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A Must have game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 28
Date: May 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I read the reviews in xbox magazine. In the age of copy cat games, this game is original. The graphics are of course sweeeet! Lets face it, a game where you have to escape from a pow camp you know is going to be way cool. Cant wait to pick this one up!

I was so excited about this game I bought it without testing

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 17 / 19
Date: August 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

O.K. When someone gives a game only 1 star - they can sometimes have an agenda. My only agenda is to inform gamers how dissapointed I was at this game and let the gamer make-up his or her own mind. I was very excited when I brought POW home and placed the disc in my XBOX. The intro scene was well done and signalled that CODEMASTERS were capable programmers. Then I played the game. The graphics are seriously below par for an XBOX title. The poor quality of graphics made it impossible for me to forget that I was staring at my 35" SONY instead of having the impression I was back in 1942 in a German POW camp. If I thought the graphics bad - imagine how I felt when I played the game. The gameplay is absolutely awful. MOVEMENT - think Halo for the LEFT THUMBSTICK (which is cool.) However, for whatever reason, the RIGHT THUMBSTICK only allows you to look left or right - not up or down. HOWEVER...the values are reversed - to LOOK LEFT requires that you PUSH RIGHT - and vice versa. I know what your thinking because I thought the same thing - there has to be a menu that allows you to change the polarity of the RIGHT THUMBSTICK - NOPE! With Halo I was effeciently killing bad guys in no time. With POW I was taking my frustration out on the innocent XBOX controller within 10 minutes. Oh, and it only gets worse. To climb over 1 wall/fence requires you to stand facing the fence. Then, press the LEFT THUMBSTICK forward and press the A button to jump and grasp the ledge (if a wall) or grab hold of the fence. Next, press the LEFT THUMSTICK forward once more to climb to the top of the wall or as many times as needed to climb over the fence. Next, the camera angle automatically swivles 180 degrees - to the other side of the wall/fence. Now, you must press the LEFT THUMSTICK down once to grasp the ledge and again to drop to the other side. You cannot imagine how clumbsy this feels. In the early levels - when guards are not overly aggressive/smart - you can ignore this clumbsy requirement - but later you'll be quite frustrated. If you press and hold the LEFT TRIGGER you are in FIRST PERSON VIEW ONLY MODE - meaning you can look side-to-side and up-and-down using the RIGHT THUMBSTICK - think Halo's RIGHT THUMBSTICK but without the ability to move when the LEFT TRIGGER is depressed. Now, you've finally scaled a wall and you stealthily enter a building looking for currency and useful items. Well, when inside buildings your point-of-view becomes fixed (from inexplicably some of the worst vantage places - without any room-level zooming capability) - and your RIGHT THUMBSTICK becomes useless - until you enter the previously mentioned FIRST PERSON VIEW ONLY MODE by pressing the LEFT TRIGGER. Useful items/loot twinkle and all you have to do is walk next to the item for it to be placed in your inventory. However, your instincts will be urging you to perform a thorough search of the room - open a few drawers - well they must not have had drawers in WWII because all you can do is walk around a static room. So you do just that - but due diligence requires that you walk a few inches enter the FIRST PERSON VIEW ONLY MODE look around for goodies and then walk another few inches enter the FIRST PERSON VIEW ONLY MODE...etc. You quickly discover that the only loot in the room is what twinkled upon entering - this must mean that Germans don't hide things - interesting? The inventory management subsystem was poorly conceived. Anything you cannot fit in your pockets is carried for all to see in your hands. There are hiding places you can find scattered thoughout the camps and you have a personal footlocker in your barracks. It took me forever just to figure out how to examine/use inventory items. Game Saving - you must be in your barracks and next to your bed in order to save your game. The game designers felt that one of the driving forces behind a prisoner of war game had to be the daily routine that a prisoner was forced to adhere by. So they devised a lame gimmick - a timepiece - that helps you plan mischeif around static morning and evening roll calls. So you are allowed to go exploring as long as you do not get caught in a guards vision-cone while in an illegal area as long as you get back to morning/evening roll call. From the moment I began playing this game I was extremely dissapointed. After playing for a day - I knew I was going to get rid of the game quickly before word got out. The graphics are boring. The character controls are the worst in XBOX history - why do I have to press right to look left - (that infuriates me)? The idea of being a prisoner of war trying to escape is golden (and I hope someone pulls it off), but this implementation is shameful. CODEMASTERS quality assurance team should be fired.

Truly Unique indeed

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: August 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you are tired of the same old games and are craving something new, please pick up this game. Tons of fun and everything about it is awesome.

you would think it would be good.... oh well...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: August 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

now this isn't the worst game i've played on the xbox, but that doesn't say much. I was extremely excited about the game for a long time. But it just doesn't live up to expectations. So its a game about escaping a prison camp? sounds intriguing, in depth, etc. But it isn't. You don't decide how you'll escape, or what you'll do period. you jsut follow instructions and go along with the next thing you are supposed to do. I was expecting to be abe to actually choose how to escape, what i would do, etc, but you dont. Maybe I've become spoiled from the idea of freeform play, but I hate being led by the nose in games anymore. I wanna make my own decisions. Aside from that, graphics, sounds, controls, etc are just not up to par either. It looks like an (outdated?) ps2 game. it actually has a pretty low fps and i continually notice it "stutter" when i turn. controls, while not awful, don't do nearly as much as you would expect. they also don't respond as well as you would hope.
This game is definately a renter. Thats why i did, and I got bored within a few hours.

What the...?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: August 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Okay, I have to admit, I went into this game with high expectations, leaving me a long way to fall with disappointment, BUT YOU WILL AGREE, this game is BAD. The concept is cool, you are an American POW in WWII, and you try to escape from your POW camp...cool. The idea is pulled of poorly however.

You start out in a small camp, which actually acts as your game training ground. You are given tasks from fellow prisoners, all of which lead up to your eventual escape. "Grab the key, steal the crowbar, steal this," ect. The first camp lasts awhile and after escaping you are re-captured and put into a new=harder camp. This will go on and on.

The controls are poor, your guy keeps running when you don't want him to, you end up getting shot anf have to start the mission over again. Gameplay is boring, go here, do this, come back, go out again. I am a fan of Metal Gear, with all of the sneaking and stuff, but there is no action in this game! Get spotted, and you are shot down, and NO...you cannot break any necks here. The voice acting is horrible, with your captors with horrible and cheesy German accents.

Be smart, stay away from this, maybe Dead to Rights will be good. If you need an espionage game, go with Metal Gear.

Prisoner of War

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I rented it last night, and it bites. The graphics are horrible, and so is the voice acting. The game isn't even that fun.

prisoner of war

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 8
Date: August 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

cracker ,couldn't put the pad down ,non-stop obsorbing stratigic fun

really pointless

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

You do nothing. You are just a prisoner. the germans have sniper rifles and other german guns. you have nothing. i am not saying you have to use knives, crowbars, hands, etc., etc. You can not fight. All you do is take some plans, avoid the big guys with the guns, and talk to some guys in a REALLY bad camera angle. So it is pointless. I am giving it back after one damn day.

i was so excited when i saw this game. I was thinking, "Hey maybe i can sneak into a German stronghold, steal a Lt.'s clothes, strangle him (or something to kill) and start shooting. But no, all you do is walk and get shot. Do you die? No, you go in the nurse's office. This game sux.

A great, game where the fun doesn't end!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 8
Date: August 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Prisoner of War is so cool! I play it all the time. It is an adventure game where the object is to escape. It's not one of those shoot-everyone-you-see type of game. Interact with your fellow prisoners and they can give you things helpful for you in the game. For example, boot polish for wearing on your face while you sneak out of your barrack at night. Also, some other prisoners will tell you how to beat your current objective. For instance, playing the tape on the loudspeaker to distract the guards. The game has no multiplayer, but the incredible gameplay and graphics make up for it. If you like adventure games, this is the right one for you. I'm sure that you will like it too!

Elements of other games hashed together in a bad way...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: August 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The stealthy aspect of this game is reminscent of Metal Gear Solid 2, with the little radar screen showing the guards fields of view, sneaking around so they can't see you, back against the wall, using diversionary tactics like hitting the wall to distract them. The graphics are mediocre at best, and don't even come close to games like MGS2 (which is inexcusable, considering the amount of graphical power the XBOX has). The gameplay is boring and uninspired, never really giving you any feelings of suspense or excitement (this may be due in a large part to the lackluster graphics that don't do anything to set a tone for the game). The dialogue is horrible, the authors tried too hard to make the American soldiers act like action movie heroes, and it just detracts further from the game's ability to create atmosphere.

I rented this game and returned it the same day after 4 hours of gameplay, during which time I kept telling myself "It will get better...it has to get better..." It doesn't.

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