Edge writes: "Digital Extremes has created a Frankenstein's monster that actually works. Its mind is sound, its looks beautiful, its sutures invisible and its stolen parts functional in all the intended ways. It has no soul, of course, nor distinct personality, but that's the nature of the beast.
Its movement system is identical to that found in Gears of War, right down to the bounding 'Roadie run', the button-tap rolls and the magnetic cover points. Its hero, a nondescript pretty-boy called Hayden Tanno, is an over-the-shoulder military type with a cast-iron emo fringe. Its enemies have transferred, it seems, from the rank-and-file of Killzone, Rogue Trooper and Devil May Cry, with bosses ranging from Kojima-esque mechs to Capcom vaudevillians. And then there's the glaive, a limb-rending, tri-bladed Frisbee with Heavenly Sword-style aftertouch and elemental powers, much like those of BioShock.
The story runs thus: After a mysterious outbreak, much of the Soviet bloc has been quarantined, prompting the arrival of lone, reluctant clean-up man Tanno. He's reluctant, of course, partly because of some ill-defined traumatic backstory and partly because, being a videogame, this bears all the hallmarks of a suicide mission. Minutes into his investigation, he's infected – in this case skewered by an absurdly-armored samurai villain – which has the neat side-effect of giving him murderous mutant abilities."