nerds. In Away Team, your basic
interface option is your mouse. You control every action with it and it is
pretty simplistic in it's design. When clicking on the crossed oval icon you can
select the entire team, OR you can click on one member, OR hold down your ctrl
key and select a group of your own choosing. Maybe some hotkeys would be nice,
eh. There aren’t many controls so it isn’t difficult to master them. The
controls you do have are easily within site and other than the map and
objectives menus are constantly in view.
 Multiplayer,
although an option, restricts you to two PC’s over a LAN (Local Area Network)
and you can only control certain members of your team at a time. As I am the
only one with a PC in my house, I don’t see that option coming to bear.
The game play through intermission cinematic films was
seamless with no degradation in sound or video quality. I didn’t encounter any
bugs or problems with this game and pretty much installed it out of the box and
took off.
All in all, Away Team combines a number of different
gaming styles and is a fun game. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to
play a different type of strategy game.
by
Scott
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