Written by: Rik
Date posted: November 17, 2021
Look, it says ‘spoilers’ in the title of this piece. But here’s another warning: **stop reading now** if you don’t want to know what happens in the game.
In Crusader: No Remorse, your Silencer is completely, well, silent throughout. Not so your two red comrades seen at the start of the game, with one panicking about getting into trouble and the other trying to be calm and rationalising the situation, before they both get ruthlessly blown away by a WEC mech.
I guess it does make sense for the player character not to speak, and it’s arguably preferable to being saddled with an irritating script and voice-over, but it does mean that for the bulk of the game, you just haplessly stand there while various colleagues unload verbals on you.
One character who doesn’t is General Maxis, who for some reason seems to prefer to contact you directly throughout the game at various points rather than through Colonel Ely, the cigar-chomping CO who normally gives your mission briefings.
Ely warms up after a while, although he has a tendency to say things like, “Look, I know what went wrong on the last mission was nothing to do with you, but the rest of the team aren’t so forgiving…” before leaving you to trudge into the bar and get an ear-bashing.
Just as you begin to win people over, there’s news of a traitor in the camp, which sours things somewhat. And then colleagues start getting killed off, starting with the one guy who was nice to you at the start. By the time you really prove yourself, most of the rest of them are dead too.
It’s bleak stuff really: the rebels aren’t plucky and upbeat but depressed and worn down. It reminded me slightly of various Wing Commander games, particularly WC III, in which your middle-aged veteran is shipped off to a creaking old carrier in the middle of a war that his side is losing.
Oh, and there are two female characters in the game: Sergeant Brooks, who really hates you and is initially accused of being the traitor; and Jo Anne Vargas, who is friendly and mildly flirtatious, but ends up being the actual traitor. You can’t trust women, isn’t that right, lads? Especially the good looking ones, eh? Lads? [Stop this right now – Ed.]
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