Fast-pace momentum combined with larger than life foes makes this a worthy game for your console library.
Story: The story is probably one of the most lacking elements of the game, but still inspires the player and gives some underlying purpose to the game-play. Following in the shoes of Wayne you fight for a dying world under threat of a corporate conspiracy and the revenge of your father who was taken down by a whale of a monster. In light of this, the story involved many layers of interest only to present you with bland characters and a lack of any character development. There's little involvement with other characters outside the cutscenes, and you inevitably feel little emotion for anyone other than Wayne who faces insurmountable odds as well as one tragedy after another. 7/10
Gameplay: Being within third-person perspective, anyone who has played the Resident Evil games may feel a certain familiarity, but unlike Capcom's flagship franchise this game implements wide open environments and all manner of life, including the very chill of winter(If you don't maintain your energy levels your life gauge begins to diminish), threatening to end you.
First aspect of the game is running and gunning. The shooting mechanics work fine but smaller enemies such as enemy grunts are more or less cannon fodder. Most of the fun comes from the variety of larger foes combined with the constant search for heat energy as you press on in the linear quest. Despite the linear fashion of the game, the wide-open environments yields a variety of weapons and extra enemies to fight/implement, assuming you manage stock of heat energy.
The second aspect of the gameplay is the mech-combat which is at times fun and offers variety, but ultimately suffers from the same mundane trade of fire until the latter opponent falls routine. Despite this battles with the big bugs are epic implementing a little bit of strategy as you figure out their routines and take advantage of the environment.
8.5/10
Graphics: Artistically speaking the game does a fine job of presenting an otherwise dead world - hallowed out ruins of cities and abandoned industrial facilities, but there are moments where the environments consist of dull landscapes and settings that are otherwise lacking in variety.
From a technical stand-point the graphics implement the next-gen hardware well enough with plenty of detail put into the artificial aspects of the game - mechs, buildings, etc, but are not the best seen on either the 360 or PS3.
8.8/10
Sound: The games sound affects deserve some credit as they realistically convey the environment with distant than deafening thud of a rocket to the distant wail of an arachnid mob.
Music is well implemented during more intense moments of game-play only to perfectly trail off into the silent howl of wind as you face hordes of insects in ghostly abandoned regions of the world.
9/10
Verdict: 8.5/10