This game is amazing, but let's go over the bad first. This game has a lot of padding, especially in the latter half. I won't spoil anything that happens, but everything that can go wrong, absolutely will go wrong and you'll have to be the one to fix it by following new objectives. This of course, makes the game a lot longer than it should be in a rather frustrating way. Don't get me wrong, I like longer games, but it was frustrating to put a lot of effort into completing a goal only to have something mess up and make me have to do a much longer, more frustrating objective. The AI, while it works greatly to the intensity of the game is very aggressive in from difficulties medium and above, which can be incredibly frustrating especially when there's both the alien and other aggressive enemies tailing you.
I need to put a spoiler tag over it now, but I can't make a review without mentioning it: the hazmat android gank squads are the worst thing in any game ever. Throughout the game, you are taught that you need to hide, move slowly and carefully, and only use combat as a last resort. Then this segment inside the reactor happens and it turns from a stealth game into "HURR DURR let's put 50 robots in this hallway and make you need to hit 7 different things on opposite sides of the map without dying to the robots who are also immune to their one weakness" where you run around like a chicken with its head cut off and try not to get grabbed.
With that out of the way I can start praising the game's many good qualities.
Sevastopol as a setting is fantastic, and with the graphics it looks absolutely gorgeous. The area is huge, and while you go through most of it in the main campaign, you still feel as if you're really exploring this decrepit space station. Out of every window you get to see the depths of space, and the beautiful sun and planet the station orbits.
The combat, while clunky, encourages strategy and planning on how to take out targets. This strategy and planning is rewarded with much needed crafting materials and ammunition, which help you with progressing through the game.
The alien not only looks gorgeous, but is an absolute terror. Whenever it shows up, the game goes immediately from a 3 or 4 straight to a 10 in terms of intensity. Anyone who's played the game will have the sounds of it entering and leaving vents permanently burned into their minds. Not only that, but the AI learns how you play, meaning no encounter will exactly be the same, and each encounter gradually gets harder. Adding to the immersion, the alien also attacks other people. You aren't the sole target.
The music here also cannot be unappreciated. The soundtrack varies from slow peaceful melodies in the calm moments after chaos, to intense themes that make it even more terrifying (Take the habitation deck escape theme for example, the music absolutely MADE that mission), to dread-inducing ambience.
Overall, despite a few flaws, this game is still a masterpiece and absolutely deserving of a playthrough.
I need to put a spoiler tag over it now, but I can't make a review without mentioning it: the hazmat android gank squads are the worst thing in any game ever. Throughout the game, you are taught that you need to hide, move slowly and carefully, and only use combat as a last resort. Then this segment inside the reactor happens and it turns from a stealth game into "HURR DURR let's put 50 robots in this hallway and make you need to hit 7 different things on opposite sides of the map without dying to the robots who are also immune to their one weakness" where you run around like a chicken with its head cut off and try not to get grabbed.
With that out of the way I can start praising the game's many good qualities.
Sevastopol as a setting is fantastic, and with the graphics it looks absolutely gorgeous. The area is huge, and while you go through most of it in the main campaign, you still feel as if you're really exploring this decrepit space station. Out of every window you get to see the depths of space, and the beautiful sun and planet the station orbits.
The combat, while clunky, encourages strategy and planning on how to take out targets. This strategy and planning is rewarded with much needed crafting materials and ammunition, which help you with progressing through the game.
The alien not only looks gorgeous, but is an absolute terror. Whenever it shows up, the game goes immediately from a 3 or 4 straight to a 10 in terms of intensity. Anyone who's played the game will have the sounds of it entering and leaving vents permanently burned into their minds. Not only that, but the AI learns how you play, meaning no encounter will exactly be the same, and each encounter gradually gets harder. Adding to the immersion, the alien also attacks other people. You aren't the sole target.
The music here also cannot be unappreciated. The soundtrack varies from slow peaceful melodies in the calm moments after chaos, to intense themes that make it even more terrifying (Take the habitation deck escape theme for example, the music absolutely MADE that mission), to dread-inducing ambience.
Overall, despite a few flaws, this game is still a masterpiece and absolutely deserving of a playthrough.