Burton's Bytes: Mortal combat to test the mettle

Marine detachments serve aboard US naval assets such as aircraft and helicopter carriers, battleships and helicopter squadrons. Created even before Congress approved the US Declaration of Independence, it's no wonder marines are the chosen force to defend US embassies around the world, provide helicopter transport for the President and guard the White House.

As the title of this game says: when the going gets tough, the marines are always the first to fight. Created with the active participation of 40 active duty marines only recently returned from Afghanistan and Iraq, this game claims to be so realistic it is actually used as a training aid by the Marine Corps itself. It's certainly a first person shooter that rewards forward thinking over gung-ho tactics.

Because marines are usually the forward element of any invasion force, they are relatively lightly armoured. They carry their own weapons and can't rely on battlefield howitzers or heavy-duty tanks to clear the way ahead as per traditional infantry units. So instead of waging a war of attrition, the doctrine adopted for this game is to go in quickly and go in hard.

The policy of "manoeuvre warfare" aims to shatter an enemy's resolve by spreading confusion and panic among his troops. Modern marines rely on stealth, manoeuvre and deception. They fight at a relentless pace, giving the enemy no time to pause and draw breath, pressing home the advantage of surprise as quickly as possible.

The game pitches you into a realistic scenario that says Beirut is once again a city on the brink of anarchy. Although peace has reigned under the aegis of a benevolent president, subversive elements backed by Syria and Iran are plotting a bloody coup. When the president has to leave the Lebanon for medical treatment in America, all hell breaks loose.

Shocked by the impending breakdown of law and order, NATO orders its troops into the Lebanon to restore some kind of order - and your marine fire team is at the forefront of the action.

If all this sounds fairly realistic, that's because First To Fight aims to be as close to the real thing as is possible within the confines of a video game that's supposed to be entertaining (as opposed to depressing).

After you are introduced to the three men who will make up your team, the mission begins with a news broadcast detailing the current situation from a reporter embedded with your marine air-ground task force. Listen carefully to this briefing because it usually contains information that will come in handy when the bullets start flying.

Your orders will include the rules of engagement, specific information about high value targets (you have a deck of cards just like the marines in Iraq) and other key personnel whose capture will help break down the resistance of enemy fighters. Your mission is judged a greater success if you take these people alive, rather than airlifting them back to base in a body bag.

The mission is judged an instant failure if two members of your team are killed in action, you accidentally kill a civilian, you gun down captured enemy soldiers or you take a fatal bullet yourself.

Marines can call on help if they encounter a well-defended enemy. The game allows for a finite number of sniper engagements, support from mortar fire and (for the really tough baddies) an all-out air assault by Apache helicopter gunships. Use them wisely though, because this kind of support shouldn't be called upon without a deal of thought; often enemies can be outflanked or pinned down rather than destroyed.

The game also offers the excitement of online play, where the teamwork element really comes into its own.

While some cynical Brits will probably find some of the more "patriotic" aspects of this game a bit hard to swallow, there's no doubting that it's an impressively solid cross between a shoot 'em up and a stealth-action adventure title.