lots of room for improvement, but still very satisfying stealth gameplay
The good stuff:
- graphics/video: 8.5/10 - maybe even better; the game runs very smoothly on the highest settings (I ran it on a Phenom Quad with 8800GT) if you have a year or so old rig and the proprietary Replay engine does great job on lightning the scene. Shadows and dark areas being truly essential for a successful stealth piece, the engine renders them really nicely without much of a detail loss
- sound: 8.5/10 - superb voice/narration acting. Background music needs to be toned down a notch (which is available in the settings) so that enemy sounds (steps, etc) can be heard better
- story: 8.5/10 - I'd give it a 9 or 10 if not for a total disconnect between the morphine (bullet time) execution in undergarments and the rest of the story. I doubt there is any deeper and/or hidden meaning in doing bullet time in one's underwear ... most likely just an opportunity to do something different, maybe offer some eye candy (it's not disruptive or in bad taste, it just doesn't connect to the rest)
- stealth: 9/10 - a very strong effort to force the player into stealth gameplay. It's very well executed, but its value is more in the fact that we didn't have any meaningful stealth game in quite awhile
- atmosphere/intensity: 8.5/10 - there is a very dreadful and at the same time very intense feeling being a few feet away from the enemy that you are about to knife or be killed trying. Sudenly you are aware of every sound you make while sneaking and getting ready for a strike. When there are more than two or three enemies in the proximity and you have a knife and two bullets .... well, it can get almost hopeless
- gameplay: 8/10 - gameplay in itself (apart from the stealth component) is nothing unusually good or bad ... nothing you haven't seen before. Gun play is satisfying in terms of feel and weapons handling. Gameplay mechanics are somewhat unusual in a sense that the game is using *classic* non-strafe (A and D keys) third person perspective (meaning when you press D key, your game character turns right rather than side-stepping (or strafing) to the right. But when you use firearms (they can be used only in the aiming mode) then side-stepping takes over (is enabled) and you can't do much else (no run) in the aiming mode. It's an interesting concept but it takes a bit to adjust.
The not-so-good stuff:
- unusually strong console (xbox) feel right from the start. Mouse is not supported in game menus and setup settings - so you need to navigate menus with your keyboard.
- transition animations are stiff and disconnected (climbing the ladder, entering a new room)
- extremely weak frontal close combat ability -- once you are out of ammo (and morphine) and facing an enemy a few feet or less away from you , you can't do much but die in most situations. No attempt to develop a way to effectively attack an enemy (move his gun away from being pointed at you and strike with the knife). Knife strikes in the aim mode are too weak to inflict instant death or severe injury to the enemy. So the entire face-to-face close combat (except, of course, a sneak from the back) strategy is pretty much non-operational and you can't count on it
- firearms work/shoot only when using the aim mode -- there is no hip shots. Basically, if you are not aiming, the gun is holstered.
- movements are somewhat stiff or can rarely be described as smooth and natural
- no manual or quick save present, only arbitrary checkpoint-save system -- which means you may end up replaying some longer sections of the game
There are some things that are unexplainable which are a result of developer forcing stealth into the gameplay -- for example, enemy that was just pointing a gun at you is dead and his gun and ammo are gone ... meaning, you can't pick up his ammo or weapons. However, I'd consider this as a reasonable compromise between keeping the stealth component effectively in the game and not turning it into a gun-and-run episode.
Overall, I am biased in a positive way about this game ... meaning, I like it probably more than the game's technical and gameplay aspects would suggest. There is something very charming and inviting about this game. It could be that we didn't have any stealth games for awhile now that makes this game somewhat of a refreshing experience. The difficulty is about right, but some parts will be very frustrating to players who don't have much patience. It really takes patience, observation, planning and timely execution. In short, this will most likely be a sweet game for fans of stealth, while for others it may end up being a mixed bag or a flawed gem. People who are neither into third person shooters nor into stealth should probably skip this game. Overall score: 8.1/10.