A decent rail shooter with a reasonable storyline and good gameplay, although a bit on the easy side once you have the hang of the cover system and how to use it. There is a reasonable variety in the missions, in the open, villages, tunnels/caves, on a helicopter, in a tank, etc. so it doesn't become too repetitive.

The difficult ramps up reasonably well through the game, with an initial easy mode that unlocks a veterans campaign which is reasonably tough although it can be a bit checkpoint dependant - if you miss a health pack just before a checkpoint in a couple of places it can make it very difficult to advance without restarting the level. Other than that the checkpoints are fine, avoiding having to replay too much when you die, but not too close together so you have to get at least vaguely competent to advance (in VM at least).

The story is functional but fairly forgettable and generic, the on rails gameplay works fine here for me - you act reasonable sensibly, always having cover available (although it isn't usually 100% so you have to pick off a couple of enemies while in cover before you can reload and take on the rest of the scene one by one. You are a bit of a bullet sponge (especially once you have progressed and got the bonus health) but not to the point of immersion breaking - you do feel vulnerable to enemies, especially heavy machine guns and the like.

There are a few weak points though - repeatedly taking on BTRs with small arms (Technicals, sure), whereas at the opposite side of the scale a certain enemy that takes 10+ direct hits from a bazooka to kill seems unlikely. There are also quite a lot of quick time events where you are nearly crushed to death by a falling object or whatever, but following the instruction is optional - you dodge anyway, you just get extra points (and say "Hoo-ah!"). This leads onto the sound more generally - which is competent, but cliched and repetitive.

Overall this is a decent but fairly forgettable addition to the genre, recommended if you like this sort of "Time Crisis" gameplay, especially given it is not exactly expensive to pick up even when not on sale.

A decent rail shooter with a reasonable storyline and good gameplay, although a bit on the easy side once you have the hang of the cover system and how to use it. There is a reasonable variety in the missions, in the open, villages, tunnels/caves, on a helicopter, in a tank, etc. so it doesn't become too repetitive. The difficult ramps up reasonably well through the game, with an initial easy mode that unlocks a veterans campaign which is reasonably tough although it can be a bit checkpoint dependant - if you miss a health pack just before a checkpoint in a couple of places it can make it very difficult to advance without restarting the level. Other than that the checkpoints are fine, avoiding having to replay too much when you die, but not too close together so you have to get at least vaguely competent to advance (in VM at least). The story is functional but fairly forgettable and generic, the on rails gameplay works fine here for me - you act reasonable sensibly, always having cover available (although it isn't usually 100% so you have to pick off a couple of enemies while in cover before you can reload and take on the rest of the scene one by one. You are a bit of a bullet sponge (especially once you have progressed and got the bonus health) but not to the point of immersion breaking - you do feel vulnerable to enemies, especially heavy machine guns and the like. There are a few weak points though - repeatedly taking on BTRs with small arms (Technicals, sure), whereas at the opposite side of the scale a certain enemy that takes 10+ direct hits from a bazooka to kill seems unlikely. There are also quite a lot of quick time events where you are nearly crushed to death by a falling object or whatever, but following the instruction is optional - you dodge anyway, you just get extra points (and say "Hoo-ah!"). This leads onto the sound more generally - which is competent, but cliched and repetitive. Overall this is a decent but fairly forgettable addition to the genre, recommended if you like this sort of "Time Crisis" gameplay, especially given it is not exactly expensive to pick up even when not on sale.