A Great Almost Open Environment Game!
It didn't matter how disreputable you had to be, I was willing to do it to get ahead. This was the first game I'd played that had even a hint of an open environment. There were missions you could opt to play and ones you could downright avoid. I'd never played such a game, at the time, and was completely floored. It was innovative gaming at its best. In so many games you see all these things that look cool or could be interesting, but you can't interact with them. Here, not only could you interact with them, it added to the overall game play and completion of the game.
I loved the additional element of finding a 'mystery' object to increase the number of weapons at the safe house, that element made me insane in future iterations of the game, but in this one I took it for the fun it was supposed to be. The overall effect of the game, while geared towards a mature audience, was really well conceived and well executed. The Heads-Up display concept in this game also played a huge part in its success. Overall, this is a great game, but not one that's suitable for all audiences.