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by Infogrames

BH2sc02-01.jpg (5201 bytes)All shooting and no variety make Eric a dull boy and Beach Head 2002 a boring game. While it is fun for the first hour or so, if even that long, Beach Head 2002 suffers from being a very average game in a genre that typically has less depth than a plastic kiddy pool. Arcade shooters are fun for a while, but they usually get old rather quickly. BH2002 is no exception.

BH2sc03-01.jpg (8685 bytes)The game consists of you taking the role of a lone soldier defending a "strategic" position in a war. You face wave after wave of helicopters, fighter jets, tanks, and APCs as the enemy has decided that your ten square feet of real estate is more important than the rest of the world. With a very limited arsenal and equally limited ammunition, you must defend your country with only a pistol, a couple of different machine guns, an antitank gun, and a handful of missiles. The available weapons vary from level to level, which serves to break up some of the tedium, but only for a little while. Friendly bombers drop crates of ammo and armor that you must shoot out of the air in order to replenish your health and ammunition. Every few missions, the game will throw a number of nighttime missions at you. These were even less enjoyable than the normal daytime missions because you almost always run out of flares before you destroy all of the enemies. The notably quick burning flares light up a large area, but once they are gone, you are left searching blindly for enemies. When the sun comes up again, it is the same old shoot at everything game play that got old ten missions ago. Put simply, the game is repetitive and boring. And, sadly, attempts to break up the tedium by adding nighttime missions only serve to cause more frustration.

2b-01.jpg (6518 bytes)Beach Head 2002 does feature some acceptable looking graphics with good, if not great, special effects. The one and only landscape in the game, as well as the enemies all look nice. Everything is animated acceptably enough for this type of game, but seeing blocky looking soldiers waddling around with only two or three frames of animation is rather funny. There are many instances of fighter jets flying right into hills and then coming right out the other side without a scratch. Also, the game tends to pop enemies up out of nowhere. I guess the developers were trying to keep you on your toes by sending enemies at you from within the vortex of ugly pop up. The explosions and weapon effects look nice, especially in the nighttime levels. BH2002’s sound is nothing to write home about though. House music and the same gun sound effects we’ve been listening to for the last ten years just don’t get the job done. The graphics and sound accomplish everything that is required for an arcade style shooter like this, but they still leave much to be desired.

1b-01.jpg (8339 bytes)One rather interesting thing I noticed while thumbing through the manual is that the developers saw fit to include very easy cheat codes and even printed them in the manual. Infinite ammunition, infinite armor, and a level skip allow you to keep the frustration level down. The game is actually rather difficult, and after repeatedly running out of ammo and dying a lot, the cheats are welcome if only to add another few minutes of game play to a decidedly dry title.

BH2sc01-01.jpg (8670 bytes)Beach Head 2002 is an average game, even for the shallow genre of arcade shooters. While it does look nice, some level and enemy variety would have been greatly appreciated. Repetitive game play consisting of nothing but shooting the same enemies on the same level wears thin very quickly. There is no reward other than the instant gratification of blowing stuff up because the game never ends. All you get is a spot on a high score table for your trouble and time. Beach Head 2002 is a very basic game with very basic game play that will only be entertaining for an hour or two. Skip it and play something with a little more depth.

Eric Qualls   (03/07/2002)

Snapshot

Ups: Good graphics & explosions; handy cheats listed in manual.

Downs: No level variety; repetitive gameplay; overall mediocrity.

Platform: PC