Sabre Team PC

On 15 September 1992 terrorists captured the American embassy in London. One of the diplomats was killed as a result of the turmoil in the estate. The local police, unable to cope with the crisis, decided to turn to the army for help. The reflection of hostages imprisoned in the building and the liquidation of terrorists fell on the shoulders of a special unit of commandos. They must draw at least three out of four people and not let themselves be killed. Otherwise, your usefulness as a branch commander may be very debatable.

This action, details of which you will learn shortly after the first launch of the Sabre Team, is only one of the five scenarios offered by the Krisalis product. The others are: another attempt to rebound hostages - this time in Malaya, infiltration of a heavily guarded bunker with machines storing long-range rocket launch codes, extermination of terrorists on a ship they kidnapped and a rally to a factory producing weapons of mass extermination. Only four of the available commandoes will take part in all missions. You will decide who it will be before the struggle begins.

All your pupils are described by several coefficients. The most important of these are the so-called "action points", which determine the number of manoeuvres that a commandos can perform in one turn. All activities such as movement, reloading weapons or firing a shot "cost" a certain number of these points. That's why it's very important to have as many of them as possible in your mouth. Other coefficients are less important, but this does not mean that they are completely useless, e.g. the more strength our hero has, the more he is able to carry a weapon. It should be remembered that an overloaded commando loses key "action points" for the game. High power is able to compensate for this.

The actual gameplay is very similar to the legendary UFO: Enemy Unknown. In Sabre Team, however, the player only worries about the tactical part - there is no time for the economy and fund management. Of course, we start with the selection of armaments to be used by the commandos. Then we drop people on the battlefield and start the fight. Tactics depends on what goal the command has set for us: in tasks with the reflection of hostages, maximum attention should be paid to their escort, in other missions we shoot at everything that moves.

All commands are given by means of the menu located at the bottom of the screen. Whether it's reloading weapons, firing or finally moving - the player has a full range of possibilities at his disposal. It is worth noticing, that just like in UFOs: Enemy Unknown, our commandos do not see the movements of the enemy, unless one of them is in sight. When exploring hostile terrain, it is important to look around carefully.

As in other games of this type, the Sabre Team uses an isometric view. The visual setting is very good - both the locations and silhouettes of the characters are made very carefully. An additional attraction are static images of anti-terrorists in action, appearing from time to time. The only major drawback of the Krisalis product is the small number of missions. The situation is saved by the possibility of increasing the level of difficulty, but in this respect the Sabre Team is still far from a sisterly similar UFO: Enemy Unknown.

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Last updated on 10 December 2007