Top 1 Xbox 360 Site

In Civil War: Secret Missions, history buffs and first person action fans will get the chance to assume the role of Union and Confederate soldiers fighting behind enemy lines in famous Civil War battles. The player’s goal is to disrupt the armies of both the North and South by any means necessary, including stopping enemy supply lines, stealing ironclad ships and sabotaging enemy strongholds. Engage in some of the Civil War’s most famous battles, such as The Great Train Raid of 1861 and The Fall of Vicksburg as you utilize classic weapons of the era, including the pepperbox revolver and the coffee mill gun. All missions are based on the actions of famous partisans, scouts and rangers – fight as a member of Mosby’s Rangers, Sheridan’s Scouts and Grant’s Secret Service and receive your mission commands from famous generals like Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson, and Ulysses Grant.

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Cauldron

Online Play:

Local Play:

November 24, 2008 –
When it comes to making historical events approachable, the History Channel excels at condensing the blander elements into interesting segments that both educate and entertain. As a result, it would seem like a natural course for the television network to branch out into videogames, using their considerable talents to make titles based on wars both engaging as well as informational. For example, Activision and Cauldron teamed up with the History Channel two years ago to present a glimpse of the Civil War, but it was plagued by generic play and lots of technical issues. Unfortunately, not much has changed for their latest return to the War Between the States. History — Civil War: Secret Missions attempts to present the clandestine action of Union and Confederate soldiers during the war, but a non-existent story, coupled with weak gameplay mechanics and bland visuals, make this a disappointing shooter at best.

There isn’t a plot for Secret Missions, exactly — players are introduced to some of the most famous battles within the war, and some of the stealthy operations carried out by both the North and the South in an attempt to gain an advantage over their enemies. At the beginning of each mission, you’re provided a narrated introduction that gives a historical context as to what segment of the war you’ll be participating in. Taking advantage of the History Channel’s mix of narration along with maps, photographs and other art, these briefings seem to be taken directly from a documentary on the network. You’re shown a map of the country, as well as a quick animated zoom in to give you a sense of what adventures you’re about to embark on.

You’re only twenty feet away…I hope I can hit you.


Unfortunately, this sense of context falls apart as you play each mission. Outside of perhaps a few sentences that you’ll receive at the start or the end of a level, there’s little to no context as to why you’re trying to accomplish the various objectives that are presented to you. Even worse, when you complete a level, the gameplay abruptly ends and displays a stat screen without any kind of contextual explanation as to how your actions contributed to your side or harmed your enemies. Considering that you’re probably not a history professor with a focus on the Civil War, having a bit of an understanding as to how your success during a mission actually affected what happened more than 140 years ago is pretty important. Instead, the development of each segment comes across like a disjointed set of missions where, for the most part, you go from point A to B, killing soldiers that are dressed in a different color than you or your allies.

That’s assuming that you’ll be able to accurately kill your enemies with the assortment of weaponry that the game features, which suffers from serious hit detection issues. There’s a certain amount of this that is understandable — weapons back in the Civil War were much less accurate than their modern counterparts. Add to this the smaller round capacity that most weapons had, and you’ve got something that doesn’t exactly add to the tension for a shooter when you’re constantly reloading after every shot. Secret Missions attempts to get around this logistical nightmare by infusing the battlefield with a larger number of repeating rifles or single action pistols that players can pick up and wield, and while you’re restricted by carrying a primary and secondary weapon, as well as grenades, you can easily switch back and forth between firearms.

I’ve got an unlimited stream of bullets with your name on it, Rebs…


But the larger issue comes from the fact that many of the shots that you fire seem to vary wildly in the damage they impart, particularly if you happen to look down the sights of the gun to take a more accurate shot. For instance, I lined up an enemy perfectly and fired one shot, only to notice that it didn’t appear to affect him. I took another shot with the exact same result. It was only after the third shot that it seemed like he finally registered being hit.

“Firing from the hip,” if you will, by using the reticule and waiting until it turned red to register a perfectly lined up target, appeared to be much more successful, although it still seemed like it would take at least two shots to kill someone. It was rare when a shot would instantly drop a soldier. But I quickly got accustomed to firing off three or more shots at an enemy just in case — it’s not like I was ever in danger of running out of ammo anyway, because there were plenty of glowing reddish pink ammo boxes lying around to replenish my supply. That completely discounts the few moments when you hop onto a Gatling gun or cannon, which magically has infinite ammo attached to the fixed weapon.

• 1
• 2
• Next