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Visuals/Sound
Terrain, effects, and units are all superbly rendered by the 3D engine utilized by S.W.I.N.E.. High-resolution textures cover the landscape and detailed features such as barren trees add character to the environments. But it is the animations that bring the game to life. Tanks rock back and forth in recoil after firing shots and smoke billows up from their damaged armor. The turret on a Rocket Launcher pitches forward when the unit comes to a complete stop. All vehicles leave behind tracks in the dirt. Water flows along in rivers brilliantly?enough to make you pause and watch it for a while before moving on.
Framerate drops did rear their ugly head at times when there were many friendly and enemy units in the same area, making it difficult to issue commands quickly. At least the handy pause function of the game enables you give commands to your units and consider the situations carefully before moving on.
Another thing going in S.W.I.N.E.'s favor is its unit acknowledgements. Despite the huge developments that have been made in the real-time strategy genre over the past few years, far too many of today's titles still suffer from repetitive responses from your troops. Even such powerful words as "That'll teach 'em" get old after their 341st rendition. S.W.I.N.E. includes many lines that are specific to a mission, meaning that you'll never have to hear them again unless you play through the map once more. The acknowledgements for basic move commands aren't extremely annoying either, although you can be sure that the horrible French and German accents can be.
The rest of the sound effects in the game keep the atmosphere exciting, flooding it with the noise from running engines and volleys of missile fire. S.W.I.N.E.'s music is playful and fits the mood perfectly, a nice addition to the game.
Cutscenes are thrown in here and there to offer a little chuckle, but don't really make the story progress. They simply portray individual encounters between the rabbits and the pigs. The mission briefings are where the storyline is laid out. You become aware of the consequences of your last mission and get a decent look at what lies ahead of you in the upcoming mission.
>> Gameplay/Pros & Cons
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