Plot:
You play as Faith Connors, a Mercury trained Parkour specialist sent the task of transmitting communications between the two battling governments fighting between the mayoral spot that is up for grabs in an unnamed city.
After receiving a call for help off Faith's sister, Kate, she then falls into a deeply confusing storyline which, simply put, sees the character "Pope"(a police officer) found mysteriously dead over a desk (by Faith), clutching a note simply saying "Icarus" on it.
You then see the Icarus project unfold in front of your eyes as you are hunted down after being blamed for the murder and pursue the truth whilst trying to help and locate your sister . Quite a predicament then, I think you'll agree.
Graphics:
Okay, tedious over cliched storyline out of the way, let's get on to the really interesting stuff. This game is pretty much unique in the way that it's a first person action game, where you are urged to avoid gun fighting conflicts wherever possible.
The whole layout and general set up of the game and it's camera has been known to induce motion sickness in some sufferers but in my case, it didn't. It's graphical style isn't deemed unique just by summoning up the chunks in some gamers however, oh no. This is one of the only games I've played, to successfully blend real life scenarios and scenery with a Cell shaded graphical style and makes it work.
The white washed walls with subtle blends of deep, rich and vibrant colours make the game truly awesome to play. You are lost among insanely tall sky scrapers, ventilation shafts and suspended walkways, technically, the game should be insanely difficult to manoveur around, but it's the genius inclusion of colour that subtley guides you to exactly where you need to be, let me explain: You're on a rooftop, surrounded by raised walls, doorways and emergency stair exits. There's the opportunity to zipline off there but you know that you need to be climbing your way to the upper levels. So, a quick tap of the b button, your head spins into the general direction and you notice a red door on a totally white wall.
Basically, the rules of the game is follow the red, it's so simple in theory but when you're actually playing that is not what your attention is focussed on. It's the subtle subliminal messages blended with the open world freedom and choice to take what route you like that makes this game feel great. A real triumph.
Gameplay:
If I were to say "wall run, jump, turn, run, jump, coil over obstacle, soft landing" you're probably thinking, "hang on", that's going to be insane button mashing on the face buttons. That's where you're wrong, the above combination is solely focussed on just 3 actions, the triggers and bumper buttons.
It's the simplistic nature of the games control system and the freshness of the idiology behind it that makes this game work so well. Insane runs, jumps and falls are all achievable by even the most inexperienced gamer, the game flatters you and makes the MLG pro's look awesome as well. It's a rare ability to make such a unique concept seem accesible to so many audiences and that deserves major credit to the designers of the game.
You are able to shoot guns, they range from massive shotguns, weedy pistols and average machine guns. They all appear to have roughly the same fire power, the sniper rifle is pretty satisfying to use however, if you really want to play the game as it was intended to be played, press Y and dump the weapons, they aren't super awesome to use anyway. Oh yeah, and for the first time in ages, once a gun runs out of ammunition anyway, it's dead.
Sound:
DICE have made a game that emphasises a fresh new genre in action games, shame then that the same attention has not been granted on the soundtrack. Okay, it's not bad, the way the sound of the wind gently flows past Faith's ears is a nice touch, but most of the action music moments are just so incredibly cheesy. At one point, (in a multi story car park where you had to avoid three guards and try and jump into the suspended offices via the hole in the roof) the music became so bad, it had to be muted.
Voice overs are decent but no matter how I tried, I just couldn't get the speaker set up to correctly to allow me understand a single word Mercury, the bloke on the radio, was saying. Not the triumph that was seen in the graphical and gameplay departments then.
Longevity:
Oh dear, this game suffers the same way that most single player experiences do such as Assassin's Creed and Bioshock. Yes, there are online modes such as time trials but these are not played with two runners on screen. You compare times via leader boards and it's basically a cheat way of implementing online elements.
The actual storyline takes a decent amount of time to play through, it most certainly isn't the longest game in the world, but it's 9 levels are of decent length and are interesting enough to keep you gripped. I'd say a rough figure of 15hours to complete the game is about right with each of the levels available to play at any time after a play through in speed run and time trial form.
There are 30 bags to collect through the game as well, 3 in each of the 9 levels and 3 in the prologue.
Final Thoughts:
Is the game worth a punt? Yes, the way the game has now plummeted in price on most online retailers it is most certainly recommended, it's a bargain for under £20. Don't expect the finest gaming experience on the 360, but expect a really engrossing, interesting and unique manipulation of the first person action genre and a really cool way to get that free running buzz that we've all secretly craved. A real good quality game.
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