The game doesn't live up to the hype.
At the beginning of the game, you are walked through a bit of a tutorial--if it can be called that. The game is harsh from the beginning. There isn't a learning curve, you're just thrown into the fray. That's fine, honestly, given the atmosphere of the world. I found that to be appropriate. If you're looking for a casual romp, you won't find it in this game. It's merciless. Be prepared to die. A lot. In fact, some areas in the game can be virtually impossible to complete on your own.
I can forgive the lack of imagination for the combat system, the high difficulty, but I can't forgive the game's horrendous bugs. Enemies have the ability to shoot you through walls. No, this isn't a bug I've noticed once or twice. It happens ALL THE TIME. If you're on a map with walls, you will be shot at from random places when you're alone in that area. Second, the enemies know where you are at nearly all times. Once they know you're there, they'll always know where you are. And perhaps the most crippling thing of all, Lilith (the girl) is broken. Lilith's abilities don't work. The only thing Phasewalk does is it makes you run fast. You're supposed to be invisible, but the enemies still see you. Probably because of the bug mentioned prior. Another thing is that melee damage is supposed to be increased in Phasewalk, but it isn't. In fact, melee damage does nothing in Phasewalk. Supposedly, this issue only exists on the PC version. All of these bugs have been present since launch. While they have released patches, they haven't even attempted to fix these key issues and they're huge bugs. Game crippling bugs.
If you play as any of the other characters, however, you will have decent time. Still, expect to be sniped or rocketed through walls. Also, expect enemies to always know where you are once they're aware of you. You can run away, hide until your shields recharge, and they'll find you. Every time. Since the computer can obviously see through walls, there's nowhere you can hide for a little bit.
Let's talk about multiplayer. You're probably thinking to yourself, "Okay, the game's a bit buggy and the difficulty is high for soloing. This game was made for multiplayer, right? It's easier with people, right?" Wrong. The game increases the difficulty the more people that join your game. Which is, again, fine. I don't care if the game is hard, so long as it's fun. However, when the computer is both hard and shooting you through walls, it diminishes the fun factor. When you're in multiplayer, everyone is dropping like flies. Missiles are being shot out of nowhere, enemies just seem to respawn too quickly, and you're dying a lot. Now, you may be willing to forgive this and just laugh it off. How's the loot? Bad. The loot system in this game is fine in solo, but I think the loot system is broken in multiplayer. You only get useless junk in multiplayer.
If you are considering this game, do your research. Find out if the console versions have the bugs I talked about. If they don't, get one of those instead. If you have to get the PC version, wait for it to go on sale again on Steam. If you play $30 for this game, you WILL feel ripped off, especially when you start getting sniped through a wall.
The Good:
When the game is working right, it is a lot of fun.
The voice work for this game is really well-done.
The difficulty fits with the atmosphere of the game.
The Bad:
The game is riddled with bugs.
One of the characters, Lilith, is virtually unplayable.
Multiplayer, the main expect of the game, feels broken.
The Score:
Now, it's time for the score. Everyone has their own way of scoring. Some people value some things more than others. Myself, I think of things in this order: fun factor, story, gameplay, sound, and graphics. Let's break this down, okay?
Fun Factor: 6/10
When the game works, it would earn roughly a nine; however, the game doesn't work that often. When it isn't working right and the AI is cheating, that isn't fun. It earns an average at five. I'll give an extra one for the light-hearted comedic moments that happen in the game.
Story: 5/10
I honestly haven't gotten that far yet. Mainly because I was getting frustrated. This score may change after I beat the game. At this moment, though, the story feels like a traditional treasure pirate story. A bunch of pirates go to island, a planet in this case, in search of treasure. They fight over it before it's even found. Everyone is so distracted with fighting that they rarely actually look for the treasure. Whatever. If you've heard one, you heard them all. It's average.
Gameplay: 2/10
The ability system is fine. It works for most characters. From what I can tell, it's only Lilith's ability system that's broken. Because the system is pretty average when it works, and it isn't working completely, I have to give it a low score between one and five.
Sound: 8/10
The music and sound is the best part of this game. The sounds are pretty well done and the music is pretty good too. I'm not a fan of the theme song, but whatever, it fits with this game. The sound in this game makes it feel like a scifi western, which is pretty cool.
Graphics: 7/10
I don't mind the comic-styled graphics. I think they did a lot of stuff right that most games get wrong. There is a lot of detail in the world, whereas most cel-shaded games look too simplistic. That said, they're not perfect. The self shadows leave a lot to be desired, and some characters are a bit too cartoony to fit in with the atmosphere of the game.
Final Verdict: 5/10
I can't in all honesty give this game more than a 5/10 because the bugs bog down the game too severely to ignore them. If the developers get their thumb out of their ass and give us a decent patch that fixes these issues, my score will definitely go up. It would probably easily get an 8/10. As it is, it's like trying to live in a house with no plumbing and electricity that spontaneously makes the house catch on fire. I think that this game got rushed out at the last minute, so it feels incomplete. It's unfortunate because I really wanted to like this game.