I really want to mark this higher. It's very creative in places, and when it comes together it's a four star game. But every time you start enjoying it, another terrible design decision or flaw rears it's head and stops you in your tracks. I remember wanting to get this when it came out. The idea was original at the time, as still pretty original now. The game attempts to mix shooting, platforming, puzzles and other elements together, but each element is pretty flawed. I definitely enjoyed the game more later on, when the levels involved more platforming and seemed to be better laid-out and more interesting. Many of the earlier levels are mostly straight up shooting, in similar corridors with confusing layouts. I get the sense that this game had NO playtesting. Combat is too random, and you mostly die due to the controls. Making Bob so fragile was a really infuriating decision, leading to many cheap deaths. Platforming was actually reasonably fun, as some of the levels were huge and original, and reminded me a little of Jedi Knight. But again it's let down by poor controls, and for some reason they seem to have made every platform have a sloping edge... so you keep sliding off. The other thing that might really have helped would have been cleared objectives, and some kind of map. Maybe that'd make things too easy.. but there were several sections where i had no idea where to go. It often turned out i'd done everything, but i just hadn't noticed some minor change in one of the many corridors... so i ran around the entire level 3 times with nothing to do. When it all comes together, some good platforming, followed by leaping from person to person to complete objectives, then leaping into a rat and running through a vent, and then leaping into a behemoth and stamping on everyone, before remote controlling a turret and blowing stuff up... it's great. But those moments are few and far between. Mostly i spent my time reloading, swearing, and wishing it would be over so i could uninstall it. (it's pretty buggy and flaky too, at least on my system).
This has to be one of the best games I've ever played. Even playing it for the first time on GOG, it's fresh and new, and looks beautiful most of the time. It is basically a 3d Zelda game. It's ocarina of time with better graphics, great voice acting, better combat, stealth sections, some decent platforming, some fun boat races, and cool & useful teammates. I enjoyed the setting, the characters, the story, and most of all the world they created. The main character is a fresh one, and someone you can care about. the sidekicks are funny, not annoying, and can be used in creative teamwork ways (in puzzle solving and in combat). I also totally loved the camera, and had almost as much fun taking pictures of animals as playing the game. What other game has you taking beautiful pictures of breaching whales? If I was to say anything bad about it, it'd be that it's too short. The ending section passes very quickly, and doesn't have much of the exploration, collection and photo elements of the rest of the game. It also doesn't have quite the variation in environments that Ocarina has. And finally, on the PC, the camera can be annoying at times. (on foot is ok, but the boat is impossible to control in 3rd person. (press E). Great game in almost every way.
I really can't think of anything bad to say about this game. It was a magical experience from start to finish. The best things about it are its heart and its platforming, both of which are awesome. It is one of the few games ever with truly unique, memorable and interesting characters, the story is great, and it has a great atmosphere. The platforming is perfect, part reaction, part puzzle solving. And the ability to rewind time removes any of the frustration that other platformers can suffer from. The only possible complaint is that the combat isn't amazing. But its good enough, and that misses the point anyway. This isn't a combat game, the combat is just there to break up the platforming a little. Everyone should play this game. I can't imagine anyone not loving it.
