This is what back in the day we'd consider a B-tier shooter. A budget title, but clearly with some effort put into it.

You have to give it props for not CODifying the experience. Despite some flaws with poor AI and enemy placements, it still mostly maintains the formula of SoF2, minus the stealth missions (and thank goodness for that). For this reason the core gameplay is quite enjoyable, even if the game doesn't evolve much throughout. It teaches you the way it functions, and keeps providing a fair challenge for most of the game.

The aspect that did surprise me was how much of a gun-porn this game is. The way the guns and reload animations are modeled and brought to life, you can tell the animators were enthusiastic. Before every mission you can select 3 weapons and a grenade type. This is something that's been done in other games before it, but just the sheer variety of guns and augmentations here is probably the highest you would see by 2007. And every gun feels genuinely different to shoot, and the augmentations do make significant and noticeable improvements or alterations to the way the guns behave. And all this extends to the multiplayer, which is one of the most fun I've played ever. Now, this game came out only a few days after CoD4, but it had a lot of features that CoD4 was praised for and popularized.

The level design in both singleplayer and multiplayer is pretty good. Definitely above what Call of Duty was doing at the time. You get plenty of space to maneuver and outflank opponents, plenty of rooms and buildings that are completely unnecessary, but make the world feel more believable.

Speaking of the world, the game's visuals are gorgeous. The blur and bloom effects help create a very stylized and, at times, surreal aesthetic. Some screenshots bring to mind comparisons with Crysis (to make it clear, I'm not saying it's technologically as advanced as Crysis, but some screenshots do look prettier) and CoD4, both heavyweight releases of 2007, although the game does have its fair share of ugly areas. But in particular the smoke and fire effects are standouts, as well as the skyboxes.

I've seen a lot of criticism regarding the game's dismemberment system, and yes, it's far inferior to its predecessors. But, combined with ragdoll physics and good feedback, it's still a lot of fun, and more fun than the games without dismemberment. Honestly, try shooting a guy in the face with a shotgun point-blank and tell me it wasn't satisfying.

The last two missions though are pretty horrible. They keep locking you in rooms with little cover, throw at you enemies with powerful weapons that can kill you in one or two shots, and often intentionally throw a bunch of smoke grenades in to hide them, not to mention the smoke and dust they raise from using explosives. You gotta understand, these enemies are so deadly that if you are seen by two or three of them, you're literally dead that very instant. So not being able to see them or find cover is just cheap. Furthermore, sometimes you'll clear a room, and, upon exiting, you get shot by two guys, each sitting in a corner on either side of you. Like, it's literally impossible to survive that scenario unless you KNOW they're there. I ain't gonna lie, those last two missions really tested my patience, especially the penultimate one. The last one was relatively easy once you know what you're doing.

The ending is a real let-down too. Not that this game has an interesting story, it's basically a Dolph Lundgren/Stephen Seagal movie, but the characters do have some charisma. The protagonist is a kind of old school Duke Nukem/Serious Sam type of guy, and his banter with the dispatcher is endearing. So, after all that the two of you have been through, you kinda expect some conclusion, but they basically drop a cliffhanger on you. Lame!

Still, I have to say, I enjoyed the majority of this game. Despite the last two missions being kinda abysmal, they're only a tiny part of the game, and the checkpoints are quite generous, although I would like to see a quicksave feature in a game that's clearly a PC shooter at heart.