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| Battle sequences are more similar to RPG style than action or first person shooters | The game’s underlying storyline is eminently intense |
The place is Germany; the time is right between the end of WWII and the beginning of the Cold War. There has been increasing conflict between the United States and the USSR, and of course, you’re put smack dab in the middle of it as a spy. While this makes for an excellent premise, perhaps the game would’ve been better if the plot was a little more specific. Chances are that if you’re not the president of the chess club, you’ll be spend a lot of time sitting around scratching your head, wondering what it is exactly that you’re supposed to be doing, and what move you’re supposed to make next. And although the game does feature a journal where you can read your past and current objectives, if your anything like me, you’ll keep wondering those two little words to yourself over and over again: “But, why?”
The thing is, you’re only offered bits and pieces of information at a time. While that might contribute to the realistic factor in terms of actual espionage missions, I like to know a couple of things whenever I sit down to play a game: who am I, what’s the significance of my objective(s), and what’s my motivation for completing them? Hammer and Sickle keeps from revealing such relative aspects as these until far too late into gameplay, and quickly lost my interest as a result. In addition to its vagueness, the game itself is also incredibly difficult.
Basically, the game’s difficulty level, even when set to normal, is on par with that of calculus. But at least in calculus, there’s always a definite answer. While Hammer and Sickle’s non-linear gameplay sounded awesome in theory, I found that having to reload the game over and over again in order to backtrack far enough to make a different play-altering decision was just too taxing to be considered fun.
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| Choosing your options wisely is imperative | Sometimes sneaking up on enemies is the safest option |
The game allows players to make a series of decisions and choices, and offers a selection of different courses of action right from the start-up mode. You can choose who your character is, change what he looks like, pick out his profession, and decide which class he belongs to. Then, as you make your way through gameplay, you will be given a number of different choices to make during a slew of different scenarios. Sure, this feature automatically increases the replay value of the game, but that’s assuming that players can get through it the first time around.
In the end, all those fancy gameplay choices simply increase the frustration factor, being that the seemingly smallest decisions will end up coming around to bite you in the you-know-what later. Originally, I thought that I’d be influencing historical factors such as the beginning of WWIII, or maybe even the unification of the USSR or both Germanys. Instead, all I got was a few thugs on my back constantly taking my money.
Adding to the Hammer and Sickle’s disappointing aspects is the game’s lack of a multiplayer feature. Not only does this seem like a cool game to launch a dozen militant competitions against one another in, but also, the assistance of a cooperative second player would greatly increase the chances of success.
With all that being said, there are a few small reasons why this game received a slightly above average score. For starters, if I was the type of person who considers calculus a breeze, I’m sure I would’ve had a more pleasurable gaming experience than I did with Hammer and Sickle. And had I not grown so annoyed with the constant backtracking and do-overs, I probably would have been able to appreciate some of the game’s cooler features more thoroughly.
The destruction factor, for example, is an awesome plus. This game goes beyond the typical explosive barrel and breakable rock barrier, and allows players to shatter windows, blow out doors, and even blast holes clean through brick walls. Literally everything can be destroyed.
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| You’ll find you spend a lot of time hiding and cowering…not very motivating! | Everything’s destructible, including innocent bystanders |
The sound effects (minus the corny overemphasized accents) can be pretty wicked, too. Anyone with a pair of decent PC speakers will find that turning up the volume while destroying said objects kicks the game’s entertainment factor up by a couple of notches.
As far as missions themselves go, they are definitely varied. While some are virtually carbon copies of objectives in both the Medal of Honor and James Bond series, the missions in Hammer and Sickle are at the least, many. And they do differ if, from anything else, one another.
HAMMER & SICKLE VERDICT
To sum up, Hammer and Sickle is unbelievably difficult, putting a hamper on a gamer’s overall enjoyment, to the point that you’ll likely spend most of your game time backtracking. But for the extra-bright gamers out there or those with a sadistic love of frustration, this game will engage you, to say the least. Otherwise, anyone else who’d still like to check out the worthwhile squad-combat-meets-007 style missions or awesome destructible environments is advised to stick to the online demo.
TOP GAME MOMENT
The top game moment in Hammer and Sickle would have to be nighttime play. The game supports a transitioning day/night cycle, so certain missions are easier to carry out in the cover of darkness and shadows. Sneaking around stealthily and taking out unsuspecting victims is fun, and the objectives seem to be completed easier without the benefit of walking out into clear daylight where everyone can see you.
