I'm being very generous with this 9/10. It's a forward thinking, ahead of the curve cover shooter that frankly does it better than every single other one despite being the first real one. Amazing action movie schlock, great soundtrack, very cool vibes though the environments are drab. The basic core gameplay and feedback is great. The encounters keep putting new twists on things, and the game is very long. I like it a lot, also apparently a big involved multiplayer mode I won't bother with.
Except... the last like third of the game is a total slog and is basically built around ignoring or outright breaking all the systems of the game and making you play antithetical to how you were playing before, and basically forcing you to become hyper aware of spawn points and metagaming them. A lot of shootouts in tight hallways with like 5 guys that is just a grind with zero skill, or you walk into a room and a cutscene happens and five guys spawn behind you. I wouldn't mind this if these were bonus hard mode missions and I kinda suspect they were made that way originally, but got shoved into the main campaign. Out of extreme mercy I am ignoring this and instead judging the game on the first twenty or so missions.
It's a visionary game, it influenced just about every thing ever, it's cool, it's fully featured, it is very fun, it keeps pulling out new tricks constantly, ... it's just the last third is a total chore. This rating isn't just about game quality, but its total impact on video gaming in general so I think it deserves it. Give it a shot, you probably will like it.
Except... the last like third of the game is a total slog and is basically built around ignoring or outright breaking all the systems of the game and making you play antithetical to how you were playing before, and basically forcing you to become hyper aware of spawn points and metagaming them. A lot of shootouts in tight hallways with like 5 guys that is just a grind with zero skill, or you walk into a room and a cutscene happens and five guys spawn behind you. I wouldn't mind this if these were bonus hard mode missions and I kinda suspect they were made that way originally, but got shoved into the main campaign. Out of extreme mercy I am ignoring this and instead judging the game on the first twenty or so missions.
It's a visionary game, it influenced just about every thing ever, it's cool, it's fully featured, it is very fun, it keeps pulling out new tricks constantly, ... it's just the last third is a total chore. This rating isn't just about game quality, but its total impact on video gaming in general so I think it deserves it. Give it a shot, you probably will like it.