This game has by far some of the most frustrating mechanics of any game I have ever played.

Let's start with the basics: it's a cover-based, squad-based third-person shooter. Well, except for the fact that there is one magical button for sprinting/cover/rotating out of cover/healing your teammates. Roll a dice to figure-out which one the game will pick to do this time! Want to heal your squad member? Sorry, you're rushing into the meat grinder like a maggot straight out of basic! Want to sprint to that cover? No dice chief, it's at a slight angle so instead you're sprinting next to the cover until you mash the button enough that your character decides to commit suicide. But there is cover, so I guess you could call it "cover-based." Don't even get me started on the grenades.

Oh, and did I mention your squad? Your two helpful teammates with minds of their own, who love to run out of cover and get shot and bleed out and force you to replay the same section over and over because they are too stupid to just stay put and keep their heads down. I don't know whether I spent more time replaying chapters because they died or replaying chapters because I kept shooting them in the face.

Thankfully the third person mechanic saves everything. As long as everything you need to shoot is on your right. If it's on your left you're out of luck.

Issues aside, my favorite part of the game are the setpieces. Those wonderful scripted moments where something completely out of your control happens in a masterful stroke of storytelling and you have to play the same thirty-second section again and again for over an hour because the scripted event accidentally kills you. Whoops.

The story is well-told, the atmosphere is perfect, the music is fitting, and the characters' development is superb. It's a great Heart of Darkness adaptation and a nice parallel of the modern problems with US jingoistic foreign policy and military hero worship. Even with all of its problems, I'd still recommend playing through it for the story alone. Just make sure you choose the cake-walk difficulty to avoid tearing your hair out.

This game has by far some of the most frustrating mechanics of any game I have ever played. Let's start with the basics: it's a cover-based, squad-based third-person shooter. Well, except for the fact that there is one magical button for sprinting/cover/rotating out of cover/healing your teammates. Roll a dice to figure-out which one the game will pick to do this time! Want to heal your squad member? Sorry, you're rushing into the meat grinder like a maggot straight out of basic! Want to sprint to that cover? No dice chief, it's at a slight angle so instead you're sprinting next to the cover until you mash the button enough that your character decides to commit suicide. But there is cover, so I guess you could call it "cover-based." Don't even get me started on the grenades. Oh, and did I mention your squad? Your two helpful teammates with minds of their own, who love to run out of cover and get shot and bleed out and force you to replay the same section over and over because they are too stupid to just stay put and keep their heads down. I don't know whether I spent more time replaying chapters because they died or replaying chapters because I kept shooting them in the face. Thankfully the third person mechanic saves everything. As long as everything you need to shoot is on your right. If it's on your left you're out of luck. Issues aside, my favorite part of the game are the setpieces. Those wonderful scripted moments where something completely out of your control happens in a masterful stroke of storytelling and you have to play the same thirty-second section again and again for over an hour because the scripted event accidentally kills you. Whoops. The story is well-told, the atmosphere is perfect, the music is fitting, and the characters' development is superb. It's a great Heart of Darkness adaptation and a nice parallel of the modern problems with US jingoistic foreign policy and military hero worship. Even with all of its problems, I'd still recommend playing through it for the story alone. Just make sure you choose the cake-walk difficulty to avoid tearing your hair out.