This review is based on the single-player campaign only. The story is not very deep and complex, but engaging and interesting throughout. A good sci-fi story that you'll remember, and that bears occasional replays. It could be a bit longer though. You could play through it in a night, unless you get completely stuck on one of the puzzles or more challenging parts. Weapons are varied and interesting, and some of them are extremely satisfying and fun to use. There is even one that can shoot through walls. And a few that can blow holes in walls. That was a pretty innovative feature at the time. Enemies could be more varied, but remain challenging throughout. There are some cool monsters you'll encounter along the way, and a memorable antagonist. The landscape and areas are immersive, and pretty much what you'll expect from a sci-fi game set on an industrialised and dystopian Mars. The graphics are pretty good for its time (2001). In between Half Life 1 and 2, graphically. Not at all an issue unless you are all too spoiled by contemporary graphics. The pacing is pretty good. You'll be thrown straight into action after a short and ok tutorial. There are no particularly dull or tiresome moments, and you'll be shifting locations a lot. There are also sequences where you ride different vehicles for a bit. The cutscenes are not too frequent or long. There are puzzles of different kinds, but not overly many. You'll probably encounter a few bugs and glitches when playing this on a modern system. A well-known one is a submarine that explodes when the crane holding it drops it into the water. This is potentially game-breaking, as you're supposed to use this sub to get to a new location. While it might be possible to fix this using technical means (it probably has something to do with framerate being too high or similar), I found that it is possible to fix it by running straight out towards the sub, jumping up and giving it a good push forward while it is falling.
