SUDDEN ATTACK

Sudden Attack Review

By Omer Altay

Sudden Attack is yet another MMOFPS game that both looks and plays remarkably similar to other games in the genre. Personally, I enjoy playing just about any MMOFPS game, so I was actually a bit excited when Sudden Attack launched here in North America. One thing worth mentioning right away is that Sudden Attack is an old game, so it’ll run smoothly on most computers.

Quick History Lesson
When I first started playing Sudden Attack, I was a bit upset to see that the newly released MMOFPS had a terribly ugly interface and was far too similar to other MMOFPS games like Cross Fire and Combat Arms to be a coincidence. To my surprise (after doing some research), I learned that Sudden Attack was released well before most MMOFPS games, as it was released in South Korea in 2004 while Combat Arms was released in 2007! Sudden Attack is the game that really got the ball rolling with the MMOFPS genre and dozens of games copied it. One thing worth mentioning is that since Sudden Attack was originally released in 2004 it doesn’t have nearly the same amount of visual polish that newer MMOFPS games do. In fact, the game’s interface is quite ugly. Enough with the history lesson, though! I’m itching to actually talk about the game.

‘Tactical’ MMOFPS
One thing that all tactical MMOFPS games share in common is that players can lose all of their hit points within seconds and that head shots hurt.  Like in all MMOFPS games, getting sniped is always frustrating. Snipers in Sudden Attack almost always ‘one-shot’, so it’s never a good idea to stand still too long. One annoying aspect of Sudden Attack that a lot of ‘tactical MMOFPS’ games share is that players can shoot through the corners of walls, which is a bit ridiculous at times because players constantly empty their clips into walls in hopes of hitting someone. This tactic is especially popular in certain ‘choke points’ where both teams need to get through. From my experience with Sudden Attack the gameplay actually felt faster-paced than most MMOFPS games. Every time I played the game’s ‘bomb defusal’ mode, I felt like I was playing Counter-Strike, as it’s identical to Counter-Strike where the terrorist team (red team) has to plant and guard a bomb to win.

Not bad for an old game
When it comes to technology and video games, anything older than three years is considered ancient history. To my surprise, Sudden Attack actually holds its own when compared to even top-notch newer games. The graphics, once adjusted to the maximum resolution, are actually quite good. It’s no Huxley, but it’s still good. I mentioned this earlier, but the only real aspect of the game that really shows its age is the interface. Heck ,even for a game released in 2004 the interface outside of matches is quite poor, but luckily that has no impact on the actual game.

More Content Pleeeeease!
Where Sudden Attack falls shortest is the game’s lack of variety. The game has absolutely zero character customization, only a handful of weapons in the game’s item store, and only three game modes. The least the game’s publisher could have done before releasing the game was to stock the game’s item store with some aesthetic items, as that requires the least effort on the ‘coding aspect’, but nope. I can’t imagine how Sudden Attack expects to compete with other MMOFPS games like Wolfteam, which has 22+ primary weapons and a boat-load of secondary ones, when Sudden Attack has less than ten weapons overall. This may not seem like a big deal, but when there are so many alternative games out there that offer everything Sudden Attack does and more, it’s sort of hard to compete. The only redeeming aspect of the game’s content is that there are already numerous (10+) maps available, all of which are varied and genuinely different. To be fair, at the time of this review Sudden Attack is still extremely new (New in North America, Old in Korea), so I’m sure the developers will release more content; and if they do, I’ll make sure to update this.

Wow that guy’s really good! Oh wait, he’s just hacking.
One big issue that currently plagues Sudden Attack is the amount of cheaters in the game. Sure, every game has SOME hackers, but there are quite a few hackers in Sudden Attack. This could be because of the game’s age, but it’s more likely that whatever anti-cheat software the game’s developers are using (if any) is lousy. Letting hackers run wild is probably the worst thing to do as a game publisher because it makes regular players get so fed up that they either quit or download hacking tools themselves, which hurts the game even more.

Argh. Laggy Camera
One extremely annoying aspect of Sudden Attack is the game’s death camera. Upon dying and waiting to respawn, players can spectate their team mates in first person. This is certainly a good distraction while waiting to respawn, but spectating another player in first person is extremely laggy for some odd reason. This basically makes waiting to respawn extremely boring (not that waiting is ever fun), and it could be better provided the spectating camera was better.

Final Verdict – Good

Even with all of its flaws, Sudden Attack is still a genuinely fun MMOFPS game. The fact that it’s one of the first only makes the game more impressive. The only real drawback to the game is its age, and unfortunately, it really shows.