I thought this game looked interesting and got a copy. You cannot remap controls for the keyboard/mouse. Seriously? I hate the key layout they have built into the game. I tried and tried to play the game and use the key layout, but it just makes it too much of a chore for me to play. If they were to ever, which I know they won't since the game has been out for so long, to fix the keybinding issue I'd give the game another go. As it stands, I hate the key bindings and can't bring myself to continue playing.
The premise of the game looked very promising at first glance, but the overall game itself was a let down. Things started out a bit slow, but slowly picked up and showed promise. However, once you learned how combat functioned, it becomes more of a boring and tiresome feature that you just trudge through. The story was also slow to build and doesn't start to become more interesting until about 1/3 of the way into the main story. After you hit about half way through the main story you should be able to see it's a general cliche story and how it will play out. Graphics were decent and pleasing to the eyes. Music was okay, but nothing special. Combat showed promise until you learn there are about 3 things to do in order to win and combat scenario. 1) If you haven't already learned it, you should. Use the Stasis spell. You'll lock/freeze any bad guy or creature for a good duration. 2) Basic or strong attack 3) Use your built up energy for a powerful attack/spell cast You say you've come across 5 creatures charging at you! Oh noes! Them 1 by 1 and use Stasis to freeze them all, except for 1 of them. Any creature not under Stasis your companions will automatically attack. You basically just gang up on one creature at a time using this method and the game is stupid easy. Oh noes! A boss creature! RUN......right? Nope, use Stasis. It only last a couple of seconds on a boss creature, but all you need to do is use a Strong attack or power attack. Then use Stasis and repeat the whole process. In the end, I'm not even sure what the last 1/3 of the story was about. I just clicked through everything because I became so bored with the game. I think the worst part was constantly running from point A to B to C and back to A to complete a mission. It felt like too much running, like a bad MMORPG and fetch quests. The game is mostly a let down.
I used to own the physical copy of this game - same version as here on GoG. I ran the game on the same computer about 5 years back from the physical copy (when I still owned it) and the game worked just fine. I can't say the same for the version sold on GoG. Win 7 Home 64bit i5-4670k @ 4.4 GTX 980Ti 16GB DDR3 Game runs off my 1TB WD Black (like all my other games I have from GoG and they don't run poorly) The game plays okay through all the introduction maps and even the start of a story mode game, but after about 15-20 in-game days have passed the game starts to chug. It's like watching a horrific slideshow. The game play so slow at times it take 10+ seconds to switch between planets on the galactic map and trying to move in battles becomes irritating with the inability to actually select units or move the map so you can continue to move your units forward. If you really want this game, do yourself a favor, track down a physicl copy of it. I might just have to do that.
The free running is pretty entertaining, but you're very limited in the area you can travel. You almost feel like you're simply running on a rail through most of the game. There are some shinning moments when you're moving across a rooftop and you have a couple of ways to go to get to your destination, but in the end, you're still very limited. The FPS aspect of the game is clunky, it doesn't feel smooth. Too often I find myself running straight at a "blue" while he shoots at me and even a few steps away I'm not taking damage. I can disarm/takedown or punch/kick the badguy down. I do enjoy the takedown/disarm actions, they are fun to initiate, plus it puts the bad guy's weapon in your hand immediately for use instead of needing to pick it up off the ground. Fighting also feels a bit forced and too simple. One or two bad guys around you, simply manuver out of their line of sight and wait for them to turn the corner and simply punch them a few times or run and slide kick or run and jump kick to initiate a simple staggering attack, then follow up with a few punches. The artwork and graphics are probably the most entertaining aspect of the game. The story was lacking and very easy to figure out who the bad guys are. There are few minor gaps in the story as well, these gaps don't make or break the game, but a little more build up of the story and characters would have been nice. A fairly short game that, to me, outside of maybe the entertainment of the free running, doesn't really offer a lot of replay value. 4-6 hours to clear the game, depending on how much time you take to work on takedowns and your free running skills. The game is enjoyable enough to warrant a purchase on a good sale.
