So if you haven’t played this game yet im sure you understand the following things based on other reviews: this game is genius and a milestone in the industry. Well hold on just one second there partner. I think the best way to describe this game is “another Beyond Good & Evil” in that it is a great game in an established genre but doesn’t do anything we haven’t seen before and is, more importantly, NOT next gen in anyway but its graphics. The thing that really sets this game apart from others is that it takes place in a non-conventional setting. That’s pretty much it. You’ve heard much a do about plasmids, the magic spells that you use in conjunction with typical armaments. They affect the game play just about the same as any other game with a “guns and powers” set up (like psi-ops on the ps2). There are both typical active (lightning bolt, fire ball) plasmids and passive (hackers delight) that affect how well you perform certain actions or deal out/take damage. Some of these are cool to watch, like the insect swarm, but are generally too weak to be of much more use than say, your standard machine gun, never mind the grenade launcher. You’ll often find that your plasmids are an afterthought to pretty much any type gun you find along the way. Combat in itself isn’t very interesting, but not entirely broken either. Like any other FPS, you go around and shoot waves of enemies with your overpowered guns or underpowered plasmids. You fight off either several kinds of lunatics that all look the same or the lumbering Big Daddies that protect the games only source of currency, adam. Adam is gained by either harvesting or rescuing the young girls you can only get to by killing their Big Daddy, and then you’ll use it to buy plasmid upgrades. Whether you rescue or harvest them doesn’t make much of a difference in game play at all, except how much adam you collect, until the ending cinematic. Now the point of the game isn’t really made clear up until that point. You’re supposed to be forced to look at how indifference in actions we perceive as inconsequential can in fact lead to unforseen circumstances. The game is especially clever in how it goes about pulling this fast one on you, but it hardly seems worth playing the entire game to get the “oh, well look at that” moment in a 15 second cartoon. The secondary point seems to be the question “why am I going around shooting dudes instead of getting the hell out of here?” which is also integrated into the game and addressed fairly well, but again you have to go through too much to get to these smart bits. With the games bland combat and lack of anything new game play-wise, the story is really all it has to lean on in my opinion. Now don’t get me wrong, by the time you’re all done with it you do feel like you’ve been told a good tale, but it sure could’ve been told better. A big benefit would have been bestowed on the game if it had actual character interaction, rather than grainy and sometimes unlistenable radio transmissions as substitutes. You never actually meet any of these admittibly interesting people who’ve been talking to you through what sounds like a paper cup and string. And on the rare occasions you do, it’s moments before they die, or behind an unbreakable window at some distance. Perhaps my biggest complaint here is that it is a first person shooter when it really seems to be tailor made for the adventure game genre. The fact that there is all this combat to begin with really seems out of place. Given that the story is the main draw here it’s more of a hindrance than a satisfying game play feature. A few puzzles, much less mindless blasting, and some people to actually meet and get to know would definitely lend itself to the creators overarching points more than “you can shoot him, or use a magic spell on him”. In the end the game plays more like an art house movie that keeps getting interrupted by scenes from a summer blockbuster. That problem aside, I sincerely do believe that anyone interested in the ever greater emphasis indirect elements play in video games should at least rent this game. It IS important from a story development standpoint, just not so much in any other. And for $60, you should all be aware that this is a game you really only play once, maybe twice if you’re particularly smitten with it.
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