Thumbs WAY up on this one! It's a Jade Empire and Saints Row love child! Twins, actually, as this seems to be two games tied together with the two different main characters.

The story is really top notch. There's plenty of twists, betrayals, and heartbreak. The sidequests are also well done, though very short and almost always done for comic relief - much needed comic relief given the seriousness of the main plot. There's some good sized cut-scenes but they're all well done.

There's also a boatload of mini-games! Poker, blackjack, bowling, disco, a rhythm-like karaoke game, batting, and several Japanese games, including a Japanese form of chess. Some work well, some not so much, but it's easy enough to just not bother doing the ones you don't like. You're hardly ever forced to play them in the main quest and you're only required to win one of them - a shooting gallery like sequence pretty late in the game that only takes a few minutes. There's no need to worry about having your progress topped because you can't win at mahjong.

Battles are done fighting-game style, typically your one guy against several others. The moves aren't as deep as a real fighting game but there are quite a few styles you can learn and lots of "heat actions" to see - including some rare ones. The fights were fun and satisfying all the way up to the end of the game.

There's some things I don't like about the game, of course. You have to go to a save point to save the game - though there are LOTS around town so its only an issue in some of the bigger, main story sequences. Quitting requires going to the settings (!) menu, letting the title sequence load through again, then quitting from the main menu (hint: alt-F4 quits out much faster and works just fine). Womens' role in the game seems more like something out of the early 60's, but maybe that was what Japan was like back then? <shrug>

Oh, and there's another note: the game is voiced in Japanese with English subtitles. Most of the time you click to continue the text but, in cutscenes, it isn't so easy to slow it down. If you're a slow reader, it could be rough.

People worry about the controls quite a bit. I mostly played with an XBox 360 controller and did fine. After the recent patch, I experimented with using just the mouse/keyboard and it seemed to be working OK but I already had 50+ hours using the gamepad so I wasn't about to switch. The game does let you switch between the two whenever you want; the prompts change as soon as you use either one. It's easy to use mouse/keyboard for walking and gamepad for fighting if you want.

On a final note: this game is particularly great with 3D Vision. You're never looking down any sights or trying to click on things that are 40ft away. The tight city streets are great for 3D, too! Big thanks to masterotaku for his mod!

Thumbs WAY up on this one! It's a Jade Empire and Saints Row love child! Twins, actually, as this seems to be two games tied together with the two different main characters. The story is really top notch. There's plenty of twists, betrayals, and heartbreak. The sidequests are also well done, though very short and almost always done for comic relief - much needed comic relief given the seriousness of the main plot. There's some good sized cut-scenes but they're all well done. There's also a boatload of mini-games! Poker, blackjack, bowling, disco, a rhythm-like karaoke game, batting, and several Japanese games, including a Japanese form of chess. Some work well, some not so much, but it's easy enough to just not bother doing the ones you don't like. You're hardly ever forced to play them in the main quest and you're only required to win one of them - a shooting gallery like sequence pretty late in the game that only takes a few minutes. There's no need to worry about having your progress topped because you can't win at mahjong. Battles are done fighting-game style, typically your one guy against several others. The moves aren't as deep as a real fighting game but there are quite a few styles you can learn and lots of "heat actions" to see - including some rare ones. The fights were fun and satisfying all the way up to the end of the game. There's some things I don't like about the game, of course. You have to go to a save point to save the game - though there are LOTS around town so its only an issue in some of the bigger, main story sequences. Quitting requires going to the settings (!) menu, letting the title sequence load through again, then quitting from the main menu (hint: alt-F4 quits out much faster and works just fine). Womens' role in the game seems more like something out of the early 60's, but maybe that was what Japan was like back then? <shrug> Oh, and there's another note: the game is voiced in Japanese with English subtitles. Most of the time you click to continue the text but, in cutscenes, it isn't so easy to slow it down. If you're a slow reader, it could be rough. People worry about the controls quite a bit. I mostly played with an XBox 360 controller and did fine. After the recent patch, I experimented with using just the mouse/keyboard and it seemed to be working OK but I already had 50+ hours using the gamepad so I wasn't about to switch. The game does let you switch between the two whenever you want; the prompts change as soon as you use either one. It's easy to use mouse/keyboard for walking and gamepad for fighting if you want. On a final note: this game is particularly great with 3D Vision. You're never looking down any sights or trying to click on things that are 40ft away. The tight city streets are great for 3D, too! Big thanks to masterotaku for his mod!