The battles rise in scope and ferocity, but you’re stuck cramming the gear necessary for survival into the same five slots. It wasn’t uncommon for me to spend fifteen minutes, mid-battle, backtracking to loot corpses of the supplies I previously had no room for. That’s just a minor annoyance compared to the level system. Instead of awarding XP for overall performance, it’s doled out individually. The strong get stronger while the weak are left to play a Sisyphean game of catch-up. My best gunner managed to jump four levels in one mission. His teammate went nowhere, despite scoring one kill that saved everyone. I’ll let you imagine the joys of babysitting new recruits and trying to bring them up to speed.

Playing Operation Darkness is like being in love with a deadbeat. You can see the silver lining and you want to make it work, but it’s a downward spiral of concessions and empty promises and the next thing you know you’re living in a trailer and he’s hocking your jewelry for strippers.

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