Developer: Dreamcatcher Interactive
Release Date: Out Now
Avg. Price: £26.99, $39.99

If war is anything like this, then count me out! Non-stop deadly action is one of the most predominant things that come to mind when playing this game. Dreamcatcher recently sent over a copy of their newly released Iron Storm. Iron Storm is set in the dismal environment of WWI. In fact in Iron Storm it is 1964 and WWI has never ended.  You still have all the elements that made WWI one up, such as the trenches, mines (I've seen my comrades blown to pieces more than I really cared for in this game), grenades, and the very fearful gas warfare but Iron Storm gives the WWI setting a modern twist. You have  automatic weapons, tanks, helicopters, guns with snipe zooms lasers, electronics ,  and much more!

It seems Baron has a plan for a massive Eurasian Empire stretching from the Atlantic to the Chinese Sea. And to help accomplish this, Ugenberg has created a deadly weapon that could certainly end the war in a matter of no time. This is where you, Lt. James Anderson come into the play. You will have the daunting task of infiltrating enemy lines and saving the day. Your briefed shortly and sent out to the lines with a deadly sniper rifle on your way to a chapel. The first few parts of the game I played through were absolutely great, you heard helicopters flying overhead, gun fire in the distance and bomb explosions too close for comfort. One of the very first things you'll be responsible for is clearing the lines of snipers to help move infantry in (this is so ingenious because it gives you such an incredible feel of realism). I haven't progressed too far into the game as I felt it was necessary to write this review now as Iron Storm is such a great game that I won't be able to pull myself out of the game to write a review anytime soon.

The dynamics of the game play are excellent. The storyline is not progressed through long drawn out cut scenes, instead you are treated to a Half-life sense of game play. You are given the sense that you the player progress the storyline through your actions. Although some may turn their noses to this idea, this is something that made Half-Life great and definitely makes Iron Storm just as great if not better. The game play in Iron Storm will take you in and out of beautifully done outdoor environments and cramped under ground caves.  The difficulty of this game is very very hard. I am so glad this game has an automatic save feature at many points throughout the game. I cannot tell you how many times I died in the first half an hour of playing this game. Don't let this aspect deter you from playing this game however, it only adds to the complete realism and draws you in even more. The game play of the game is completely upbeat and you never have a dull moment, at any moment throughout the game you could have your troops running and screaming in the opposite direction telling you to pull out, do you follow or push ahead, that's the choice that makes this game so great. At one point in the game I decided to follow my troops back only to be blown to pieces by a hidden mine. The game play is full of split, life or death decisions that it really gives you the effect of war.

The weapons in Iron Storm (and I've yet to experience them all) are all very deadly and animated very well. I personally enjoy the sniper rifle as it's range and deadly accuracy really give you an advantage against the hordes of foreign speaking baddies. Throughout the game though you'll have your pick of some very high tech and deadly weapons such as machine guns, grenades,  shotguns (takes you or your enemies out in a few shots guaranteed), your standard pistol, a knife (which if you find a nice melon along the way is completely useless. I've tried killing someone in the game with this weapon only to be blown away by rapid gunfire....go figure). This combined with about 5 more weapons make up the arsenal in Iron Storm.

The graphics in Iron Storm are definitely high quality and look very impressive. The underground trenches are excellently done and the outdoor environments are where this game truly shines. They give you the dark ominous feel of what the battlefield in WWI would have been like. You see dead bodies everywhere, the sky is a dark grey, and the terrain is dreary and dead looking. The skies I felt could have been upgraded a bit, at least to Unreal's standards but they still come out very nicely. The character animation was fairly good but the incredible AI makes up for any flaws there might be in the graphical animation of the characters. I played this game on my Radeon 8500 at a resolution of 1024x768 and I felt very little slowing of the game. But I would definetly recommend having more than the recommended 256 megs of ram.

The sound in Iron Storm was fitting for the game scenario, I found at times though that the sound of the helicopters was a bit annoying but then again, it is a part of war that you'd probably have to experience on a regular basis anyways. The sound overall was very realisitic. When you heard a bomb explode you knew it, when you heard gun fire in a distance it sounded like true gun fire in the distance. The sound was unique and really brought out the game. I really don't have much more to say on that topic other than again Dreamcatcher did an excellent job on this component and polished it off quite well.

Overall I was very impressed with Iron Storm. I felt that it held true to the setting of WWI and effectively gave it the right modern touch. Although the game has a few flaws they are made up with the beautiful graphics, rich gameplay and incredible sound. Iron Storm will go down as one of my all time favorites and I hope that a sequel will be soon to come. I recently had a chance to speak with Dreamcatcher and do an interview on Iron Storm, so be sure to check that out shortly in our interviews section.