In a game that looks like it drips with B-Movie flavor, it will actually tickle your gaming tastebuds.
Now this story has been done over and over again throughout media, but this game does a great job of opening up the thought process on the question, "What makes us human? When does a machine stop being a machine and when does it take on a life of its own?"
This question is asked subtley to the gamer throughout the course of the game and really strikes the chord in a way that no other media has successfully done with a story like this. The narrative is helped out even more by the cast of characters you find yourself with. There is Faye, the Chinese sniper who seems reserved and to herself until you really start to know her, Bo, the big brute who has a party side and blunt personality that can rub some of your teammates the wrong way, and a host of other characters that bring their own personalities to the fore front. Now these characters play a HUGE role in the storyline and the gameplay because of a unique component of trust. While shooting up the robot baddies you will have to make decisions on who to take with you when the group splits up, how you want to encounter each situation, and what you want to say to your team mates. All of these impact your relationship with these people and whether or not they choose to help you or fight on their own when you desperately need them.
What makes the game stand out is that depending on the characters you choose to take with you, the cutscenes that play out can alter due to the different personalities that are at play among the characters. This sense of individuality among each of the team members really makes you care about what happens to them and their overall survival.
On top of the interesting narrative and team mate mechanics, the shooting itself is very well done. The cover mechanic works seemlessly with the action happening and the different robot types offer different strategies in order to take them out. Happen to have Faye on your team and you are stuck fighting an army of ground troops and sniper bots? Faye will be quick to let you know that she will take care of the snipers while you stay put and fight the ground troops and the AI does an EXCELLENT job of making sure your teammates do what they are suppose to and enemies for the most part are pretty smart in trying to get you out of cover and fill you full of bullets.
There are other mechanics at play such as upgrading your main weapon with credits you earn from killing robots and altering the stats of your teammates using gene modifiers, but these don't really make a huge impact in the long run (unless you really start layering on the enhancements, then they seem to make a long lasting impression on your weapons). This isn't a game for someone who just wants to breeze through it. If you take the time, invest in the characters and think about each of the decisions you have to make you will have a much higher return on your investment.
I hope someday a sequel is made or something like it because everything from the story to the graphics to the gameplay all shines in this underrated shooter.