Puts together a good array of gimmicky twists to its glaive master Hayden but it lacks in almost everything else.
After this heart-pounding tease, the game flashes forward 20 years. Hayden Tenno, an American operative sent to gather intelligence, is understandably on edge. But it's not what hides in the shadows that worries him; it's the air he breathes. Within this first level, the game successfully creates an unsettling atmosphere that makes you think this rabbit hole must be incredibly deep. With an agitated Lasrian army standing between you and your job, it also doesn't hold back from throwing the you into the fires. Even in this introductory zone, the gunplay is very impressive, and should make anyone who has played Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War feel right at home. It offers a beautifully designed over-the-shoulder targeting system, visceral pop-and-shoot gunplay, and plenty of fodder to mow down.
This early gameplay, as entertaining as it is, is just a prelude to greater things. The game really doesn't begin until Hayden is infected at the end of the level. Rather than developing a cough or the sniffles, his right arm mutates it a hulking mess of flesh, metal, and something alien. This should be reason for concern, but this gross mutation does bring a profound advantage – one of the coolest weapons in recent memory, the bladed glaive. It functions like a boomerang, but before returning to your mutated hand, it usually cuts into an enemy with the remorselessness of Wolverine's claws. Once this weapon is introduced, the gunplay is pushed to the side. The developers have placed this unusual weapon on a pedestal and spend the rest of the game worshiping it. As the enemies pour in, it gains new powers, such as the ability to channel fire, ice, and electricity, and also the ability to slow time so that you can manually control its flight path.
It becomes such a focus, in fact, that even the story, which had such promise, is tossed into the trash. I couldn't even begin to tell you what the game ended up being about.