Just finished it now. On the whole it took me around ten hours. I played it on hard. And I must be getting shitter by the day at shooting games because I found 2/3 areas quite challenging. Often due to the sheer volume of enemies in certain shootouts. And they were significant spikes too as previously the ones before were not too bad. I also took a lot of time searching for all the collectibles and still missed some :/
The game is gorgeous, in the first couple of chapters some of the street scenes were phenomenal. Although a lot of views etc. are gated off with railings so you don't really get the full effect. Was dying to just wander round the claustrophobic alleys of the Victorian streets. It did suffer from Bioshock infinite fruit in one of the stalls though. Strawberries the main culprit
However, absolutely flawless visuals.
The guns I liked. They had a punchy feel and meaty sound to them. Sort of felt like a cross between day of defeat weapons and something like Tomb Raider 2013. Arc gun, thermite gun were very well done.
I think the game compares well to Beyond: Two Souls more than a traditional third person shooter. However, adding in a TPS cover based system must have had its challenges. I thought at times the camera was too close to the shoulder and not enough 'peek' ability (certainly on hard) - the blind firing was really useful actually though. Although sometimes crosshair guidance was there and other times not - I'm not sure what the 'rule' was that triggered it. Also, this was apparent on some of the claustrophobic encounters with the lycans. Even on full sens. it was difficult to actually get the camera lined up as you want.
The stealth sections were frustrating if you didn't take your time. I was trying to action run it like Uncharted but it's not that kind of game. Luckily, it doesn't matter if you take someone out and leave their body in open places, the others just ignore it. I get the impression that the stealth depends on the camera - so if you don't see the guards, they don;t see you type of thing.
Story was interesting enough for me. A few unexplained things but nothing that spoiled the experience. Just par for the course in videogames I think. I agree with others on that running/walking thing. When looking for things in that Indian Building being forced to walk to each PoI instead of being able to jog is tragic. That's a clear example of putting director's vision over gaming enjoyment.
For me, the most exciting thing is what do RaD do next. They now have a great engine, they have reusable assets. They have tangible aspects of the game play to work on - judged in context it's a solid first effort. I think scores in the region of 7-7.5 are much more accurate than a lot of the 5/6 which seem to be based on and written for a target audience.
I also go to try out my capture card as well for the first time. Had fun making this.
CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT COMPLETED THE GAME.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owwatt7sUqY
