Overview
Without Warning is a 2005 third-person shooter game developed by Circle Studio and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Set in a vast chemical plant, during a brutal terrorist plot, the game follows the actions of the six playable characters; three Special Forces members, a security guard, a secretary, and a cameraman. Set over twelve hours, the feel of the game, storywise, is similar in style to the TV series 24.
Despite relatively high expectations during development, given the developers' previous work on the Tomb Raider series, Without Warning received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticised the plot, characters, poor AI and technical issues. The game turned out to be Circle Studio's only video game as the company transitioned to developing DVD games only after the game's poor reception, before closing down altogether in 2007.
Gameplay
Gameplay of Without Warning varies depending on which character is being played. In the case of the Special Forces members and the security guard, gameplay is generally fast-paced, as is often the case with arcade-style shooters. While the game features a dedicated cover system, there is little emphasis on tactical combat, with the best approach often being simply to eliminate all enemies as quickly as possible. Despite the core gameplay of the four characters being largely alike, they all have small differences between them. These involve exclusive objectives for each character, making their gameplay differ slightly from each other. There are also minor differences between the weapons of each character, which in turn affects the gameplay of each as well.
The remaining two characters rely far more on stealth over action. The secretary has only the option to stun enemies either with pepper spray or a fire extinguisher, rather than killing them outright. This is often largely ineffective, and as such, generally the secretary must proceed throughout the chemical plant without alerting the terrorists. The gameplay for the cameraman is largely the same, although with this character, the player has the option to attempt to kill terrorists with a gun. A more notable difference, however, is that the cameraman is required to film various activities committed throughout the chemical plant by the terrorists using his camera, exposing himself to danger.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).