The Sum of All Fears – GBA – Review

Earlier this year a movie, based off a Tom Clancy
book, came out in theaters. The movie was about America’s fears of another Cold
war after the current President of Russia dies, and the man that succeeds him
has a mysterious past. Pretty soon, it is found out that renegade Russian
scientists are making nuclear bombs. People see the movie through the eyes of a
CIA agent, as he tries to find out the new President’s true intentions, and
tries to prevent a nuclear bomb from being detonated on American soil. Can this
movies’ high intensity translate well on to the GBA?

The game story is a little different from the movie. This time players lead a
team of counter-terrorist experts on a series of missions around the world. The
team is made up of elite FBI members; and each member will bring valuable traits
to each mission. Players will lead your team into battle with different mission
objects, from rescuing hostages to disabling security systems. Can you overcome
your fears to play this game?

Before each mission, players will have a character selection and a mission
briefing. The characters you select can have a major impact on how that mission
will turn out. For instance, if you had a mission where you have to snipe
someone, you would not choose characters that are not trained for these
missions. One of the worst features in the game is not having the ability to
split up from your main team. This means when players go into a room, they will
be followed, in a straight line, the entire team for the enemies to shoot at.
Another thing that is a disappointment is how easy the game is. The computer AI
is not the brightest thing on the planet, but at times they do prove to be a
challenge. Other than those minor complaints, the game is really fun and plays
like a dream.

When first playing the game, people will think to themselves, small people
running in a detailed environment, on a small screen, that will not work at all.
Once they get into the game, and play for a few minutes, they will see that
everything looks great, and works well with the game. Each of the places gamers
will come upon is detailed really well, from the guns characters use to the
desks in certain buildings. Even though each of the characters are small, they
fit into the entire game, and make it easier to play. The different character
animations are done well, from walking around and dying. The graphics look
really nice, but the GBA is capable or more.

Ubi Soft used decent music for the game but it is
only heard in the title and main menu screen. Once players get into the game,
the only sounds they will hear are the different sound effects from footsteps to
gunfire. The sound effects used are well done, the gunshots, footsteps, and
opening doors sound realistic. The voices used in the game were done with
accuracy. Ubi Soft used voice actors that portrayed military briefings with
style.

The game offers a multiplayer mode where up to four players can play a
cooperative game or an adversarial. Cooperative mode is where gamers play the
missions and the players complete in the campaign mode. Each of the players will
take control of one of the four operatives. On the other end of the spectrum,
adversarial is where it is a free for all, where players compete against their
friends.

The Sum of All Fears control scheme is a little difficult to master, but once
players do, they will become an elite soldier. The d-pad is used to move the
character around. The L button plus d-pad will let the characters strafe. A is
used to fire a weapon or throw an item. B button is used to reload your weapon.
A plus the R button will switch items. B plus R button will cycle between the
characters. B plus the L button will let players aim manually. To perform
actions players will press the L and R buttons at the same time.

The Sum of All Fears is rated T for Teen for violence and blood.

Gameplay: 8.3
This is a really fun squad-based game for the GameBoy Advance. The missions
are varied, are never redundant, and will give gamers something fun to play this
holiday season on the road. The only problem is that it is extremely easy to
beat.

Graphics: 8.2
At first glance, players will think that the graphic style used would not
work well with the GBA screen. After playing it for a while it work well, and
makes it look really nice. Ubi Soft could have added more effects to make it
better. Overall they did a good job in the graphics department.

Sound: 8.3
Ubi Soft exploited the GBA sound system really well. The only thing that
they could have done better is having music playing the game, instead of the
just sound effects.

Difficulty: Easy
The game is extremely easy. After getting used to the controls, and the
viewpoint, players will be able to beat the game in less than 8 hours.

Concept: 8.0
Team based games are not the newest thing on the market, but I have not seen
many of them on the GBA. This game proves that the GBA can handle it, and at the
same time be fun to play.

Multiplayer: N/A
The game offers a two to four-player
mode, but I do not have another Game Boy Advance to test this feature. The
possibility of doing this adds greatly to the replay value of this game.

Overall: 8.3
The Sum of All Fears is a really good game for the Game Boy Advance. If you
have a GBA and need a good team based game look no further!