Made me all nostalgic about the Quake, Doom and Duke Nukem days. Unfortnatley the formula has somewhat broke.
The game revolves around B.J. a American spy in a fictional German town who is investigating the paranormal experiments of some evil occult obsessed Nazis. Unfortunately this awesome premise is not presented or explored too well in game. The story is told through some of the characters you meet, notes you find along the way and some pretty cool cut scenes. Non of these are truly awe inspiring or explored in any real depth.
The game play is straight forward but has evolved from a simple FPS to a jack of all trades hybrid a little RPG a little sand box. Problem is these again are not dealt with in any real depth, the majority of upgrades you can buy for your inventory are needless and the game can be completed easily with out them. The sandbox element is very limited and the characters are vague and unexplored.
The actual game play mechanics are pretty tight and work very well despite some frame rate issues. I decided to have a crack at the game on the hardest or Uber setting and am glad I did as this is one of the easiest games I have played in a very long time and I am far from a pro. A part from some pretty challenging and at times infuriating set pieces and boss fights, the vast majority of the game is a breeze.
The enemies are pretty uninspiring and fail to install any sense of dread. The same can be said for the general aesthetics of the game. Coming from the ID and Raven guys I expected a dark world ravaged by the supernatural and enemies that were relentless, smart and ghastly in form.
Despite my misgivings I actually really enjoyed the game but it failed to hit the heights of it's predecessors or rivals. From the god fathers of the FPS I expect to be blown away, scared as heck and left feeling like I have just played the pinnacle of the genre.
It's a shame that the game went so far under the radar but I truly hope they make another. If they do I hope they rectify the faults and create something that will leave everyone looking for a new set of under pants.
7.5 I think is a fair score that reflects the, good graphics, decent game play and competent online.