A decent little game.
Gameplay: Like I said, it's a lot like Jedi Outcast, with jumping puzzles and keyhunts to match. The level design can be fantastic, as in The Gathering of the Clouds and Riddles in the Dark, or unimaginative, as in Roast Mutton. The boss fights can be annoying, but they're supposed to be, aren't they?
It seems like every game I get these days my gamepad won't work correctly with right off. I have to edit the program files or download mapping software or use exploits in the settings or stuff, and it takes me a while to figure out. This time, it was one of the strangest yet.
The game can either be played with a keyboard or a gamepad. Unfortunately, you can't make it stop reading either one: As long as you have a gamepad plugged in, it cannot be disabled but must be read as a gamepad. Not only that, but when you use a double-analog gamepad, the right stick is supposed to control the camera and aim your crosshairs in aiming mode, but the horizontal axis moves the camera & crosshairs vertically, while the vertical axis moves them horizontally. And instead of turning or strafing, the left stick makes you run in the direction you hold... including right at the camera. Which is horrible, because the only way to parry in the game is to move backward. You lose some other controls they only have for keyboard also. And I thought I couldn't get the mapping program to work with it since the game would still read my gamepad as a gamepad.
However, it did work for the sticks. I did have to program all the buttons to be the same thing as for the gamepad controls, but my gamepad had enough extra buttons to get features like "use skeleton key". Also, they don't have tech support for the game, but they have a tech support forum. They got right to me with another excellent behind-the-back way to do it, but it takes a little more time so I'll just use my way.
With the mouse and keyboard you won't have any of these problems. Like Jedi Outcast, each control can have two buttons mapped to it, so there are two control profiles as the default and you can use either one in-game. Also like Jedi outcast, one is the WASD shooter-bind, and the other is arrow keys (with turning instead of strafing) and space bar, alt, and ctrl.
Both are quite usable, but I like my gamepad mapped to the WASD one, with the right stick as the mouse.
Strangely enough, when I target enemies my right stick goes back to the vert/horiz switch. Who cares.
Graphics: The in-game cutscenes look just like the game, which can be pretty bad if your settings are low. The cutscenes between the levels are stunning, much better than even the current Computer Animation movies. The game looks fine at a high resolution, but people with smaller screens on their laptops than me (mine is about 1600x1200) can't use that well. Ha ha.
Sound: I like the music... the sound effects and voice acting have no problems by me.
Value: Incredibly high. I LIKE games 2 or more years old! They're so dang cheap. How in the heck could anyone spend $50 for the newest game when there's something better out there for $10?
Reviewer's Tilt: Pretty good. I played this a few years ago and it's fun to play it again. I'll buy this one of these days.
One last note: This game has my favorite video-game enemy ever. Hordes of little jumping miners that come up to your ankle. Crush them! Crush them all!!!!11!!11!!11111