Combat Medic

June 10th, 2002 Bob Freese Reviews

Combat
Medic

Developer / Publisher:
Legacy
Interactive
Release Date: April 2002
Platform: PC

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Review by Bob Freese
June 10, 2002

Combat Medic box front

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Did
you ever play “doctor” when you were a kid? Shame on you!
But on the other hand, this experience just might be very helpful
if you check out Legacy Interactive’s new release: Combat Medic
– Special Ops.

Combat Medic is
a hybrid between a war sim and medical sim. Legacy Interactive is
eminently qualified to produce this title, having sold over 700,000
copies of its award winning Emergency Room series games. In
order to provide realism in this release, medical and military Special
Forces consultants were employed. It shows!

Combat
Medic places you in a Middle Eastern conflict – deep behind enemy
lines. Your task is to administer medical aid to your wounded buddies,
“off” the enemy troops, and stay alive. The task is challenging,
fun and very addictive. Easy? Nope! Shoot, you should see my Purple
Heart ribbons (I died a bunch 🙂 ). However, I advanced in rank a
bit and received a few honors and medals………I love that
part!

The game provides three
training scenarios, and ten missions. You must achieve a score of
50 out of a possible 100 in a mission order to progress to the next
mission. You may choose one of the offered soldiers – each with differing
strengths and weaknesses. You may select the novice, intermediate,
or expert level (read: replayability galore). Prior to each mission,
you receive a briefing of the tactical situation and your personal
objectives. Once you start a mission, you’re treated to a very realistic
cinematic entrance. Pump up the adrenaline, you’re now in a timed
sequence in which to complete your objectives. Your most important
duty is to administer medical aid to your fallen comrades. In the
game’s overhead view (2D), you are in a white rectangle, your buddies
are in green, the enemy troops are in red, and the wounded are in
yellow. Piece a cake. In the novice and intermediate levels, your
“backpack” is loaded with the medical equipment you’ll need.
Expert?.. Pack your own stuff, Sarge. Remember you are also a soldier
– the game gives you a pistol, automatic rifle, and grenades (love
those!).

Okay,
you’re on the ground. Look for those yellow rectangles on your mini-map.
Those guys need your help. Once you get to the wounded, the game provides
a 3D image of the patient. Using the keyboard and mouse, you are able
rotate and turn the body over in order to diagnose injuries. Okay,
you’ve got the tools (an amazing array), so get to it! In the levels
I played, clues were offered as to which medical devices to use (hey,
I’m not an MD! Thanks, Legacy!). Correct application of medical techniques
yields you points (remember you need 50 in order to progress to the
next mission).

The game interface is very
user friendly and provides for moving all your allies to a geographic
point, viewing your 3D patient, selecting your medical equipment,
dragging and dropping your patient, calling in the medivac choppers,
radioing for support, and returning your patient to action. Ten save
slots are available.

Hey, this is cool: Legacy
has created a secret web site (address and password provided with
the game) which provides cheat codes, Easter eggs, “behind the
scenes” videos, and more.

Overall,
I really enjoyed the game. The game is downright fun, challenging
and very addictive. One downer though – when under fire and racing
to beat the clock, I sometimes had to “pixel hunt” slowly
and carefully, in order to apply the medical equipment to the correct
body part. Yikes, I hate slow when I’m being wasted by da bad guyz!