It's a fantastic game, but the lack of a coherent storyline leaves it suffering from an identity crisis.
What's interesting about this title is that the entire time you're playing it, something nags at you that the game isn't quite right. This will be confusing for most gamers, as the game has a lot of what it needs, and has it in the right places.
The graphics are superb, especially considering that this was a launch title for the PS3. Things feel a little gray and grainy at times, but the style fits for a game that takes place during the WWII era. All of the modeling work from the backgrounds to the characters and weapons are highly detailed and very impressive. When a Chimera gets in your face, you know it.
And you won't only see it, you'll hear it. The sound quality of the game is absolutely top-notch. Whether it's the growl of a lesser enemy or the wail of a boss character, you'll hear every scream, gunshot, footstep, and explosion with great clarity. This aspect of the game needs to be singled out here, because it does such a great job of enhancing the immersion and gameplay.
Insomniac also did a great job of working with, but not abusing, the Sixaxis controller. While the controls are your standard console-FPS faire, they are incredibly tight and mapped well to the controller. They've also employed a new mechanic where you have to shake the controller if an enemy grabs you, which adds some extra realism. And while the camera may tend to be oversensitive, it's easily adjusted in the menu.
Whether you're in the campaign or online, the gameplay is outstanding thanks to several aspects including some creative level design, the variety of enemies, and the variety of weapons. The weapons are particularly noteworthy, as they include such weapons as the Bullseye. This weapon allows you to "tag" a target, and the bullets you fire will go straight for that target until it goes down. Another fantastic weapon is the Auger, which allows you fire directly through solid cover. The checkpoints are too far apart, and you lose a lot of ground if you die, but the battles are enough fun that you won't mind running them a second time if you're taken out.
With all of this said, the gameplay's most shining quality is the intelligence and adaptability of the enemy A.I. You will certainly fight more than one epic battle during the course of this game, and it's all a credit to this fantastic feature. The Chimera work together incredibly well to flank, rush, and provide suppressive fire, but the most impressive feature is how they duck for cover when being fired upon. In other words, if you start shooting them in the chest, they will actually crouch and lean at the same time to avoid being hit. This is opposed to most shooters, where once you start shooting your enemy they stand there and take it until they're down.
With all of these fantastic features, it's hard to imagine what keeps the game from being over the top. The answer actually lies in its weak storyline, which leaves the game without its own sense of identity.
If you've played other FPS titles, you're going to get the feeling that you've done all this before, and you have. There are, quite frankly, times where you're going to forget which FPS you're playing. At one point, it felt as though I was playing Castle Wolfenstein. Then it felt like Quake II. All of a sudden, it was Halo. By the time I was done, I had played through six or seven different shooters, all on one disk. While this certainly doesn't ruin the entire game, it takes a game that should have been unique in its own right and reduces it to a very well done clone of several other games.
Despite the drawbacks, the game is still a worthwhile purchase, and will give you a decent 10 – 12 hours of campaign time. Add in countless more hours of high-quality online play, and you get your money's worth. It may not carry much of a story, but it's a fun ride nonetheless.