A Nation Divided for PS2: No Farbs Allowed

I have to give credit to civil war reenactors, as they are dedicated folks, who truly love history. The only classes in high school and college that I wouldn't skip, would have to be ones that dealt with this subject, but I'm not going to dress up in wool anytime soon. Civil war reenactors are happy to, and will wear uncomfortable time era boots, and eat hardtack while conducting faux military battles. These presentations are interesting to watch, but most of the civil war reenactors that I've met, are a little bit strange. I'm all about wearing costumes, and I like to dress up as a different member of the Village People each day, but I'm not going to run around on a 100 degree day four hours. The only way I would volunteer for one of these reenactments is if I "get shot immediately", and can play dead under a shady tree.

The Civil War is one of the most amazing events in American history, and I've had the pleasure of going to numerous battlefields, and even conducting a bike tour of them while going across the country. There are places where these battles stoke a lot of emotions, and I've gotten in a bit of trouble, by stating to fans of the confederate flag, "Didn't the war end over 150 years ago? Isn't it time to, you know give it up?" That doesn't always go over so well, and while I respect the flag's significance in battles, I think it should only be displayed in accordance with historical displays. After a few close calls with the "locals," I've learned to keep my mouth shut at times, and to remember the conditions that those soldiers in the 1860's had to go through. The surgical tools display at any reputable civil war exhibit, will keep you awake at night, and they are a great deterrent to misbehaving children.

Since the Civil War is so fascinating, I was pleased to learn that there was a video game. It was released in 2006 by Activision Games, for the Sony Playstation 2. I figured it would be better than the silly games I had played on the PC, where you go behind the scenes, and move your troops that don't look realistic at all. Unfortunately, the computer games were better, because at least they had a certain level of fun. This has got to be one of the most boring fighting games I've played in long time, and the first part that irritated me were the graphics. For a game released in the past few years, I found this to be unacceptable.

The colors are seriously flawed in this game, and I had a difficult time discerning between orange, reds, and yellows. The blue and grey uniforms look exactly alike, and there is so much blurrying when you move the controls. The basic gist of this game, is that it is a fighting game, that tries to look like Call of Duty from a much earlier generation. You can choose to fight on the Union or Confederate side, and become involved in the action, in places like Antietam, Chatanooga, Gettysburg, Petersburg, Selma, and Shiloh.

These battle areas are fairly large, and offer a fair amount of flexibility in movement, but the graphics are just second rate. The battle scenes and your character don't look at all realistic, and I would compare these graphics to something released before the original Playstation.  It's hard to see your enemy, even when you are right up on him, due to the jumbling of the colors and shapes. The gameplay itself is ridiculous. Choosing a level of difficulty makes no difference, as its almost impossible to get anywhere in a battle. You are almost always outmanned and outgunned, and with your civil war era weapons, reloading can be a chore. The Springfield Musket on the Northern side, and Confederate Sharps 1855 bayonet rifle are difficult to reload, aim, and fire. You'll hit one out of every five shots at the most, and while I appreciate a bit of the time era's lack of modern weaponry, they could have made it easier to use. The multiple shot rifles are a bit better, and I actually love firing the revolver off.

If you want an incredibly fun weapon, that seems to work at least reasonably well, go with the Henry .44. You can really get some rounds through this, and I like its aiming ability. If the muskets and revolvers bore you, the hand grenades might be what you are looking for. These cause massive amounts of damage, but just remember to have them land on a flat surface, or they could be thrown back at you! The explosions that these make are cool, as you see dirt flying, and they can be a big help when under a lot of fire. You can also use a knife or sword, but these are only for close range fighting, and not very effective anyways. The cannons can wipe out an entire platoon, and these come into play after you get through several battles.

The graphics are flawed enough, but what really irritates me, is the gaming controls here. The geniuses at Activision have made this game beyond difficult, as the weapons are poor enough, but then they add having to remember where so many options are. The L and R buttons on the tops of the controllers, are for sighting the weapon, throwing grenades, primary attack, and melee attack. You can jump with the triange, change your stance with the square, and interact with others by pressing the x button. The arrows control weapons, and you move by using the left analog stick, and look around by moving the right analog stick. Can it be any more uncoordinated and disorganized by this? They should have used the arrows for moving and looking, so that the controls wouldn't constantly get in the way of each other.

I am really disappointed with this game, due to these problems, but still hopeful that one day there will be an excellent console based civil war one. There's so must action during that time period, and sadly even with the History Channel pairing up on this one, it failed to deliver on what could have been potentially great. This game is one of the worst I've ever played in recent years, and even the die hard civil war fanatics who dress up in wool, will be disappointed by this as well. You would be better served by saving the $15 this game takes from your wallet, and using it to by some hardtack instead. That would be more exciting, and would at least leave a somewhat good taste in your mouth.