Conclusion

She's a looker alright

While not in the same league as visual juggernauts like Giants, Hostile Waters isn't exactly hard on the eyes. On a GeForce2 GTS, the game works like a charm at 1024x768 with all the toys turned to max. And on a positive note, the game seems to work great too! After the Christmas barrage of half completed games, it's a joy to see something that is actually finished roll out the doors. This is still a preview mind you; aside from an act of god, this game can only get better in the performance and looks department.

Smish smash

Crazy man

The eary things

The soundtrack probably won't carry nearly as much weight as the voiceovers in this game; but then, how many game soundtracks do most of us actually remember? So far HW seems to have your generic motley of action oriented music. None of the tunes really get you going, but at least they don't force you to poke a screwdriver through your ears.

Glowey thing

Island hopping

Thankfully, where the soundtrack sort of trails off, some decent dialog makes an appearance. Real actors did the voiceovers! Some them aren't particularly great or big actors, but at least they've had experience with "acting", unlike the crew that usually mans camera in these productions. The best known of the bunch plays the role of the narrator, Tom Baker of Dr. Who fame. The other two characters, Glynis Barber and Paul Darrow, have starred in Blake 7 and Dempsey and Makepeace. So far, the dialog and acting aren't bad at all. One thing is for sure; they are clearly better than the cast in Command and Conquer.

Dead bogey

Antaeus in the docks

Hostile Waters is supposed to ship with 20 or so missions, some lasting multiple hours. We've only made it through a handful of the preview missions, and that's with a day or two of playing. I think we can easily say that this won't be a short game, when this game comes out you will surely have your fill. Alas, there is no multiplayer aspect to the preview copy, and we don't expect there to be one in the final version either. Which, for a game such as this, is probably best. Tacking on some awful multiplayer version of the original game wouldn't be a good idea, especially considering it would take one more man away from adding to the single player.

And to answer what we think of the game so far - it's actually quite fun. I wouldn't give up CounterStrike for it, but it definitely isn't a bad game. We'll have to see how the end product turns out to lay verdict upon it, until then peruse the pictures and see what you make of it.