Riddled in problems, but still manages to be immersive.
The shooting bits are tense. Partly down to the very wooden controls, but generally the atmosphere is pretty pant soiling, also.
The best bits of these sections, though, are the infamous Rain-coat killer bits; in which he stalks, and toys with you all the way threw the level. The first time your trapped in a room and he is hacking the door down, while you have to find a hiding spot, is the first time in years I got that Mr.X feeling again (Resident Evil 2's very scary stalking boss). The default enemys are quite disturbing aswell: they look wrong, with there eyes pulled out, and cheshire smiles. And they don't walk like the normal zombies you come to know. They walk backward, while occasionally moving with a burst of speed --just to keep you on your toes, while aiming for the head. Then they don't go bit you, no, no ,no, they stick there arm down your throat! A little weird? Yes, but that's the theme of the game.
The story is basically Twin Peaks. Infact it's based that much on Twin Peaks it's almost shameless. You play as F.B.I agent, York: sent to the quiet town of Greendale, to investigate a recent murder that has accured. The starting story alone is almost in sync with the story of T.P. But then when you come across other character in the game you know they weren't even trying to hide this fact. I'm not knocking the story though, or the fact they've stole alot off Lynch's masterpiece, because the story is by far the best thing in this game. It's all very tight and well paced. Gripping threw-out. And has all the weird dream sequences T.P had. It also helps that York is actually a pretty charismatic protagonist: He has a friend in his head who he refers to as, Zach. Basically, you are Zach, and when he talks to him, you know he's talking to you. It's pretty well done.
Graphics: Not very good at all. I wouldn't go as far to say there the ugliest, but I'd go as far as saying it almost looks like a top Xbox title. And I'm not talking about the 360 either. :P However, the lighting is well done, weather effects look nice, and from a distance the town itself looks nice. 6
Sound: Man, this is whre it hurts the most. The Voice acting is great, the soundtrack is actually oddly out of place with the theme of the game, but it actually works. The problem? Well I think when they recorded the sound, they did it in 'Rising Star Games' shed. Quite often than not, the sound cut's out. You'll hear a character talk, and right as they get into an important part of what they're saying, the sound will go muffled, and the background music will overlap the voice acting. A real shame, because they would have done a great job with the sound. 6
Gameplay: Nothing original here. At all. It's Resident Evil 4, meets House of the Dead, meet's a sandbox game. That's not paticularly a bad thing, but it doesn't exactly do everything it steals well. But there is loads of variety to be had here. 7.5
Shi*e-Box Poor sound quality. The horror sections can occasionally be tedious. The driving is quite awful. The controls are wooden.
Value: Value is a 10. No two ways around it. The game is a starting sale price of 18pound. This is ridiculous value for money. Name a budget title with this amount of production value? I'd honestly pay 30pound for this, so this is a winner.
Overall: Like Twin Peaks? You'll love this. Like a solid game with variety and a good story? You'll love this. Basically, it doesn't do anything original, and what it steals it doesn't deliver stella. But the value is amazing, and you get bucket loads of fun from it. Not to mention the length of the game is insane. It took me 13 hours alone to get past the prolouge and chapter 1. (I'm not one to mess around either.) There are faults, yes, but they're easy to look past, with a great story, solid action, and a great emphasis on Lynch's, Twin Peaks. Well worth looking at.