One of my favourite PS2 games. The time rewind mechanic is still wonderful to use, and the puzzles and platforming still hold up. The combat is probably the least interesting part of the game, and the story is relatively simple, but they all come together to create a game that is greater than the sum of its parts.
This was my first introduction to the Warhammer universe. As the title says, it's a simple and straightforward game revolving around making you an unstoppable killing machine for eight and a half hours. Initially, the loop of shooting the far away orks and chopping up and executing the near ones with your chain sword is very fun and engaging; however, it doesn't change much throughout the game except for a few sections when you get the jet pack and hammer and smash the enemy into a paste. The story is serviceable, start-middle-end and it all makes sense. The world is fleshed out with audio logs, which help to build on the main narrative. The world, character design and art direction are great. Despite the linear-level design, the world feels huge. I experienced some technical problems. In one particular dark sewer level, my screen went black, and the audio cut out. The hud showed that I was still playing but couldn't see anything. I restarted the game to try to fix it; however, the problem persisted. To completely fix it, I had to change the game's resolution in the settings and turn on VSync. Toward the end of the game, I also experienced some audio stutter and cut out; however, they were only a minor annoyance. I would definitely recommend getting this on sale.
It's a fun game that is worthy of your time. It might not be the best FPS of its time, but it remixes enough interesting ideas and mechanics to make the eight—or nine-hour playthrough compelling. The story was engaging, with some Bioshock-style audio logs and messages scrawled along the walls, making me question what was happening just enough to keep me pushing to the next story beat. The puzzles added the right amount of variety. Exploring the environments provided little more than upgrade materials and notes that flesh out the background. The upgrades themselves seemed a little superfluous, and at one point, I picked up three of them in one room. It feels like they are there to say there is an upgrade system. The shooting and time manipulation powers allowed for many fun ways to approach combat. It never got boring to age an enemy into a dried-up husk. I think there is enough here to warrant a sequel. Name it Call of Duty Black Ops Singularity, and it'll probably sell loads.
