Doesn't live up to the hype, sadly.
Moreover, the setting is grim and dark, while it may seem repetitive after a while, the designers do tend to mix it up a bit. It just would have been nice to fight in more environments and is a minor gripe. There are always alternate attack routes and the game AI for the locusts are superb as they try to flush you out of your hiding place and run and get reinforcements. However, the same cannot be said about your teammates. The problem that persisted with me was after a while, it got easier to sneak up on enemies and to just get a quick melee kill. I'll use my teammates as bait and then move on. You can almost finish 3/4 of the game with this strategy. But the game gets much harder later on. The main gripe is that with the superb graphics, sound and enemy AI, the game is just not that fun. The throwing mechanic for grenades are just plain wrong. It takes forever to line a grenade, the best way is to be behind cover and just lob it. I guess I'm too use to other games where you can run and throw. Furthermore, letting your teammates live is troublesome. I've revived my incompetent my squad until I figured it was just easier to take out a squadron of locusts myself by the previously mentioned strategy. Running and gunning, especially when you're a soldier who doesn't need a helmet when others get one doesn't make sense to me when you can't run and throw a grenade. Most of the guns are nice, but the chainsaw is just too convoluted to use. I just kick their heads in. I love FPS, I play Halo 2 religiously and thought this game will preoccupy my time but that is not the case. I will show people what this game can do graphically but other than that, this is all eye candy with a rotten play mechanic. Once again, running for structure to structure and then shooting just isn't that fun after you have to do it for 10 hours. Too bad as I really wanted this game to be fun. Multiplayer is fun, especially with co-op as you can scream at your teammate and playing against other players on-line is also fun. The multiplayer was much more fun as killing strangers and smack talking is better than cursing the TV when your teammates die, again. Single player, this game isn't great, if you're going to buy this game, make sure all you friends have copies as it will be that much more enjoyable. Xbox live is a must if you truly want to enjoy this game. Otherwise, the single player is just there to get yourself acquainted with the mechanics and control until you get yourself online or play with friends.