A solid shooter/ beat 'em up with some nice extra touches - "Go get 'em boy!"
He can shoot enemies or batter them in hand to hand combat and the transition between the two feels fairly fluid meaning you should have no trouble hitting a guy in the face with a couple of swift jabs then snatching his weapon and shooting him to finish him off. This "disarm" move has Jack grab the enemy's weapon before automatically lining up a headshot. You have to wait a second for him to aim but if you get the timing right it means one (satisfying) round per enemy which is useful in a game that punishes those who don't preserve their ammo.
Performing moves like this will also increase Jack's "Focus Meter." Hit LB and you enter "Focus" mode which is essentially bullet time like in Max Payne. When in "Focus" mode, Jack takes less damage and it's a lot easier to get those essential ammo-saving headshots whilst everything is sloooooowed doooooown. It's also easier to perform counters if you use "Focus" in hand to hand combat.
The one button cover system is similar to Gears of War but doesn't feel as fluid. If you reload as you get into/ out of cover, it will cancel your reload. Other than a few minor issues, playing as Jack feels like a good, solid shooter.
Then we come to the game's other playable character - Shadow. Shadow is Jack's wolf-like dog and is your character for the stealth missions. He can rip out throats and genitals in a most gruesome fashion and can use barks and growls to draw in enemies to make it easier to take them out. Holding the left trigger allows Shadow to move silently and "sense" heartbeats - seeing enemies (and whether they're relaxed/ alert/ pursuing) through the walls. Holding the right trigger makes Shadow sprint. The controls are nice and simple but sometimes it feels like Shadow has a turning circle like a cement mixer, especially if he's dragging a corpse.
When you're playing as Jack you'll usually (but not always) have Shadow with you. You can use the D-pad to get Shadow to attack enemies or retrieve fallen weapons. This in particular, helps to compensate for the lack of ammo you can carry because you usually don't have to leave cover to get more ammo. The best way to use Shadow whilst playing as Jack is to work as a tight team. There's no point in sending him against 2 or more enemies on his own because the one he's not attacking will just kick him away whilst he's trying to gore the other one. Either team up on the same enemy or cover him with your weapons from a distance.
The weapons themselves are nothing new. There are pistols, sub-machine guns, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles and RPGs. When you're fighting low-lives at the start of the game the pistols in particular can feel a bit weak but everyone seems to die in one headshot. As you get further through the game, the enemies get better equipped and you can use more effective weapons against them. You can't carry much ammo but if you fun out you can either kill people with your bare hands, use the disarm move or send Shadow to get you a gun.
During the course of the game, you fight several different groups, each of which feel fairly unique. The Extras section of the game gives some details of the concepts behind the locations and the enemies you'll find in them and it all seems very well thought out. Within each group there are several types of enemies who can be roughly broken down into soldiers, snipers, hand to hand specialists and heavy weapons but there are a few who don't fall strictly into any of these groups. As the game progresses, the enemies seem to get slightly smarter but from the start they'll take cover, attack and fall back where necessary. I never saw any instances of the enemy taking cover on the dangerous side or doing anything else very stupid.
The story is about as shallow as the main character but it was just about enough to keep me interested. Jack works to gradually uncover a conspiracy that goes higher than he can believe and takes it on himself to wage a one-man war of righteous vengence. It's straight out of a Van-Damme/ Seagal film. There are police badges to collect on each level which are this game's equivilant of hidden packages. I've not found enough of these to really notice what they unlock (if anything) but the story doesn't really explain why they're lying around.
I didn't see many graphical errors but I did notice Shadow teleporting around a bit. The environment textures are nothing special but the character models are tight and look great. The use of light and smoke/ mist/ snow compliment the dark, grimy feel of the game.
Overall this game is generally solid but there are some elements that feel a bit low budget. I'm glad I bought it and now I'm on my second playthrough but some of you might just want to rent it for a weekend. You may as well go straight into the game on "Officer" difficulty (Normal) to allow you to unlock the avatar rewards!