In my "series" of playing through an entire series of games (that began with Final Fantasy last year), I decided to revisit an old favorite. I have a ton of fond memories playing this game in high school whether it be single-player, co-op or multiplayer.
First thing first, this gameplay really does holds up. Playing through the campaign again, I realized why so many games copied the formula from this game for their own third-person cover shooters and I found the core mechanics to be satisfying as ever. While the campaign does provide a decent amount of variety, it does not stray far from the core shooting mechanics.
Other elements...hold up less gracefully. The story is pretty barebones (fleshed out in sequels), and the characters and writing is grade S "video game ass video game". A good dose of macho-ness AND cringey one liners. Also, it's wild thinking back to 2006 where the graphics in this game was considered top-of-the-line where now it's the pretty noticeable 360 era "brown and grey with a lot of bloom lighting" artstyle.
Another thing that took me aback was how challenging the campaign is! I'm pretty certain this campaign is much more fun in co-op where you don't have to restart large encounter sequences due to being one-shotted by a Boomshot or a Torque Bow. Similarly, this game extended usage of the "walk and talk" segments that people loathe now but you could tell it was something new as every death involved going through that segment AND their accompanying dialogue.
Overall, I still quite enjoy this game. It's a decent dose of nostalgia talking but I still think the gameplay is solid especially with the FPS boost on Series X. I'm curious what the sequels add in terms of core gameplay.
First thing first, this gameplay really does holds up. Playing through the campaign again, I realized why so many games copied the formula from this game for their own third-person cover shooters and I found the core mechanics to be satisfying as ever. While the campaign does provide a decent amount of variety, it does not stray far from the core shooting mechanics.
Other elements...hold up less gracefully. The story is pretty barebones (fleshed out in sequels), and the characters and writing is grade S "video game ass video game". A good dose of macho-ness AND cringey one liners. Also, it's wild thinking back to 2006 where the graphics in this game was considered top-of-the-line where now it's the pretty noticeable 360 era "brown and grey with a lot of bloom lighting" artstyle.
Another thing that took me aback was how challenging the campaign is! I'm pretty certain this campaign is much more fun in co-op where you don't have to restart large encounter sequences due to being one-shotted by a Boomshot or a Torque Bow. Similarly, this game extended usage of the "walk and talk" segments that people loathe now but you could tell it was something new as every death involved going through that segment AND their accompanying dialogue.
Overall, I still quite enjoy this game. It's a decent dose of nostalgia talking but I still think the gameplay is solid especially with the FPS boost on Series X. I'm curious what the sequels add in terms of core gameplay.