Interactive 3D movie
it is a proven formula, a first person shooter made extremely linear to make it easy to fill it with lots of scripted content, triggered as you progress along the path by pointing and shooting at various monsters and badguys.
Bang - cutscene - move forward - bang bang - cutscene - move upwards - cutscene - bang - cutscene...
Zero freedom, I feel like I am watching a video which pauses sometimes before pushing the play button again. Except the play button is not a button, it is aiming at an enemy and pressing fire, then moving to the next scripted event.
To be fair, you do have some sort of freedom related to exactly how you want to take out the badguys, at least in the beginning before everything goes all science fiction on your ass. Basically you can choose between stealth and a more heads on guns blazing approach. Different weapons have different strategies to them as well. But, it is just not enough to warrant for a near perfect score here on Gamespot, unless they were rating the story and not the game.
These kind of good looking, heavily scripted linear games tend to sell well, so I guess I represent the minority group since I am not into it. I still prefer to watch movies and play games separately. With emphasis on PLAY, not watch a game. The graphics is great in MLL, and atmosphere is quite good, but that still does not change the fact it is gameplay-challenged.
The game has some annoying problems as well. For example, you can only stay on the surface for short time because you need to exchange filters in the most inefficient gas mask ever made every five minutes or so. I find it annoying to be stressed with a time limit, but even worse, at one point I found myself triggering a save point with almost no air left. So, when I died I spawned right back to a point where I would die seconds later. Trapped in a die loop, I had to start a completely new game as a result.
I regret to spend my money on this, as I could just as well have watched a walkthrough video on YouTube for free and get roughly the same level of satisfaction. And as for that FPS experience I miss out on if doing that, there are about a gazillion FPS games out there to scratch that itch better already. That story I can watch for free on YouTube is the only thing that sets this game apart from the rest.
I guess this review will be downvoted, because this is a game with a lot of fans, but I still hope my voice is heard since I wish game developers will start to focus more on games with freedom, exploration and great gameplay rather than taking some generic FPS and stuff it with hours of pretty cutscenes.
If you are like me, then do not trust the 9/10 review here on Gamespot, it is a trap! It is too late for me, but you can still save yourself!