They had something good here. And it isn't terrible, but it is flawed. First off, the stalker AI. They seem to know where you are almost constantly and once they are on you it can be very difficult to shake them. Sometimes overly so. Then there is the save system. There is only like 3 save mirrors and they are pretty far away from each other. There is no manual or auto save either. I get what they were going for but it felt really archaic. The quicktime events. Now there isn't a ton of these and generally I am one of those weirdos that enjoy them. The problem here is they are so tacked on and unnecessary and failing one is usually instant death. I died so many times during this one section near the end game in a sewer area that I was genuinely annoyed and frustrated. The qtes in this section are so sudden and they change the button every time and being 1 millisecond off the mark and it is back to the start of the section with you! The only saving grace is it is one of the only parts that checkpoint you at the start of the section instead of sending you back to a mirror. Last but not least is trial and error, particularly the final stretch is big on this and it is so frustrating to keep dying over and over until finding out the one obscure way the devs intended for you to pass it. The story is not terrible but it is a bit convoluted for my taste. I love the cinematic presentation and the atmosphere and stalkers were for the most part genuinely creepy and unnerving. I simply wish the gameplay had been polished more and executed better. The graphics are pretty good as well and music and sound design is quite decent. Overall I would not pay $20 for it. If you want to give it a try buy it on sale.
I played this quite a bit on 360 and no lie my first playthrough took ages because I found myself too scared to want to continue. Eventually I pulled up my big boy pants and faced the horrors head on. Boy am I glad I did. This was one of if not the scariest game I had ever played at the time and it still holds up today in all aspects, scares, sound design, gameplay, even graphically the game still looks remarkably good for it's age. After several years away I have started a new playthrough of the entire main trilogy and I am thrilled to see this game still holds up and I couldn't be more excited to go through the harrowing journey on new superior hardware and new DLC I never got the chance to play before. It's important to note since I brought it up GOG doesn't currently carry 2 or 3 that I have found at the time of writing. However Steam has you covered in that department and if this game happens to be on sale here and not there or something like that then I would still say go for it. The main point here is this game is one of the best sci fi horror games around and imo you would be loony to pass it up. At least dip your toes in. You may find yourself diving in head first afterward.
This game is brutal, it pulls no punches with it's horror and the atmosphere is in a word: terrifying. If you are at all sensitive to gore or sensitive subject matter steer clear, if however you are strong in courage and constitution I invite you to experience one of if not the best anime centric horror game you will find. You may want the 3DS version if you want some extra CGs and spruced up sprites. If you happen to be like me though and aren't massively into handheld gaming or don't have a 3DS then add to cart and proceed.
