Prisoner of War (Xbox, PC)
By Susie Vee

We seem to be surrounded by WWII nostalgia these days. From Band of Brothers to Battlefield 1942, the Greatest Generation has seemingly never been a more fertile source of inspiration than now.

But will overexposure lead to shellshock? Recent statistics show that for every hour of actually combat during WWII, there are 13 hours of Discovery Channel and History Channel documentaries. Given that was games are all the rage these days, from SOCOM to America’s Army, what stone have we left unturned?

Fortunately, here to save us from a KP duty simulator is Prisoner of War. The struggle of American POWs has been the subject of many movies, like The Great Escape and Hart’s War (and of course, Hogan’s Heroes on TV). And with good reason. It combines the stereotypical prison picture with a wartime root-for-the-prisoners twist. We’re just surprised no one’s thought to make a game of this sooner.

In Prisoner of War, from Codemasters, you play an American pilot shot down and sent to a German POW camp. There he meets some fellow prisoners and an assortment of cartoonish Nazis.

The game plays a lot like an episodic Metal Gear Solid, where the emphasis is on sneaking and avoiding detection while you fulfill certain mission requirements. Unlike almost any other game we’ve played recently, there’s very little violence. You don’t kill any guards and if they catch you, you’ll end up in the brig, or maybe the infirmary. After that you’ll be free to try that mission again.

As unique as a non-lethal war game sounds, there’s a actually a lot in Prisoner of War we’ve seen before. You need help from someone, so you have to sneak around and get him something he wants first. Or you meet a stack cast of characters, and even though you have branching dialog paths, you generally have to ask everyone every question anyway.

Graphically, Prisoner of War looks a little dated, certainly not up to normal Xbox specs. Lackluster environments and blocky character models give the whole game an unrealistic feel.

The pace is slow and deliberate, more like a puzzle game than anything else. With all the fast-paced action games we’ve been playing lately, its refreshing to have to sit and think for a while before running headfirst into danger.

Since this is a war game, you won’t find too many female characters, but Captain Stone, his comrades and even his captors all have a well-scrubbed demeanor to them You won’t find too much objectionable behavior or language. Basically exactly the opposite of what we think a WWII prisoner of war camp would be like.

The game, while perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, gets major points for trying an original concept. If sneaking and scheming is your thing, give Prisoner of War a try.

SCORE: 7.5