Intravenous

You can gather every bit of where this game's ideas came from and even in the description the developer has name dropped Splinter Cell. It's a solid stealth title. Easily 3 stars. You are given ample amount of options for how to tackle each mission and gear to select, each piece carrying multiple values. Armor for example will create more noise as you walk, as do weapons. It's neat attention to little details like this that creates a rift with some of the game's flaws. While the stealth and mechanics lean on logic and what you should be able to do, the enemies not so much. Why are there guards in a run down ghetto patrolling the streets? Why does said ghetto respond to a gun shot in a house with every enemy on the map despite? It's even more bizzare when you consider that in that exact same level, a random thug shoots another and no one blinks an eye, where is the response? But if you dare make a noise the group of hobos will rain down with the swiftness of a trained army. It's this kind of backwards logic that really hurts any immersion one could have in this world. And yes I know, video game must happen, but fair rules that make sense run deep in even the oldest of the stealth genre. Guards early on in thief are not nearly as perceptive as the ones in later stages. Low thugs in Hitman are not likely to bother you much with a even a simple disguise, etc. Giving later enemies bigger guns, more health and greater numbers is well and good, but lack of interesting ai is unnacceptable in 2021 for a stealth game. Ultimately what you get is little more than the russians from hotline miami lining up in door ways one after another ready to be gunned down. It's rather dissapointing if I am being honest.

This game is kicking my butt and I couldn't be happier. Granted, I'm playing on the hardest difficulty and I'm intentionally using a lightly-armored and armed loadout but I am simply in love with the smooth gameplay, the hard (but fair) AI and the crispy comic-style graphics. Story? Who cares! You're brother is dead and you want revenge. It's nothing to write home about but, then again, the stories for the Sonic and Mario games are equally as bare-bones. The gameplay is what matters and it is there that this game shines. Stealth? Sure. Crawl to the target, turn off the lights and hit them with a silenced pistol or a blade. Loud? Go for it! Assault rifle to the face and take the return fire with some ballistic armor! The game doesn't punish you for picking a playstyle; it punishes you for not playing the style. Heavy gunners can't stealth and stealth players can't take a punch. It's cheap, plays well and can run on just about anything made in the last decade. I can't recommend this enough,

THE RESULT IS A MASTERPIECE. I spent 8h on my first playthrough of the game playing on "True" difficulty and i had the time of my life, everything in the game feels great stealth, gunplay, killing, you name it. There is flaws in the A.I. sometimes like they instantly shoot you, can't hear you even through thin walls, its stuff that just bugs you but not to ruin your game. If you are looking for a new game for your library this is the one, you will have a great time replaying it too!

The controls are clunky. And the AI can be janky. And there are countless questionable, yet unquestionably intentional design decisions. But the game is still amazing. I've been trying to write something else for 10 minutes now, I can't describe this game, please just play the demo. Multiple times. Oh and if you buy it, make sure you zoom the camera out. Makes it much easier to navigate around