Just finished it. What a ride. I can easily put it up there with Stalker or higher; benefit of course is that this game knows when to end. Including reloads, I think I logged in about 25-30 hours total give or take 2 or 3 hours. Length was pretty good in that it was long enough that you weren't craving for more and yelling bs, but short enough that you didn't get tired of shooting or doing the same things over and over again.
Speaking of, the guns weren't bad, just stuck to the standard flame, "sniper", shotty" machine gun, melee and pistol formula. Most used was the shotgun; I like to keep it handy for close encounters... Too bad you had to buy most of your ammo. The machine/tommy gun shot a bit slow, and became near useless near the end. Flame thrower was nice, but doesn't even come close to touching the one in AvP 2. I found plasmids weren't as useful near the end. During the last few levels, I almost always had full Eve and full Eve boosters. Adam was extremely plentiful for me, and I got everything I wanted and more with quite a bit left over before I got to the last level. Even then, I mainly stuck to the cold/freeze plasmid, and only for cameras/turrets cause I didn't want to lose the drops from enemies. Ammo was also overflowing near the end. If it were a PC exclusive, I'd suggest an inventory system and make you choose between all the weapons. This would have made it harder.
Difficulty wasn't bad. I stuck to medium, which I always do for my first run through. The good supply of ammo and money helped a lot, especially the specialty rounds. Enemies were pretty run of the mill. Early on they were freaky, then they came pretty standard. Respawns were actually good in keeping the tension. The Big Daddies were, obviously, the best enemies and coolest.
The atmosphere deserves a lot of praise. The music and mood was very '50s. Just wish everything didn't look so "smushed". The main character seems to be rather short and stalky, yet he's the same height as everyone else. Textures were good in some places, ok in others. The water effects like flow, reflections and how they messed with your vision were great. The thing ran very well on my 2 year old machine at 1680x1050, all settings high with no vertical sync; barely noticed any tearing. It slowed down a bit in some areas, but not often enough to be too distracting.
Overall, as amazing as it is, I doubt I'd play it again anytime soon. It was great while it lasted with some very theatric sequences. One of the best so far this year.
As for the Ending. Spolier-ish.........
I got the bad man ending. It's a bit short for an ending, and doesn't really say all that much. Was expecting a bit more. At least they didn't run the effing credits though.
For those who finished the game: you had your chance.
BIGGER spoiler/BUG: did anyone else get a loud pop/static sound near the end of the "bad" ending? Played it twice, happened both times. Using EAX and X-fi.
Speaking of, the guns weren't bad, just stuck to the standard flame, "sniper", shotty" machine gun, melee and pistol formula. Most used was the shotgun; I like to keep it handy for close encounters... Too bad you had to buy most of your ammo. The machine/tommy gun shot a bit slow, and became near useless near the end. Flame thrower was nice, but doesn't even come close to touching the one in AvP 2. I found plasmids weren't as useful near the end. During the last few levels, I almost always had full Eve and full Eve boosters. Adam was extremely plentiful for me, and I got everything I wanted and more with quite a bit left over before I got to the last level. Even then, I mainly stuck to the cold/freeze plasmid, and only for cameras/turrets cause I didn't want to lose the drops from enemies. Ammo was also overflowing near the end. If it were a PC exclusive, I'd suggest an inventory system and make you choose between all the weapons. This would have made it harder.
Difficulty wasn't bad. I stuck to medium, which I always do for my first run through. The good supply of ammo and money helped a lot, especially the specialty rounds. Enemies were pretty run of the mill. Early on they were freaky, then they came pretty standard. Respawns were actually good in keeping the tension. The Big Daddies were, obviously, the best enemies and coolest.
The atmosphere deserves a lot of praise. The music and mood was very '50s. Just wish everything didn't look so "smushed". The main character seems to be rather short and stalky, yet he's the same height as everyone else. Textures were good in some places, ok in others. The water effects like flow, reflections and how they messed with your vision were great. The thing ran very well on my 2 year old machine at 1680x1050, all settings high with no vertical sync; barely noticed any tearing. It slowed down a bit in some areas, but not often enough to be too distracting.
Overall, as amazing as it is, I doubt I'd play it again anytime soon. It was great while it lasted with some very theatric sequences. One of the best so far this year.
As for the Ending. Spolier-ish.........
I got the bad man ending. It's a bit short for an ending, and doesn't really say all that much. Was expecting a bit more. At least they didn't run the effing credits though.
For those who finished the game: you had your chance.
BIGGER spoiler/BUG: did anyone else get a loud pop/static sound near the end of the "bad" ending? Played it twice, happened both times. Using EAX and X-fi.