I'll try not to ruin anything, but the game is hard to describe. You'll see what I mean, if I can get the words down.
Ok, this game will seriously mess you up. It's hard to describe what the game's about, partially because after almost beating it, I'm still not 100% sure, and partially because I don't want to ruin what I DO know. You start the game as Garcian Smith, one of the seven in the Smith Syndicate. As he enters a building, apparently part of his assignment, he passes a camera. He looks into it and the screen flashes. When the white noise frizzies clears, he's gone and in his place is Dan Smith. The game doesn't go into details about this unless you go out of your way to either find Carrier Pigeons or talk to a helper in a Harmon's Room (save/power up point).
Anyway, on with the actual reviewing part. . .
Gameplay:
The controls a simple, and this is one part of the reason why a good majority of people hate the game, while the rest of us love it. The 'X' button moves forward and the 'triangle' button turns around. Whenever you reach a Junction (intersection of a hallway or any different path) you can choose which way you want to go by holding that direction with the analogue stick. If you ever hear a laugh, you should ready your weapon with R1. The game switches from a behind and to the ground camera to a first person view. Now you may see a slight silhouette, scan with L1. The enemy will come into full view. Then press X to fire.
Now, I haven't explain who the main enemies are in the game. They're called Heaven Smiles. These's little buggers laugh whenever they come into view and will explode if they come in contact with you, or any unlucky victim. In order to kill them you can either pump them full of lead or take one shot at the flashing yellow part of their body. It'll be a small yellow dot. This will cause them to burst into blood, which you collect for both powerups and healing yourself.
The other part of the gameplay is puzzles. The game likes to put a puzzle just about everywhere, and these aren't your simple God of War puzzles, this is a tough as nails, occasionally not enough info, Resident Evil puzzles. The story is insane. I don't want to ruin anything, but the story is worth a shot. The gameplay feels tight, but I kinda wish that they had added SOMETHING else. Maybe something different for when you power up all of your skills. Near the end of the game, you can have about three people powered up, without going overboard, and they all play pretty much the same. That's my only gripe.
Gameplay = 9/10.
Sound:
The music is alright, and the creepy devil chant that the game froze on once when my friend was playing (I'm playing on my 80gig ps3, and I've had the game freeze a few times) is rather. . .strange. I recorded it on my Zen, but that's beside the point. The majority of the game is voice acted, and while the VO's are BAD, they aren't MGS standards. The gun sound effects are average. I do like the crazy guitar noise the game makes when you run into a puzzle or beat a puzzle, but I'm a sucker for a good guitar riff (Crazy on You