Never go into battle alone... and for the full experience, never play the game alone... (Offline Only Review, big read!)
Gameplay: The game plays pretty well. The enemy AI is usually good, but it does have flaws - you may encounter an enemy who's more focused on running around upon a table that shooting you. But like I said, it's usually good. The partner AI can get aggravating, and sometimes it feels like he's waiting on you for orders, and you want him to just go and be useful.
The cover system is very much like that of Kane & Lynch, you just walk to the object and you, rather than stick your back to it, just stand staring at it, but whenever shoot, your character either pulls out to shoot or blind fires, depending on if you move the left stick or not. And once you've come out of cover, you'll be stuck in the middle of nowhere with bullets flying to you at all angles. So stick to cover!
The GPS system is activated by pressing BACK, and the screen turns blue, with objectives, paths and co-op spots shining in a different colour. That brings me onto the co-op spots - back to back and step jump are tactics only available at certain points in the game, and cannot be performed anywhere else. However, you can perform co-op snipe, weapon swaps, and friendly or aggressive interactions with each other at will.
The AGGRO system is the main tactic of the game - you know it... one guy gets all the attention and the other sneaks about, and it works fine. Once one person has full attention, you can optionally enter overkill mode, by pressing A. In overkill, the soldier with the attention's attacks are more lethal, with the other guy becoming practically invisible. This helps when you've got the tough guys coming for you, and they can only be killed from behind. AGGRO is more easy to gain if your guns are customised to be deadlier than before, and 'Pimping your Rifles' is very in-depth, and it gives you the opportunity to look at your mini-arsenal and say... "Yeah... I'm so kickass".
Graphics: The graphics are great, nuff said. Cutscenes are amazing, and in-game graphics are obviously not as good, but they feature great character models. Explosions are a let-down, and the air-strikes... I mean, air strike, barely seems to have an infernous aftermath.
Sound: Guns and choppers are great, and listening to Salem or Rios' air guitar taunt is worth going back on guitar hero for. "Doodoododilididilididee!"
Plotline/Tilt(May contain spoilers):
In 1993, the game starts, leave the Army for the SSC, a private military contractor, along with your Lieutenant, Richard Dalton. And it seems that your luck is unbelieveably high - just as soon as you join the SSC, the company expands into the biggest PMC in the world, and the Army's squadrons are being constantly ambushed. Salem doesn't care, and just loves the cash, whereas Rios is concerned and sure that something's not right...
Although it is very, very short (you can finish it in a day), the storyline is intense, and as it captures your attention, you know the only way to find the truth is to keep on playing.
Ok, here's the ratings.
Gameplay - 8/10; it gets challenging, and you'll enjoy speaking tactical to your mates on co-op.
Graphics - 8/10; fantastic in cutscenes, and great in gameplay. Explosions let it down.
Sound - 9/10; no noticeable problems, alot of times to say "Wow! That sounded sick!"
Plotline/Tilt: 7/10; enticing plot, just too short.
Conclusion:
It's very hard to decide whether I should recommend this game or not. It's great for the hours you'll get out of it, maybe more if you wanna play it again, but I'd say the best options are:
Buy it if you're often with your mates (playing the xbox).
Rent it if you want a quick blast with a friend.
Notes:
Unfortunately, I cannot give a verdict to those for whom Xbox Live is the deciding factor, but I can recommend following the guidelines above if you don't have XBL, or you're tempted otherwise.
The rating is based on buying it only - as for renting, you have nothing to lose, so go ahead.