Despite the many, many jokes I cracked while playing this game, it is not a game version of Hogan's Heroes. To the casual observer,
POW looks like a cheap rip-off of
Metal Gear set during World War II. The sad thing is that I would have liked the game a little more if that was its only problem, but this was simply not the case.
Just as in Metal Gear, most of the game is spent sneaking around. All of the guards have the all too familiar vision cone that turns red when you are detected. However, unlike MG, when you are detected you will either be arrested or taken to solitary confinement, or shot and brought to the infirmary.
The coolest part of the game is that each of the prison camps is a working, living environment. Every morning, the guards hold a morning role call and go about their daily routines. There are set times for meals, exercise, and lights out. The trick to the game is figuring out how things work, such as which guards will be where at what times, and how you can best accomplish your missions. For example, you may have to steal some files from an office, which just happens to be next to the mess hall. In order to complete you mission you will have to ditch dinner, steal the files and make it back before roll call. However, if you are unable to meet roll call the entire camp is put on alert, making for some serious stealth action.
As cool as all the sneaking around is, the game tends to get old very fast. Unlike Metal Gear, where you can kill guards and play with all kinds of nifty weapons, POW is just sneaking around. Sure you can toss rocks at guards to distract them, but this is not enough to break the usually tedious gameplay.
