Brutal, fun and smart.
This game isn't particularly welcoming from the beginning. I am going to glaze over the general reasons why this game isn't a great game. The learning curve can be prohibitive. I almost gave up after the second level, before I discovered autosave - a vital tool in this game. The characters are cliches, some of the voice acting is horrendous and graphically and it's obviously a little dated.
However, once I moved beyond this stage I found a fully realised, strategic fps with a variety of interesting levels, interesting environments and maybe not a particularly original story - but a clear, coherent and at times even engaging story. The mechanics aren't perfect but begin to feel quite natural as your enhancements are gradually introduced. Though the levels are essentially linear, the variety of weapons, enhancements, equipments and expansive maps do allow a lot of freedom in how you go about achieving your objectives.
The single biggest flaw in terms of actual gameplay my experience was the very inconsistent difficulty. The later bosses were absurdly hard to kill and could only really be completed through autosaving and constant trial and error, depending on your available equipment. The other **** levels involved stealth. The stealth system was sort of horrible. Even with an invisibility cloaking device you were totally susceptible to any enemies gaze provided you didn't remain perfectly still and at least 25m out of range. This made for a couple of very long levels, where success was contingent on avoiding enemy detection.
Overall, this game was thoroughly enjoyable, and I found it to be more rewarding as I progressed further into the game. 7.5/10