Spot on almost in every way I'd expect from a good Metal Gear spoof, as in it doesn't drop the ball on gameplay in favor of cheap jokes. Instawishlist.
That 4th star in the rating? As wonky as it gets, just as Shadwen itself. It is a very flawed game, as many other reviewers have already pointed out: the simplistic AI, the way it handles narrative and its "choices", somewhat repetitive design and proneness to glitches — all true, and then some. However, I feel it rectifies most of them with its core mechanics, fixing some of the fundamentally alienating aspects of stealth genre. Time manipulation significantly cuts down downtime and repetition after player screws up. Acrobatic abilities paired with serviceable level design always give an escape route out of the tightest corners. And "time moves when you move (unless you want otherwise)" shtick ensures you're always in control of the situation, always can literally stop, take a look around and calmly get these couple of pixels of around-a-corner ledge into a crosshair for your hook shot. However, I do feel that gadgets' design is passable at best, and shifted very much into violent category. This, along with the lack of unique gameplay scenarios (every level is just a "sandbox corridor", more or less), can make a pacifist run pretty dull. But considering main campaign's moderate length, I'd say there is some great fun in here, providing you're not sniffy about occasional glitch-comedy and some (lots of?) blood in your stealth.
