People expecting a classic lyrca clad hero will be disappointed, anti-hero Alex Mercer (your character) is more likely to rip granny in half rather than help her cross the street and as such it is a very violent game, more suited to the graphic novel fans rather than younger gamers.
The game begins giving you no back story about your character or his situation, instead it throws you head first into the action against a swat team allowing you full access to all of Alex’s powers, this results in a breathtaking action scene as rocket fly around and you tear through the city like the angry mutated super human you are.
After this chaotic tutorial level we flash back a number of weeks to Alex dead and about to undergo an autopsy, somehow he awakens and manages to escape however he’s in a complete daze and has no memory of who he is, or how he can across these incredible powers, which have activated as a sort of defence mechanism as he made his escape.
When the game begin after this in earnest, you are stripped of all you super powers from the tutorial level (save for the ability to run vertically up skyscrapers and super human strength) from here you have a GTA style open world with story and side quest mission marker, but a lot more fun (as it usually is in free roam games) you have a city to run about in and experiment with your new found powers.
The story sees Alex’s mission to bring down the people who experiment on him using the very powers they gave him (there’s irony for you) however as mentioned he has no memory, so to progress you will need to track down key members of the enemy force and absorb them into yourself, which allows Alex to see their memories and learn more about his powers and the people that did this to him, giving you a weird connection to Alex, as he is learning everything the same time you are.
This unlocks a feature in the option called The web of intrigue, which shows all the memories you have absorbed and eventually they will form a web like link with other memories revealing the story as you go and how everyone links into the story.
As you complete missions (or mess around in the city) you will gain experience, which you can spend on more destructive powers (although some are locked until you progress in the story) Powers are separated into mobility powers such as higher jumps and evasive rolls, offensive powers like more attack power and super moves and finally there are defensive powers, which include a shield and by far one of the most useful powers of being able to transform into the last person you absorbed, which helps escape the enemy or take on the identity of one of them and sneak into bases undetected.
The combat system in the game is very impressive using the familiar system of separate light and heavy attack button, which when mixed up perform different combos, however it all flows so well including the very fluid animation, all the moves link perfectly, which allows you invent more elaborate combos as you get to grips with all the possibilities.
The visuals of the game, while performing their job never go that little bit extra that would make you sit up and take notice, especially on the cut scene movies where they appear slightly bland, however some effects (such as smoke from fires) are impressive. The musical score is also good and while I may not know music like I know games it invoked a sort of Dark knight feel (for me at least).
As these games often do it can become repetitive however it is quite the ride while it lasts and as such I would recommended to not just to comic book fans, but action game fans as well.
*Version reviewed was PS3 however it is also available for the Xbox 360*
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| He got the point |
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