I only played this in single player mode, so I can't comment on the multiplayer mode.
This is a futuristic scifi game consisting of eleven levels. It can be played in First Person or Third Person. I found First Person mode to be as good as any other FPS, except your weapon doesn't show as it does on most FPS games, which didn't bother me in the least.
The setting is on a mostly barren snow-covered planet with both indoor and outdoor environments. Weapons consist of both conventional and energy weapons. Conventional weapons include an assault gun, shot gun, rocket launcher and grenades. Energy weapons are laser and plasma pulse weapons including some plasma grenades.
Much of the game is played using Vital Suits (VS). These are armed mechanical walkers you climb into that mount an interchangeable weapon on each arm. These weapons are similar to the weapons you carry on foot, except much larger. On the conventional side there is a Gatling gun, shot gun, grenade launcher, and rocket launcher. In addition there are a variety of guided and unguided energy weapons. You can change how the VS suit is armed by picking up different weapons.
The key to the game is the thermal energy (T-ENG) substance that is required to stay alive on the cold barren planet. In addition to replenishing your health, the T-ENG also provides the power to operate the VS walkers as well as all of the energy weapons. T-ENG is available throughout the game, but if you run out, you will only be able to use your conventional weapons and will not be able to use the Vital Suits.
I found the graphics to be up to current standards. Although not bleeding edge, lighting, terrain, and textures provide for an exceptional variety of visually thrilling environments. The selection of weaponry is more than adequate and the many enemies are creatively designed with an array of attack methods that keep you from getting bored.
The game ran smooth with no patches required at the time I played it. You can choose whether to run a Direct X 9 (DX9) or DX10. I ran it on DX10 with everything set to max on my 3GHz core 2 duo with dual SLI-linked 8800GTS 512 GPUs. It comes with a built in performance test that shows you the frame rate through a short clip. The frame rate is also displayed during game play in the upper left.
To me, the game was dominated by the level boss fights. Getting through each level was only moderately challenging up until you get to the level boss, which took me multiple attempts to kill on every level. I found the Level 4 boss to be the toughest and wound up looking up a walk-through and viewing a youtube video to figure out how to get through it. A couple of the level bosses are relatively easy, but still enjoyable and innovative. I only managed to get through two levels in less than an hour (it tabulates your total game playing time).
Cut scenes and story line were interesting and entertaining. Voice acting was pretty good, although there were no celebrity voices. The character art was about the best I've seen in any game. The villains looked appropriately evil without being over the top and the good guys were dashingly heroic. The main girl character was the cutest of any game I've played and her movements were distinctly feminine without being overly sexy.
There was only one real downside to this game and that's the fact that you can't manually save your progress. If you quit the game it will start you off next time at the last "waypoint" and it's not always clear when you've passed a waypoint. I always played until I got killed rather than quit in the middle of a level and not know how far it would set me back. If you die in a level boss fight, it will always start over at the beginning of the level boss fight. The game is about average length by current standards. You can probably count on about 12-20 hours of play depending on how easily you can defeat the level bosses.
I highly recommend this game as a fun FPS especially since it's available new for less than $10 from third party merchants. I paid $15 and believe it was a steal.
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