Depending on how you feel about the mid 2000s-mid 2010s cover shooter invasion, Kill.Switch may look like the great innovator or a harbinger of the stop & pop apocalypse: pioneering many of the mechanics that would become standard in the genre, it is without a doubt what inspired Gears of War and kickstarted a veritable craze.

It expertly sidesteps a number of key pitfalls of the time: instead of unflinching bullet sponges, enemies are glass cannons who go down quickly but are able to deal significant damage to you, it features a dedicated reload button (not a given for the time) and a dedicated grenade button, grenades which also work properly instead of erratically impacting with level geometry, something that still trips up many games to this day.

It even attempts to feature a dramatic Hollywood-style storyline which, while being cheesy and unconvincing due to poor acting performances and amateur hour writing, is still better than a lot of what shooters of the time had to offer. Points for effort, if nothing else.

What brings the game down is the repetition: for a game that clocks in at a paltry 3-4 hours, its firefights get significantly monotonous really quickly, which is salvaged by the considerable difficulty of some of the sections which, along with the lack of checkpoints, will at least keep you on your toes.

Kill.Switch was very quickly surpassed and overshadowed by its emulators, and for good reason, but the fact remains that the seminal achievements are not to be forgotten.

I was aware this game was the origin of the cover system used in most modern third person shooters, but I had no idea that basically every game in the genre from 7th gen onward copied its entire gameplay template plus plenty of other features besides the cover system. It's arguably been more influential on the genre than RE4 even if the latter is a better game.

As a game itself it's just alright. Outside of the core conceit there isn't a whole lot going on here. Encounters and stages blend together and there's only a couple of instances where the game does something unique with level design. One stage sees you firing on enemies as a conveyor belt moves objects that obstruct your view, and a few others ask you to operate under the pressure of a timer, encouraging more aggressive play. These instances are few and far between though. It's a good thing the game is short or it would outlive its welcome for sure.

The story is a video game excuse plot used to string together a series of levels with barely any thematic connection. There's a couple of funny CG cutscenes at least. The soundtrack is also surprisingly kind of awesome.

I'd only really recommend playing it if you're curious since it's pretty easy and will only take a few hours of your time. Don't expect anything remarkable though.

Kill.Switch is probably one of the most important third person shooters of its era, simply because how much it influenced games like Gears of War with the unique cover system.

Despite that, Kill.Switch burns way too fast and you seen everything by the fourth level. Despite the good music, great combat, the monotonous nature of the game kills the overall gameplay loop and you just stuck with the same mechanics and weapons, over and over again.

The level variety is a little bit interesting, but the visuals are so bland that it does not make much difference. Shame, because Kill.Switch starts out really good.