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Good: Realism, Tons of Features

Bad: Graphics, Formulaic

Shoe In For: Niche game of the Year

If you haven't heard of Greg Hastings allow me to introduce. The titular character of the new game Greg Hastings' Pro Paintball: Max'd, Greg Hastings is a professional paintball player and one of the largest money winners the sport has to offer. If you have heard of Greg Hastings, I'm flattered you're reading this review Mr. Hastings. Please stop now.

A sequel to last year's Pro Paintball, Max'd is a game the appeals to a very specific, extremely dedicated fanbase. Rather than go the arcadey route Max'd and its predecessor favor the simulation approach. Since this is the only game of its kind, using hyperbole like "the most realistic paintball game to date" is more than redundant. The game could feature soaring musical numbers and magic elves that brought you more ammunition and it would still be the most realistic paintball game on the market.

That said, Developer WXP has gone to great lengths to create a highly realistic paintball experience. Your marker (paintball gun) can be held in either hand. This, in conjunction with the Lean button allows you to pop out from behind objects and fire on the opposition while remaining largely protected. It is also possible to shoulder your marker and sprint to avoid enemy fire and gain access to better vantage points on the field. It's possible to perform a dive as a last-ditch effort to reach cover.

The game is divided into two primary modes: Career and Multiplayer. In Career you begin by choosing a skin and customizing your character. Then it's off to the tournament circuit where you compete in matches for credits to be spent on new items (markers and gear) and unlock better recruits for your team.

In the game's 29 tournaments there exist three types of matches: Elimination, Capture the Flag and Center Flag.

Elimination matches consist of a best of nine round series. Before each round it is possible to plot waypoints for your teammates and develop something of a strategy. Once in battle your teammates will move to their desired positions and hold until ordered otherwise. At novice experience your comrades do a decent job of taking cover and firing on moving targets. On a few occasions I did see one stand in the open and fire on a well-protected enemy, only to be eliminated. If you get tagged by a paintball it's possible to cheat in order to stay in the game. This is accomplished by stopping a rotating arrow in the green section of the Cheat Meter that appears at the top of the screen. This gets progressively harder each time and if you get shot in the face it's an automatic elimination.

Capture the flag is standard issue. Each team has their own flag and the goal is to cross enemy lines, grab their flag and return to your own base untouched. Center Flag is a variation on the CTF formula in which a flag is placed in the center (surprise) and each team attempts to make it to that flag and plant it at the opposition's start box.

In any of these modes, commanding your two A.I. teammates is difficult. Tapping the command button while your target reticule is pointing at a specific piece of ground tells both teammates to scout that area for enemies. Pressing it while looking at a teammate tells that teammate to move up. Since come commands affect both teammates it can cause the accidental elimination of a comrade or the unnecessary sacrifice of valuable field placement. Also, having to tell a teammate to move up in order to avoid being hit is silly, especially since you have to look at them to do it.

These commands can also be issued via headset, but are even more difficult because of the required use of Paintball terminology. For instance, "Look at the Center 50" is paintball for "cover me." That's helpful. The inclusion of Paintball lingo may up the realism, but for those of us who don't speak Paintball it's confusing.

Online mode is similar to what is found in Career. It is possible to form teams and take part in tournaments, play a round of Quickmatch or go up against equally skilled opponents in Optimatch. The biggest problem here is that WXP gave the game host too much control in the pre-game lobbies. It's one thing to be able to reorganize teams before the match begins but here the host can change the team order at the end of each round. When this happens the entire match must be started over and each of the nine rounds played again. In theory each match could go on forever (and with the right host they do). It would also be nice if they filtered out controllers that use auto-fire functions since they turn an average marker into a machine gun.

If the online community is less than satisfying it is always possible to create a custom game and invite your friends for system link or four-player split screen games. Creating a custom game is as easy as selecting the match type and choosing from a few other options. Custom games can take place on any of the 200 pre-made levels or you can load created levels from the game's Field Editor mode.

With a robust amount of customization options both for gameplay as well as your character along with solid a online mode Max'd delivers more than what you'd expect from a $20 bargain game. There's just one, very important area where the game falls flat: fun. Basically once you've played one tournament you've played them all. Sure, the A.I. gets a little more aggressive and your recruited teammates get a few more I.Q. points but it doesn't really matter. The game can be played the same way from start to finish with only slight changes in strategy for the CTF and Center Flag modes. WXP's decision to go all sim is admirable, but by doing so alienates much of the casual audience this game could have appealed to and, not to add insult to injury, but the game looks bad and features a pretty ho-hum soundtrack.

In the end casual gamers will want to steer clear of Greg Hastings Pro Paintball: Max'd since the commitment to realism and use of Paintball terminology will likely be a big turnoff. However, if you're interested in the sport or are a player that just can't get enough of the intense action that is Paintball then the game of your dreams has just arrived.

Graphics: D-

Sound: C

Gameplay: C

First Play: B-

Last Play: C

Overall: 75% C