I found this game at a 50% discount and decided to pick it up. It is a 3D platformer with good ideas, but lousy engine.
First: I am not a person who is easily charmed by anything, especially not the kind of charm you find in this game. So the charm factor of this game does not gain any pluses from me. But don't get me wrong. I am not your average bloody FPS fan. In fact I have not enjoyed many First Person Shooters. I do in fact prefer games that are a bit odd. Like my three latest games: Me and My Katamari, WarioWare, and Nintendogs. I also look forward to Loco Roco. But this game is a bit generic.
In a platform game, freedom has huge value with me. This game has some freedom, but not as much as I would want.
A nice example of 3D platform game freedom would be the Sonic Advenure games(where you can reach every corner and height of the levels) - the exact opposite being Sonic Heroes( where you die instantly if you decide not to go straight forward..).
There are some invisible walls, you can't mount every object you would expect to be able to mount, and you are mostly locked to a cube-ish room. There are, fortunately, some intersections and such. Plus, you can travel between the levels you have unlocked as you like.
The main good point is the great amount of ideas which have been put to life. Although the progress is linear, you get a good amount of abilities, there are many enemies, nice boss battles, and allright level design.
The story is very simple, but it's not building on the way-overused gimmicks.
Another thing I value is great animation. The (character) animations in the game are a bit few, not too smooth and not very thorough. When an object changes animation or is destroyed the change is often too sudden(for instance, rolling cylinders just disappear at collision). Also, the environment is completely static. Perfect animation would be... 3D Prince of Persia.
Graphics are plain, with no impressiveness or "Wow!"-factor whatsoever. But that's allright. At least they do not hurt your eyes.
The graphics and arts are all built upon their charm-concept. Most characters are the japanese "cute" human or humanoid kind. Others are "cute" plastic robots. But the Doctor for whom you work is cool.
The sound is also in the "allright"-area. Sound effects are where they are neccessary, not much more to say there. The main character's voice can get annoying, but is acceptable. The music manages to do it's job, but it's not something I would want in my music collection.
Also, physics are important to me. Most games should build upon a good physics engine. This game has Mario-like physics, which really makes it hard for me to enjoy it as a platform game. Too many 3D platform games ignore the physics almost completely. Games like Daxter and Gex 3D: Enter the Gecko manage to satisfy me at this point.
But apart from the setbacks mentioned, the game has a good deal of qualities. I cannot easily reccommend this game to everyone, but I am sure it is more enjoyable to someone who likes the obvious style.