Dishonored is a stealth/action first person video game from the creators that brought you rage. It's starts off with a intro cinematic scene, and to put it simply you are framed for the murder of the empress, and through your own actions and diligence you have to clear your name and seek revenge. Not the most original storyline ever to grace a video game, but saying that it works well and is simple to grasp. As far as i know you have 9 missions to complete, there is a main hub level which is called Dunwall, which is a late 18th century london inspired, dystopian whaling city. You are corvo the man framed for murdering the empress, you must go through the missions from point A to point B, how you do that is up to you, It does offer very slight player diversity and choice while going through the missions but the destination is still pretty much the same whether you kill or neutralize the target also you can either go through all guns blazing or use silence and stealth, it is in its foundation a stealth game so stealth is what naturally works well, and you can see the world around you mould and change according to your actions, for example if you kill everyone and blast through the missions dunwall's rat plague will increase because you have killed the guards in the mission previous that would of policed the rat populations, and it will indirectly affect the people too, its a nice touch. And if you use stealth the later missions will be less guarded because you haven't alerted them and killed them in the previous missions. Dunwall is physically a beautiful, but dark world, the characters are well crafted and colourful and have real personalities, even though they are a tad repetitive. Dunwall is speaking in loose terms a open-world, but there is very little to do apart from upgrading your arsenal and powers, collecting bone charms and runes to upgrade yourself. The level-based missions are the meat of the game. Tecnically the game looks good, there are not the most amazing eye popping graphics you have ever seen, but they look pretty sharp and do the job, there is a lot of texturing popping in the game, where you would be taking in the sights from a certain rooftop truly immersing yourself in the world and from a distance you see a big building's brick textures pop out of nowhere, for me personally it truly does ruin your immersion level and joy. I also got a tad bit of frame rate drops and slight freezing, its not a major problem but like i said just recently it does hinder your enjoyment and immersion a tad. The powers are truly effective and fun to use, but abilities such as bend time, possesion have been used before in past games. The range of weapons is very limited being a stealth game and all, there is a pistol, crossbow, them blade mines, all are pretty effective, the best is the crossbow cause you can acquire sleeping bolts, plus its virtually silent. You can also upgrade your abilities and powers with items called runes and bone charms you find scattered throughout the game, I find it most welcoming, cause it does add extra content and time to the game. The game's main level dunwall is open, where you can go upgrade your abilities, but new items, and if you feel so inclined you can go and indulge your curious side and go exploring, you will also unfortunately find quite little to do off the beaten path. The level-based missions are quite linear in nature as well, you can go in guns blazing and set a darker tone to dunwall, and increase the difficulty for future levels. Even though you have a subtle choice and player diversity the missions like i said are pretty linear, your destination is still the same, it's about the journey not the destination. There are several ways to complete your mission to kill or evade, but the mission objectives are quite similar to each other and towards the end of the game can to me anyway gets slightly repetitive. Despite dunwall being open and you can find items throughout the game, upgrade different aspects to corvo, and so on it is not a rpg game, it does possess certain elements of the genre, but with level-based missions and similar destinations it is a fancy stealth based action game. The end to each mission is pretty much the same, the journey through each mission can be altered slightly through your own actions, like shall i let them live or shall i let them taste my blade, or should i distract them or just sprint up a wall, so like i said it does offer very subtle player choice within the missions. However corvo's abilities are the meat of it, you can choose different powers, perks to suit your style of playing. + a beautifully looking game with some nice touches and boasts a colourful cast of characters + solid gameplay mechanics and abilities make it fun and makes replaying the game worth while so you can choose a different way to play + missions are generally fun and can be played through multiple times - ending of game leaves no true substance you dont get to see the fruits of your work - framerate and texture popping issues that hinder your enjoyment - superficial consequences to your actions throughout the missions - Lack of true player choice, you can go in guns blazing or evade, but whichever you choose leads to no dramatic results - the journey can be altered but the destination is stilly pretty much the same - dunwall is beautiful, but lacking in content (like i said before it's not a rpg game) and player choice, seeing though its the main level, it does affect the game quite a lot - truly offers very little of anything new, peering through keyholes, hinding enemies in bins, sleeping bolts, distraction techniques, bendtime and possession powers, they are all have been used in games in the past, but still they work and are solid in gameplay, all im saying in these aspects there is little content that is fresh and unique. For me personally is worth a rent, but the true lack of player choice, diversity and consequence and lack of content of side missions in dunwall, plus you have no option to switch to a 3rd person perspective and increase your view, and the technical problems, samey kill target mission objectives and no boss fights, and the effortless storyline is seriously spread thin and lacking any real material and substance no true story really, truly let this potentially great game down.
I bought this game as a birthday present to myself. I have to admit, I was rather excited when I unwrapped the plastic and popped it into my Xbox. I had watched a review or two and seen an epic trailer. The overall conce... Read Full Review
By senorbusyman | Review Date: Oct 09, 2012 | X360
From Developer Arkane Studios & Publisher Bethesda comes a new Action/Stealth game that defines the word "Amazing" called Dishonored. Set in the City of Dunwall, you play as Protaganist Corvo Attano, who was framed for t... Read Full Review
