Not nearly as bad
The game has a really good story. You meet the main protagonist (or is he?) as he is about to be executed for some murders and he writes a letter to his daughter - "Dear Jenny, I've been trying to write this letter for 14 years. Today is my last chance" - together with the subtle music this sequence is very chilling. I find it similar to the line from "Man on Fire" - "Do you think God will ever forget us for what we did? -No." A mercenary who is tired filled with regret - thats some great character. The developers choosen to picture him quite close, together with swearing every second word. This might sound bad but thats like criminals talk, right? I value the realism.
Kane has some unfinished business with the group called The 7 - he supposedly owes them money, which he doesn't have anymore. He tries to get it within a deadline but can't and his ex-wife and daughter get kidnapped. This leads to another chilling scene at the construction site where members of The7 are about to execute you and your family. On your quest your are accompanied by Mr Lynch who is even more disgusting than the main character because he is psychotic and can kill civilians on impulse.
Comparing to Hitman this is pretty great because all mission follow some logic for what will happen next.
The guilt motive never really picks off (mostly because you have little time to speak to your daughter) and than gave you two negative endings in style of Infernal Affairs only here it feels even less satisfying. Take the "1408" movie - they changed ending to please the audience. We already don't like the main character, why would we torture him more?
Cinematic feel
There are some great things to do - rob a bank, break people out of prison, rapel from the top of the building to blow the meeting and than escape in the same style as in "The Heat" through the streets of a crowde Tokyo downtown - hide behind cars, shoot and cover your friends
Also there is a crowded disco scene, stopping the plane and escaping a certain death. I would say it is comparable to COD4, K&L is not as nice but its close
Gameplay
You might notice some realistic feature - bullets do not always fly where your crosshair is pointing, for someone who ever held a gun this thing is obvious (its not obvious for CS veterans). Also firing burst is less accurate than single shot. I have to agree that it is a little flawed, a silenced pistol will be much more accurate that rifle with single shot, but that is hardly an issue.
The most dissapointing part was absolutely no alternatives - I mean really destructible wall are nice but than you might want to go somewhere else, do something else that kill everything that moves and is not on your side
All in all it is a nice attempt that might suit Freedom Fighters and Hitman fans, otherwise you might feel really bad after completing the game