One issue with the gameplay is that it does not give you the opportunity to explore, and there are no rewards for exploring buildings or locations. There were times when I ventured into an empty room or in dark corners hoping to find some special weapon or cache of grenades or maybe some intel that would be important to the story, but no such luck. The action moves you forward constantly. However, the game's strengths are its presentation and design.
The graphics in the game are spectacular. There are times during the air and tank missions where the game looked extremely realistic. The sound design and music added to the depth and feel of the game. The character models at times could be glitchy, and sometimes the characters’ skin would not resolve properly. Also, occasionally the vocals and character model’s lips would not be in sync, which is disappointing because the voice acting was solid. The lack of expression on the faces of the character models when they were emoting could be unnerving at times.
Combat was also designed well. NPCs were not just distraction and cannon fodder for the enemy A.I. You weren’t left to lead the charge all the time or take out every enemy on your own. The enemy A.I. was smart enough to try and outflank you or charge and melee you if you got close enough.
The controls were okay. The only time I had an issue with the controls was during the Tank missions. I do not imagine that piloting a tank would be the easiest thing in the world; however, my frustrations with steering caused me to toss my controller several times. Sometimes the tank would not respond and other times turning was just sluggish beyond tolerance.
The designers took enough time to make each weapon sound and feel different. From my experience with first-person shooters, shotguns are powerful but useless in fast-pace action games such as this, but the shotguns in this game were excellent, even at range.
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