Before I leap into this review, I'll make one thing perfectly clear. This game is not as good as I was led to believe, and it took me 3 months to even PLAY the game, because I was really that disinterested in it. It sat on my shelf until one day, I decided, it was about time to finally buckle down and play it.

Now that that's aside, I also wish to ask you to not mind the lower scores. I know it's a very well loved game and that Square Enix did the DE series a great justice in being the company to make it, but I'm not grabbed by things like this. I'm a player who likes being shown a challenge.

That said, let's get this over with.

Graphics - 8

The graphics are nothing special. In fact, these graphics are noticeably less special. It's a poorly rendered world that is buffed up by a screen filter through your augmentations. Without the light tint that all objects have, this game looks darker and much less appealing to play. That said, I choose to give it an 8 because the game designers did what they set out to do. Make a dark world that can occasionally be depressing. The whole world isn't ugly though, there were times I thought, "omg this is cool looking."

Sound - 7

I'd be more interested in the sound if I could actually hear it well enough to bother listening to it. There's a lot of softer ambience than you'd expect from a game of this nature. Plus the last song they play in the game is a very decent instrumental that gave me a good sense of having beaten the game. In general though, this score is higher than it should be thanks to the little things. A lot of people might not notice it, but there are a lot of subtle sounds. Yes Square Enix, I did notice. Your work didn't go to waste. It added to the experience.

Addictiveness - 4

But let's stop the praise right there for a second. I dunno why I don't like this game. It's fun, for a little while. When I rate a game's addictiveness, it's based on how long I can play the game in one sitting before getting throughly bored. At several times, I wondered when the current segment of the game would end so I could get to the next fun part. There are too many times where I was tempted to get out of crouch, to get up and sprint around like an idiot, just so I could have fun again. This is a thinking man's game. If you are not prepared for several hours of just crouching and waiting for the right moment to strike, you should get a different game. Technically it's a stealth-FPS. Think Metal Gear Solid but in First Person with a less interesting main character. and less fun. If you are an FPS nut, I suggest Battlefield 3. If you are a stealth fan, do yourself a favor and just replay Metal Gear Solid. This game lacks sorely in the gameplay field I believe, which is really unfortunate, because the game isn't as a whole that bad.

Depth - 5

Not much worth discussing unless you like the little things. You'll find posters, a little reading, and several fun little areas that do nothing for the game. Trust me, if you are the person who likes to explore an RPG world, play something different. This game is poor when it comes to exploration. Once you spend 10 minutes in an area, you've pretty much found all the important things. Those with patience will find some stuff to help in boss battles, but odds are you won't need them to beat the game anyway.

Story - 10

This is the saving grace of the game. The story is amazing. Maybe it's just the mood I am in, but it gripped me, and made me think seriously at several times how the various characters felt. Again, this is a thinking mans game. If you do not like the sound of multi-million dollar corporations battling it out for nanotech and augmentation technology, then you won't enjoy the story. This is purely for the brains out there.

Difficulty - Varies - 3-10 based on how you play the game.

I refuse to really give this a solid rating, because all the difficulty of the game is based on your skill level and your future insight. For me, the game is rated at 5. I did it on the middle difficulty, and I was a combat based character. My biggest problems were with ammunition. However, my insane leveling of augments made the game a LOT easier. The true challenge is playing the hardest on stealth mode. Good luck.

Overall - 7.5

Overall this is really a very average game. It's not good or bad, but somewhere in between. I don't really have many ideas to make improvements, but the gameplay could be a lot more fun. Really that's what made this game go from an 8.5 or so down to a 7.5

So there you have it. As always, feel free to leave a comment on the game or review.

1 was amasing.
2 was more so.
i intended to platinum 3, completed the campaign, and havent bothered since.
its good, no doubt, but it was repetitive and enclosed, there wasnt the same rush the 2 previous(although set ahead) ones provided.
disapointed, good, but not good enough.