The Outfit

In 1941 the United States joined World War Two, and since then countless amounts of video games have used this era as their backdrop, with only a handful of them actually amounting to anything worth playing. The Outfit has the standard WWII basics along with some humor offering up a fresh outlook on the WWII shooter genre.

The Outfit has you start off on your hunt for Hitler as the rivalry of the two Nazi divisions, the Wermacht and SS, heats up. You can play as one of three characters; each having their own stats in speed, health, stamina, and purchasing, along with crazy one liners that will have you laughing throughout the game. In addition each character has their own unique squad command and throwing weapon.

Deuce Williams is the bazooka toting leader that has the most purchasing power when playing. He’s the raspy voiced, cigar smoking bad boy that loves to tear into Nazis. Tommy Mac carries the award for most health points while sticking it to the Nazis with his grease gun and flame thrower. Finally, you have J.D. Tyler who is probably the most balanced player. Besides being the fastest of the three he carries a light rifle for long range shots and a shot gun for up close and personal encounters.

One of the obvious things that set The Outfit apart from other WWII shooters is its tactical element of Destruction on Demand. As you progress through each mission killing Nazis and blowing crap up you earn Field Units, (FU’s) these units are then used to purchase anything from anti-tank weapons to halftracks in order to aid you and your squad in battle. Running out of FU’s is never a problem even on higher difficulty levels so you can spend freely. The ordinances you purchase during the missions are extremely useful for when you need to get out of a jam or just need a quick transport to get around.

The missions are as linear as it gets, having you run from strategic location to strategic location raising the American flag each time similar to the base capturing in the Star Wars Battlefront franchise, except the entertainment only lasts for the first hour of game play. This will immediately have you questioning whether or not you should have left the game on the racks at Gamestop. There really is no penalty for dying other than an annoying re-spawn timer that doesn’t belong. Each time you die you simply re-choose the character you wish to play with and you’re off again killing the same amount of Nazis you were left with when you died.

You’ll have to issue squad commands if you want to progress. Your squad will follow you to the ends of the earth but they still need direction. Using the Suppress command will have your troops firing bursts of inaccurate fire and this will force the Nazi troops to take cover giving you time to relocate. On the other if you find that you have superior numbers then it is time to use the Assault command. This has your troops charge the enemy shooting, throwing grenades, and finally mopping up the rest with melee combat.

The Nazi AI in this game is horrible. They do take occasional cover but most of the time they’re out in the open. Instead of having smart AI the developers try to mask this flaw with more enemy units aiming for a quantity over quality effect. Due to the sheer amount of bullets spraying the air you’ll die frequently. With all of these design flaws the campaign mode is defiantly a failure.