I bought a bunch of pre-owned games and was testing them out to make sure some selfish cretin hadn't returned a dodgy disc as I had had bad luck before. Of the lot, this caught my attention from the jump and was the first one I played.
The colour scheme/almost black and white style of the first level caught my attention, as did the atmosphere the game created. It does have elements of originality, which is what most gamers are looking for, particularly in a first or third person shooter that are generally all near identical. This offers difference in the weapon system, where after the opening, the protagonist is turned into a part cyborg of sorts. He has a glaive (a bladed, boomerang like weapon) that is used a variety of different ways including to solve some puzzles. Weapons left by deceased enemies can only be used for a short period of time as they react with his infection and self-destruct. This offers some tense moments, particularly if you're low on your stock guns. The glaive is useless against longer range enemies, so you'll need to use both.
The few negative things are that you need to be in the perfect place to pick up items. Another is trying to use the motion controller to move the glaive. Thank God that can be turned off and the analogue stick can be used in its place! It didn't seem to work very well at all. There was another part where I used a mounted machine gun. I would've almost been better off using my standard weapons. Speaking of weapons, the upgrade system is too restrictive. Once a weapon is upgraded, the upgrade can't be removed, so if something better comes along, as there are limited slots, you're out of luck. Some of the waves of enemies last a little too long and aren't very challenging. There is no difficulty level selection until you complete the game and unlock 'brutal' mode. Finally, it may take you a while to get used to the controls as shoot is R1, not the usual R2 that we've become accustomed to, with R2 being used for the glaive. I was constantly doing the wrong thing at the start of the game which was annoying.
Overall, it's an enjoyable third person shooter from the seventh generation that feels a little fresh even playing 12 years after its release.
Gameplay 3.5/5
Graphics 3.5/5
Sound 3.5/5
Difficulty 4/5
Originality 4/5
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