Code of Honor: The French Foreign Legion review

The Foreign Legion is legendary for its hardcore training and tough regime. You could make them watch Titanic, steal their teddy bears and stub their toes and they wouldn’t even sniffle. Still, FPS Code of Honor is bad enough to have them weeping into their kepi.

In a daring departure from the dusty streets of Generistan, the story is set in the dusty streets of West Africa. It’s a mix and match storyline of civil war, rebels and radioactive waste, but thankfully, no Bob Geldof. You spend your time stomping around deserts and urban environments that have been so badly neglected they could pen a best-selling misery memoir. Note to art guy: cutting and pasting the same shrub 200 times does not an African savannah make. The surroundings have clearly got to your enemies too: they spend their time wandering suicidally into your line of fire or leaning stubbornly on combustible barrels, praying for a bullet to hit.

The missions are simple, all boiling down to ‘kill someone’, ‘kill everyone’, or ‘blow something up’. They’re so familiar to your average shooter fan that it’s like cuddling up in a comfort blanket, albeit one stained with the blood of your enemies. There are even moments, knee-deep in corpses, taking down helicopters and sniping shouty African rebels, when you might feel a twinge of joy in your guts. Then you’ll get trapped on some awkward scenery or be damning your useless grenades to Hades, and you’ll realize it was probably just a stomach ulcer.

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Forget Call of Duty 4, this could get into a scrap with Prison Tycoon 4: Shower Time, and still be the one limping home. If you’re looking for an insight into the French Foreign Legion, you’d be better off sprinkling sand in your pants and going on a really long walk.

Aug 6, 2008