You can’t play a game like Enemy Strike without feeling a shred of respect for the billions of faceless low-level henchmen you murder. The snipers and bosses and such know what they’re getting into. The ones who didn’t make it into specialist training, though… you’ve got to think there are quite a few average Joes out three. The kind of person who, for love of country or fear of treason charges, just keeps on running at the guy with the gun.
To be fair, the guy with the gun can’t walk. He can crouch, no problem. He just can’t… walk. Yeah, I don’t get that either. Fortunately, his soldier buddies (or whatever gets him to the fight) always remember to leave him behind a waist-high piece of concrete or something before going AWOL. What does this mean for you? Lots of crouching, lots of gunning, and a whole bunch of killing. If you’ve ever wanted a near-future military shooting gallery with decent graphics and a complex upgrade system, it’ll meet your exceedingly specific needs. If not, you still might like it. Just don’t expect anything mind-blowing.
Boot Camp
Behind the extra modes and fancy graphics, Enemy Strike follows a very simple philosophy: shoot the heck out of stuff.
That’s not to say the other aspects don’t add value to the game. For some people they’ll be the only reason to play. In fact, I’d say thrill of opening a new fight on the map or buying that sweet rocket launcher is pretty much all the allure it had left for me after my first couple hours playing. This would have been enough to keep me around two or three years ago, and probably would have sufficed even a year ago today. Now, when I can buy a console-quality title with all kinds of fun stuff to do for seven bucks without getting off the couch, it isn’t such a sweet deal.
Same As The Old Mode
As you shoot the heck out of stuff, you’ll be told to do things like kill all the snipers on a map or survive for X number of seconds. Then you proceed to shoot the heck out of stuff again. Because of this, you can largely ignore what the game tells you to do. You’ll be spamming (and buying) bullets either way.
Yes, buying bullets. Alongside not allowing their soldiers to walk, the military organization tasked with defending us also charges its soldiers for ammunition. Even when they run out in the middle of a firefight. As ludicrous as the concept is, I’m less thrilled with the concept in a game that sells the same ingame currency for actual cash. It’s an artificial limitation in every sense of the word, from what it adds to the gameplay to how realistic it is within the story’s context. It’s worth noting that the ammo generally won’t break you unless you’re a really poor shot — even then, it’s kind of annoying and a little insulting, free to play or not. I’d rank it a step or two above intrusive pop-up ads on the shady monetization scale.
Above Average Visuals
Many of the game’s backgrounds are quite pretty. Urban levels in particular have an almost-3D feel that, combined with the pretty visuals, really make the environments stand out. The ground units, on the other hand, can look weird and pixelated at times. The effect is pronounced when viewing them through a scope.
Adrenaline-Free Gunplay
Enemy Strike’s armory suffers from the same problem as its game modes. Sure, mowing down the enemy with a pistol feels different than with a shotgun or rifle, but in the end you’re still standing there and butstin’ caps. The extra perks do little to relieve the tedium, mostly because they cost currency as well and come on a pay per use basis. The controls, already simple and a little too forgiving by virtue of the static gameplay, become almost boringly easy once you learn the enemies’ attack patterns.
I said this would work two or three years ago in part because it plays so much like a Flash game. Outside of a few fun boss encounters, there’s nothing to do but shoot shoot shoot. As fun as the gameplay promises to be the first few rounds, it just gets stale. After that, if the unlock system doesn’t give you incentive to stay, it’ll probably be uninstall time.
Perfectly Blah
For a high-profile game Enemy Strike is about as vanilla as it gets. Outside of some pretty visuals there’s nothing to separate this game from so many other military shooters, static or otherwise. Except for the part where you have to pay for more ammo. It’s free and it’s sorta fun. Kinda. Download it and see for yourself. You’ll come away from it with a game you like or a better idea of how far the platform has progressed. Maybe both. Whichever happens, don’t be surprised if you’re on the hunt for a new game a few days or even hours from download. It’s not that it’s bad… it’s just not that good.
