One of the best games to hit consoles this generation
Why is this game so addictive? WHy am I praising it with so much enthusiasm? In one word: Gameplay. Before I can continue this review, I must tell you what this game is not. This game is not repetitive. This game is not a boring experience. This game is not like any other third person shooter out on the market. If you still need convincing, then I will break the game down frame by frame.
We'll start with the strong point in the game: gameplay. The gameplay must at first appear to be like any other third person shooting game, but as the story and game progresses, the game intensifies and forces you to rely on something not found in many other third person games. That is teamwork. You are a freedom fighter trying to overthrow a communist leadership, and you don't do it alone. Throughout the game, the use of AI team mates becomes crucial to complete the game. You can recruit them under your lead, and send them to victory or death. The more things you accomplish for your cause (I.E: Blowing a bridge, liberating prisoners etc.), the more men you can recruit. Why is this useful? Because you have the ability to command your squad. You can order them to attack, defend, or fall back. You can command them one at a time or as a group. This mechanic is extremely well done, and you'll be finding yourself applauding the ai in the game. The enemies are no slouches either. They get reinforcements, hide behind things, and ambush you. Overall the single player game is magnificent, allowing replay value (thanks to non restricting level design and ultiple pathways through levels), and long life (though the game is very short). Multiplayer is a different story. The game's multiplayer is a simple capture and hold mission that can be played with up to 4 players. This mode is a blast! You'll find yourself and your friends huddled around a tv screen fighting to the death for hours on end! The best part is the ai system returns for multiplayer, so you can recruit ai members to fight along side you!
The design of the game is excellent, from the sounds to the graphics. The graphics are cartoony, yet look very fluid in motion and very lifelike at times. The physics are cartoony as well, providing hilarious animations in death scenes. Seeing a man fly through the air doing a fli[p then landing on his head is priceless. The sound is simply awesome, with great sounding weapons, wonderful vocie acting, and a truly epic original score that might have you humming for a few days.
Though i give this game a perfect score, the game is not perfect. The levels are a bit short at times, and the multiplayer really could have been online to make it so much better. Length is also a problem, since the game is VERY short. You could beat it in one sitting. However, the single player game allows for multiple repeats since it is so well designed.
I can not reccomend this game to you more. It's a criminally overlooked title that deserves alot more recognition than people give it. It may not be the perfect end all game your looking for , but this game certainly deserves to be played. I give is a 10 out of 10 for how well designed it truly is.