Most computer games are violent. Some go over the top and (usually) they're to be taken with a pinch of salt. Dogs Of War however is aggressive, bloodthirsty and great fun to play.
You are a mercenary and it's your job to go around the world using big guns and killing hundreds of people. The game starts with a map of the world displaying various locations, each one representing a mission. Each assignment varies in plot: it could be to recover stolen items, or to assassinate a political figure or to rescue a kidnap victim. You are offered a cash incentive of between five and fifteen thousand quid, payable in advance; just as well considering you need to buy your weapons before you set out.
The armoury gives a whiff of the slaughter to come. You are presented with a screen of guns, big guns and really big guns, each one nastier than the last. At the bottom of the table you have a small Browning High Power pistol, which isn't the greatest stopper of massed hordes of Colombian drug barons. Further on you get the classic Uzi, followed by large violent machine guns, rocket launchers and flamethrowers. Each costs a load of folding green ones, not to mention the price of ammunition.
Once you've tooled up in the name of justice and money, you have to haul out and kick ass. You're placed at the start of a landscape preparing to face an oncoming private army. The only objective now is to survive and take out as many people as you can.
Armoured vehicles, easy-to-pick-off footsoldiers, landmines and artillery - all of them give you hell. The armoured targets are safe from your bullets, so you need to use either a rocket launcher, a standard grenade launchers that can be slung on an M16 rifle.
Essentially nothing more than a Commando conversion, Dogs Of War does provide a great excuse for indiscriminate murder. Low on graphics, low on sound but good fun to play, it would have been nice to have seen a ten pound price tag attached to this game.