The Good Gorgeous skybox textures that are practically a work of art in of themselves. A strong storyline that, despite the use of a few tropes, stands as a solid and enjoyable experience. Non-player characters that you can love (or loathe). The Bad Terrain glitches can sometimes result in NPCs getting stuck in walls, though leaving and re-entering a zone will usually fix this problem. One or two NPCs have some slight inconsistencies with their voice acting with noticeable pitch and tone changes. A couple of NPCs have really bad texture seams on their models, most noticeably the Recreators. The combat is... awkward. You adjust to it quickly enough but it never feels quite right. The Assessment Above all, you have to remember that this game is fifteen years old and many of the in-game assets do show their age if you compare them to modern titles. But this game isn't really about amazing graphics, it's about immersing you in a story. The graphics, and even the combat, are just vehicles for what the game is truly about (in my opinion at least), the narrative and the characters. The narrative is good, even charming at times, and memorable but it never quite crosses the line into being a great narrative for me. It lacks that spice which takes an otherwise good and enjoyable story and turns it into a page-turning monster that you spend three days awake for just to complete it. The combat is nothing worth writing home about, and truthfully is probably the weakest area of this game. If you are looking for a smooth, slick 3rd person shooter then this is NOT the game for you! The sound design is overall quite good. The score is excellent, the voice acting is good, albeit a bit cheesy at times and the weapon effects get the job done. The characters are very good, in part due to the voice acting, but the tropes are noticeable. I was surprised at the end that I had bonded a bit with several characters. In short, a good way to spend a weekend and well worth the GOG price.
