Review: Unit 13

Unit 13

PS Vita

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Developer: Zipper Interactive

Release Date: 6 March 2012

The Vita has two analog sticks. This fixes one of the major complaints about third-person shooters on the PSP: that the controls were wonky or ineffective. Despite the PSP's limitations, Zipper Interactive saw great success with their SOCOM series. Visions of a proper military shooter were realized with the announcement of Unit 13. Here was Zipper with the chance to show off how good a portable shooter could be. And they succeeded. Mostly.

Soldiers VS Terrorists

There isn't much to the story of Unit 13. This is a band of UN sponsored operatives that do the world's dirty work, but are deniable. They are the team sent in to do what diplomacy and conventional armies cannot. Most missions are prefaced by your handler talking about the terrorist group and how you must do X, Y and Z to stop them. The story is flimsy at best, and laughable at worst. The enemy is some sort of al-Qaeda analog, and they are out to do unspecified bad things to the West. Your job is to shoot a bunch masked/turbaned terrorists and save the day. Your multinational squad will do what is necessary to protect freedom and all that.

The story is given very little reason to be; other than vaguely shuffling you off to the next mission. The missions fall into four varieties: Direct Action, Covert, Deadline, and Elite. Direct Action is the basic type: you are given a series of objectives to complete and then an evacuation zone to reach afterward. This mission type is your stock-standard military shooter mission. They are fun, engaging, and, best of all, enjoyable. Elite missions are Direct Action missions, but with the twist that you do not regenerate health. The only health pickups come after completing objectives, and there are no checkpoints. Failure at the end means doing the whole mission over again. Thankfully, these are the only missions without checkpoints. Covert missions are based on stealth, so being seen ends the mission immediately. Finally, the least fun of the mission types, Deadline missions are Direct Actions with a strict time limit. I get the realism part of these. If a double agent is being tortured, a swift rescue is better than a stealthy one, but the time limits can be brutal. The time also doesn't stop when you complete the mission, only when you reach the evacuation zone, so it can be frustrating to be set back to a checkpoint mere yards from ending the mission. The Deadline missions are best done in co-op, where you can revive each other, or split up and maximize time in completing objectives. In a bright spot, after beating a mission, you unlock a “dynamic” version of it. This will mix up and randomize the objectives so you can replay the mission multiple times and it will be different every time. Another brilliant addition is the “Daily Challenge” mission. This mission is a random objective mission that players can play and compete on a global leader board for the best score. The fact that this mission updates every 24 hours ensures that fans of the game will always have a reason to pop the game in and play for a bit.

Stealth works, but it's better to run-and-gun

Outside of the 36 standard missions, there are High Value Target missions that are like boss levels. These unlock with stars earned on the regular missions, and act like long, difficult Direct Action missions. There are no checkpoints during these, and enemies are numerous, but you do have your regenerating health. Once you fight through a majority of the map, you'll find your target hiding toward the end. Kill them, snag a Silver trophy and move into the room beyond them to end the mission. These are surprisingly fun, especially when you can have a running firefight through most of the level. Though you can die easily, these missions really feel intense and frantic. My favorite one saw me fighting in a town square to start, which then lead to an alleyway battle that transitioned into a slow and deadly fight amongst market stalls before I stormed a large residence and found my target in the basement surrounded by four shotgun wielding bodyguards. I got him from around the corner and eliminated his guards shortly after with a grenade before walking out of the building like the badass I felt like. While these missions can get tedious (no checkpoints means redoing all the fights every time you die), they are where the game shines brightest.

Co-Op adds life to the game for sure

The missions are in easy to play chunks, too. Even the missions marked as “Long” will only take about 10 minutes. Some of the “Short” missions were under a minute in length. Zipper really embraced the portability draw of the game by having the story being superfluous and the missions being short and sweet. This is a strong point of game: it's playable in small doses so that it doesn't get stale in short bursts. While the dynamic missions and Daily Challenge will offer loads of replay value, it doesn't do much to make the game that much better. The High Value Target missions are about 15 minutes each, and much longer since you will likely die a few times. Nothing ever seems to drag on too long in this game, and that's a good thing.

The game plays very well. Getting into and out of cover is generally solid, with the few times it doesn't work being more a position fluke than an issue with the game. Aiming is swift and feels spot on. A simple press on the front screen will bring up the scope; pressing the icon again will bring you back to shooting from the hip. I found this system really great and only troublesome when I blundered into a patrol and wanted to “spray and pray” but was aiming down the sight instead. Some of the best controls come from the “interaction” moments like completing objectives, hacking doors or disarming explosives. The button for these appears at the center of the touch screen, but also along the side. This feels very natural and is a logical expansion from the buttons. It never feels silly to tap the screen. Zipper did a wonderful job on making the controls feel solid and accessible. Enemies have multiple hit zones, and head shots are fatal on every enemy, even the “boss” characters. While you are out shooting, health regenerates swiftly if you avoid damage (unless you are doing an Elite mission), but your characters are weak. Even the hearty “tanks” can only take a few rounds in quick succession before dying. Each of the guns have their own feel, and I loved that each weapon feels powerful. Players will probably find their preferred operatives and use them, regardless of the mission suggestions.

Pick your favorite operative and as they level, they get better equipment

The crux of the game is the scoring system. This lends to an “arcade” feel to the action. Stringing together a series of kills of varied methods leads to a larger score bonus and a higher ranking on the leader boards. This felt at odds with how I played sometimes. When I was slow, methodical, and thorough, I was penalized for my “time” score. When I ran in guns blazing, I tended to score higher and I usually got the massive “Kill 'Em All” bonus because I drew enemies to me. While you don't have to pay attention to the score, the only way to unlock the High Value Target missions is to score well and earn more stars. I found myself playing the game my way just for fun, but since I could not unlock levels without scoring better, I went back and did the tried and true “Rambo” runs. I wish the game allowed for multiple play styles to be rewarded. It really does favor the all out action runs, with Covert missions being the exception.

The operatives are all varied and have different weapon loadouts. Each has special skills, too. Some are able to see explosives on the mini map, while others can see trip-wires or cameras. Each of the six operatives are viable for every mission, it just depends on your playing style. Personally, I favored the machine gunners over the shotgun toting guys. The sniper was fun on some missions, but the lack of a silencer on the weapon (a later attachment) meant that I had one shot and then had to run. I did enjoy each of the operatives, and the variety there allows for multiple styles to be viable.

Death for that guy out in the open in 3...2...1...

The enemy AI is a source of consternation. Getting into a firefight is harrowing and thrilling. Enemies intelligently flank; they provide suppressing fire as their shotgun units move up; grenades are instant kills and are thrown sparingly in tight quarters. However, outside of the direct fights sometimes the AI is just dumb. A guard may find the body of his friend and go on alert, but a few seconds later he is back on patrol as if nothing happened. This also happens if you shoot at guards and then vacate the area silently. I loved that the guards (usually) didn't focus in on my location, and moving stealthily away meant that I could flank them easily. However, some missions became walks in the park by exploiting the enemy returning to their patrols predictably. I could hunt them down one by one without really worrying because if I hid long enough, they would go away.

This might end poorly for the operative.  Most are not bullet sponges.

The objectives are varied in theory, but in practice are all the same. While visiting the hotel to bug a conference room is technically different from grabbing the intel housed in the same room, both involve the same action: walking up the the interactive portion of the room and pressing a button. It's the same when you are tasked with rescuing a hostage or killing a specific character: you enter the room, kill all the baddies and then leave. It's not bad, but it's dull. The game very quickly runs through most of it's bag of tricks, so the later missions feel like more of the same. The only differences become things like “Destroy the helicopter” or “Destroy the arms shipment on the helipad”. You are doing the same thing in the same place, but the narrative is different (“He won't be flying out of here, now,” versus “Good work, those weapons won't fall into the wrong hands now”). This is especially noticeable when you are doing dynamic missions to level up the operatives. Having done dynamic missions at the hotel several times means that the even the planned (read: normal story) missions there have a “been there, done that” feel.

The AI and objective problems would not be terrible if the locations were varied, but those too are recycled often. There are only six or so different maps that are used for the missions. You will be blocked off from different parts of the level, but you are still treading the same halls and rooms. The locations of traps will be swapped, or added, but this does nothing to make the maps feel vastly different. Tragically, most missions will send you through the same areas to the same rooms to do the same things. It causes the game to lose steam too quickly, especially in longer play sessions. While the main missions are well thought out and fun, the dynamic versions suffer from the “randomness” of the objectives. It's the same with the Daily Challenge. The enemies are not placed as thoughtfully, and the objectives do not feel as well thought out, so the missions (dynamic and Daily) feel awkward. So while there is a lot of replay value in theory, it doesn't work out as well in practice. Though short busts keep the game fresh, extended sessions exacerbate the problems. I found that this carried over into later sessions and I felt less enchanted as I played further along.

One thing that I found interesting is that the only form of competition is the leaderboard.  The co-op options makes some missions better (or easier), but there is a lack of competitive multiplayer.  I suppose that this is a strange lapse by Zipper.  The game seems set up for competitive deathmatches, yet they are absent entirely. It's not the end of the world, but it does seem like an odd omission that could have extended the life of the game.

The intrepid Unit 13 gathers for a collective fist pound

Overall, this game comes across as a lot of good ideas on paper that in practice don't make for an enticing game. The illusion of varied objectives, missions, and mission types quickly fade away as environments are repeated, objectives become repetitive and the mission types become chores (especially Deadline missions). The scoring system and stars used to unlock the High Value Target missions means replaying the same missions until you get it right. And that “right” is usually a swift run-and-gun approach. The fun and tension that comes from taking out the High Value Targets isn't quite enough to save this game. I will say that I enjoyed playing it for a while, but as I got further in, the repetition became too much. When things got boring and I tired of seeing the same locations and doing the same objectives, I wished for a stronger narrative. I suspect that co-op will extend the life of the game quite a bit, but once both parties tire of the same old missions, there isn't much else on offer. Zipper built the frame of a fantastic game, but never bothered to flesh out the insides. Instead, we have a game that appears sound and interesting, but lacks the soul to make it great.

Score: 6 out of 10

Bottom Line: This is a top-quality military shooter that is hamstrung by being more framework than soul

Check it out if you like: SOCOM, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, cover-based shooters, military shooters