My first impressions of the game were not good. From the start, the animation was average. The graphics were rather fuzzy and definitely not from an Xbox title. Movement of the character was more or less realistic but controls were very awkward. You could be pushing forward for a minute and then find your character going the other way, which can be very frustrating when you are in the middle of a battle. Get hit once and you could end up being battered to a pulp, especially in the later levels.Some nice touches were present throughout the game, for example, you can stand with your back against the wall and peep around corners, or you can sneak up on a suspect and break his neck killing him instantly.
Fighting scenes were realistic. Your character is in possession of many moves that you could take advantage of, by means of pressing certain button sequences. Certain battles though can become a real headache, for example, you have to use stealth on certain missions, get spotted by an enemy and you have a certain time limit to kill your opponents. This gets a right pain, as usually certain levels are too long with no save points. Returning back to the start of the level knowing you have to make that sluggish journey back to the end again can be very, very frustrating.
Unfortunately, there are too few weapons to use throughout the whole game. You can be in possession of Tonfas (military police weapons), Stealth Gun and that’s it. You cannot pick up certain pieces of scenery around you (such as long poles, wooden planks etc) to aid you, and the most stupid thing, when fighting a guy with a gun when you eventually kill him you cannot even pick up his weapon to use! For some reason the guy disappears along with his weapon into thin air. Come on, give us a break. You would think that the game designers would have been kind enough to allow us to pick the weapon up. It is stupid enough seeing people disappear especially knowing the capabilities of the Xbox.
Another problem is the AI. Total rubbish. You could be in the middle of breaking someone’s neck when there is another enemy a few feet away from you, starring right at you without taking action. You can wipe out an area of bad guys and the last remaining guy will not even notice that everyone has been killed until he either spots you or is killed. To be honest, in one way this is good, since in the stealth missions, once you are spotted, 80% of the time you will have to start again, due to a strict time limit to kill the bad guys in the area.
It would have been nice to be able to interact with the environment, such as sneak under vehicles, jump over obstacles, etc. Unfortunately you cannot.
Another disappointment was the locations. The environments were usually dull and sometimes looked repetitive, apart from when you are indoors.
As I said before, controls were frustrating, including the battles. It would have been nice if the battle controls were similar to Blade2, as in many situations you would be surrounded by bad guys and all you can do is focus on one guy at the time.
All in all a disappointing game.
GRAPHICS: 5/10
Poor fuzzy graphics (though indoor areas were alright), nonetheless fight scenes were good.
SOUNDS: 4/10
The sounds of machinery most of the time. All in all poor quality. Voice acting was good though.
GAMEPLAY: 3/10
Rather annoying due to certain levels being to long without save points. Frustrating controls and battle handling.
The good points:
Fight scenes were realistic looking.
Being able to sneak behind the enemy followed by a silent kill.
The bad points:
Controls can be frustrating.
Battle controls are rather annoying.
Certain environments are too dull.
Poor graphics.
Certain levels are too long without save points.
Time limit within stealth missions when spotted by an enemy.
Only two weapons.
Unable too pick up your enemy’s gun and use it.
OVERALL RESULT:
4/10
