A game from 2000. It's quite pathetic.
Visually the game does a decent job. It looks good and runs smoothly. And there you have the good. Even though the game engine is well implemented it fails in game play department with unjumpable objects such as guardrails and 5 inch high objects. Also what is not supposed to break is not going to break, such as windows. You will find that you CAN shoot through windows. YeY. But the window doesn't completely break. It leaves pieces of glass sticking in the window frame. One such piece was in the corner and I wanted to shoot through it to hit an enemy then duck back in cover. That little piece of glass was indestructible. Yep… bullets did not go through it.
The game play is mediocre at best. It's a shooter. You shoot things. Nothing difficult. Despite a decent number of enemies ... they prove no real difficult challenge. Human enemies are based on weapons so Shotgun, Machinegun, Chain gun (with higher armor), Shield guy/Gun and Sniper. Mutants are 4. Big lumbering things, out of phase lumbering things, blind lumbering things and ticks. Ticks are annoying because they swarm and do lots of damage. There is one mutant a phase fast guy with a blade, but you only face 2 in the entire game, but their way too easy to be counted as bosses. Speaking of Bosses, the fights are retardedly easy. Not to mention… they are only 2. A big fat guy you toss barrels at and a giant bug you shoot blisters off of.
As far as weapons go, you have your gun, your machinegun, your shotgun, your sniper, chaingun, grenade launcher and a Gauss rifle. Nothing really special about any of them, but you can purchase upgrades for each making them hit harder, reload faster and carry more ammo. To be noted you can only carry 2 at a time. Also from time to time you can get a 3rd weapon. One is a "Seeker" – a rifle with exploding bullets that you can bend around corners –think "Wanted"- and a rocket launcher with bend-around-corner rockets – think Half Life.
The game play is also influenced by the TMD or how I call it… the Gravity Gun. Oh sure it turns time on objects, but sadly only specific objects – by that I mean barrels boxes plants. Yep. 3 BIG objects actually influence game play – and on enemies. But truth is it's faster and easier to just use your guns. As far as platforming use of such a device goes… again it's pathetic as it barely is used and you only get to age some stairs, or lift a door with a box. It's also inconsistent. Its chronosphere function slows everything it touches IE bullets, enemies etc…. except in platforming. When used to "slow" a closing door or a rapidly spinning fan, those objects freeze instead of slowing. Wait I thought this sphere slows down things, how come when I need them to stop... they stop? Oh that's right BAD GAME DESIGN.
Last but not least is E99 tech. The currency in the game. Because it makes sense to buy bullets and upgrades on a long deserted island.. Yea so… you use the E99 tech to buy upgrades that you find throughout the game. Such as more health, more health packs carrying ability etc. They do make the game easier.
The story is not bad. But it isn't good either. It's your run-of-the-mill story with bland 1 dimensional characters that just move the story along. The ending however is rubbish. To be noted there are 3 endings, 2 of which are fun. 1 however is complete bull making the entire game inexistent and impossible. I won't spoil the story, but I will say it deals with time travel. Now since we all know that time travel stories are iffy when it comes to continuity and hard to maintain a reasonable train of thought, you'd think they pay attention to it. But no. The one ending that isn't put there for fun and should ultimately bring the game to an end, is frelled in logic.
Overall this is a BAD game. You can play it to pass the time, as it's easy and doesn't require you to pay much attention to anything, but if you're looking for an epic game that plunges you into a great story with great atmosphere… do not play this game.