Heavy Fire Special Operations 3D (3DS)

Thank you Teyon for sending us this game to review!

A rebel group called Ahmar Sanat enters Kisamaayo, Somalia terrorizing the locals.  Hundreds of civilians are killed as the government drags their feet.  The rebels outnumber the government  armies and they need your assistance.   Will you help liberate the city and restore peace to that region?

When you begin the six level campaign, you get to choose your difficulty level and take a picture of yourself with an army helmet on your head.  Once you're picture is taken you get to choose what type of soldier you'll be.  The recon soldier has a gun in normal condition and reloads faster, but they have less bullets per clip.  Gunners reload normally and have lower quality weapons that hold more ammo.  The support class has a gun in good condition that holds the standard number of bullets per clip, but their reload time is slower.  I went with the recon unit.

In the beginning of each mission you can choose your unlocked weapons and upgrade their condition, reload rate, and clip capacity.  Some of the unlockable guns include SMG-5, MG4, PDW-90, XF6B, and the RAR-22b.  The money is limited and earned by completing missions and ranking up.  Your game progress is automatically saved so any money you spend is gone for good.

There are two game modes in this on-rails shooter.  When you're in a vehicle, your ammo is unlimited so be sure to pepper any visible human with bullets as you see fit.  All of the people you encounter are hostile so be sure to get every last one of them.  You'll get bonus points for dispatching the hard to get ones as well as unused vehicles.  All of the 3D environments are destructible so don't leave a brick wall standing!

The second mode is when you're on foot.  This is where your limited ammo's clip size comes into play.  To move around in either mode you have to swipe the bottom screen and firing your weapon is done by pressing the trigger.  To reload your gun you have to press the b button.  No matter what mode you're in you can only take five hits before you go down.  

Enemies will come at you from all directions and distances.  Even though you're outnumbered, the majority of your attackers happen to be bad shots.  When one is posing to be a more than usual threat, they'll have a red exclamation mark above their head.   It's recommended that  you take them out before the others; however, it's more chance than anything.  I've gotten hit by snipers without the warning symbol.  

Even with their poor aim, the levels are still pretty challenging since you're vastly outnumbered.  There's only six levels and getting past the first is posing enough of a challenge for me.  I'll be the first to admit that I don't play too many on-rails shooters.  The ones I have played have given me more control with either a mouse or a light gun of some sort.  The 3DS controls work but reloading quickly requires some coordination that I'm obviously lacking.  

The visuals are decent.  The 3D effects are used and the destroyable environment is fun to demolish.   There's only a handful of models used for enemies, so there's not a whole lot of variety.  The background music is passable and the sound effects get the job done.  The enemies speak in their native language and I have no idea what they're saying.  Subtitles would have been nice. 

All in all Heavy Fire Special Operations 3D is a passable on-rails shooter.  It's been on sale for as little as 99 cents.  For that price it's worth considering if you enjoy arcade style rail shooters.  I wouldn't buy it for full price on Nintendo's eShop though.  Because of the violence, Heavy Fire Special Operations 3D earns it's Teen rating and we do not recommend this game for younger children.