ThoughtWolf

It creates in itself a whole new genre of game by at first pretending to be another genre, then pointing out all the flaws of that type of game, all while making you feel actually morally involved with the character and their decisions. It does this in a format that has never been proposed before, and while perfectly meeting the expectations of every action I had in the game. It is not like other games where you try to perform an action with an expected result, and are disappointed in the lack of developer foresight, rather this game does the opposite and exceeds expected design and foresight by meeting and beating my expectations every time I raised the bar. Every time I explored the game, I learned something else that was actually relevant and had meaning, rather than small details of little consequence. Everything in the story is so wrapped up in itself and is tied up in such a delicate manner that it seems as if there are absolutely no plot holes in the story at all.

It feels like a sequel made by a contracted out of house studio that had no design restrictions... While the level and weapon design may be unique from other shooters the overall feel of the game is unpolished at best. There are obvious breaks in the map design where you can see places you aren't supposed to, the cut scenes look terrible and have obvious consistency issues (part of the map doesn't look the same as it did while you were playing) they are boring and just something you want to skip in general. Most of the combat is really easy and there are places where you can literally just stand still and hold fire and you'll win, none of the "run and gun" that made the previous title great is really necessary... The game tries to break up some of this monotony with vehicle "mini-games." I call them that because the vehicles are overpowered and usually instantkill death machines that win you the game instantly... but try to run through the same scene without the vehicle and you'll be put up against an unwinnable battle, so it leaves you little choice in the matter. Overall if they had at least tried to stick to some of what made The First/Second Encounter good they might have made a good title, but in the end it feel flat on it's face.

I would rate this game a 9 out of 10. It has improved vastly since the other reviews were written. Those reviews were written BEFORE the game was even released, which is highly unfair. -1 Point for basically lack of online multiplayer. If this game had that, it would be best game of 2013 in my books but as a singleplayer standalone it just doesn't have the same appeal. I would probably enjoy it much more if I had someone to play splitscreen with though.

Very fun game, shooting mechanics are solid and the game looks up-to-date graphics wise. About half the missions are based on stealth, where you can choose any direction to approach your opponents from and devise the best strategy to take them out without being spotted. The whole game isn't a stealth shooter, though. The game will intermittently throw you into unavoidable non-stealth situations where your shooting prowess will determine your victory. Co-op feels solid, although there is a bit too much "Waiting for your co-op partner" for my likes, but I guess this keeps the other guy from running ahead and skipping the best parts. The slow-downs are still in co-op, but they're much shorter unless you get a REALLY good shot, and it forces both players to watch as the bullet streaks across the sky right into the opponent's eye or heart. Defiantly worth the buy.

Binding of Issac is the perfect game for me, it has that little dash of it's own humor that every game needs to stand on it's own, and I find the story a fun idea to wrestle with. What starts out as a simple top-down "shooter" becomes a quest to unlock and secret your way through various dungeons on a quest for completion. I would recommend this game even if it cost 15$ because it is just so fun.

The Ball is a unique puzzle game that fills a niche left in the gaming community as a First-Person puzzler. The environment is nice, although some of it a bit repetitive. The puzzles are original and gameplay mechanics are focused on just moving though the levels with your ball while completing various tasks, with a bit of fighting. Its worth the money, but doesn't have a lot of re-playability, and something more could have been done with survival, its just a long drawn out fight sequence with traps. Well worth the price though.