Skip to content
Dom Robinson reviews
UbiSoft 
- Windows 98/2000/ME/XP
- Intel Pentium II 450Mhz
- 128Mb RAM
- 16Mb DirectX 8 compatible 3D graphics card
- 900Mb Hard Disk Space
- DirectX 8.0
The Sum of All Fearsis the latest film to be based on a Tom Clancy novel about CIA agent Jack Ryan,played inThe Hunt for Red Octoberby Alec Baldwin, then inPatriot Games andClear And Present Dangerby Harrison Ford and in the new film by Ben Affleck.
Pardon? The new film is set in the present day and Jack Ryan is suddenly around25 years younger and only just joining the CIA, despite seeing the effects ofthe Cold War coming to an end in his first outing? Yes, but that’s Hollywoodfor you. Still, it doesn’t change the emphasis of this game which works just aswell whether you think of it as a film tie-in or a first-person-sneaker.
Note that the game recommends you reserve a whole gigabyte of hard drive spacebut I found 900Mb should cover it.
The premise is extremely simple. Although you are in control of an elite counter-terroristunit, beginning with around 8 men running around onscreen, only two of themare under your direct control in each mission while the rest provide backup toother areas of the buildings you’re trying to neutralise. From time to timeyour paths do cross again, but too many cooks do spoil the broth and if there’stoo many people around you, you may as well sack trying to send your own menin to battle and just wade in yourself.
Before I mention the bad parts, I’ll start by saying that the best thing aboutthis game is the sound effects. Turn around and shoot and listen to the bulletsricochet all over the shop. Tremendous.
The bad? The graphics seem rather sparse and are everything you’ve seen before,even if they do move about well. Also the gameplay does become very repetitive:enter a building or area, take out baddies here, there and everywhere and,eventually, move on to the next scenario.
Also, while you can tell your men to open a door, throw in a flashbang tostun the baddies inside, then storm the room and shoot them, there’s someincredibly poor AI going on as said soldiers try to enter the room. Theysometimes jitter about, walking into the door frames instead, and by the timethey finally make their move INTO the room… the baddies are alive and well andreturn fire. Oh, and on a few occasions the dimwits have thrown a flashbang inthe same damn room they’re standing in! Duh!
Something else that’s annoying is when you want them to follow you across anexpanse of land before you get discovered. Suddenly they’ll just stop to shootat some baddies and however much I tell them to follow me they just carry onregardless, get shot and are killed. Idiots!
The game is fun for a while but it does get a bit on the dull side after thefirst two or three missions when you realise things won’t change a great dealthe further you progress. As for the tactics applied during the missions, itboils down to solve the world’s crises, collecting important information anddefusing bombs by holding down the action key for a few seconds.
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ENJOYMENT
OVERALLThis game was played on a PC with the following spec:
Intel PIII 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM (133 Mhz), ATI Radeon 8500LE AGP,Soundblaster Live! 1024.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.