Now the control schmatic of the game is very familiar to anyone playing first person shooters. The trigger buttons fire the primary and secondary (or second) weapons while the face buttons are used to activate machinery, use tools etc, etc. But since Joanna (after everything we’ve been through Ms. Dark just doesn’t seem right) is a nubile athletic little thing, you can dive and roll quickly to avoid being hit by enemy fire. It’s a unique addition in the world of huge, heavy soldiers who regularly lift vehicles back onto their wheels or carry weapondry normally reserved for hanging off the side of a helicopter. This “evade” button is convienently located on the left bumper button. Staying true to physics, the heavier the weapon, the slower Joanna moves, just like real life, you would be able to move quickly with two handguns, but doing those Jackie Chanesque’ acrobatics simply aren’t while carrying a rocket launcher.
Now, there were a couple of things that I noticed in the options screen in this game that I don’t recall seeing in some of my other 360 titles. Including, the ability to select what type of TV you are playing on, whether it’s DLP, LCD, Plasma or regular. Not that I’m complaining, but it goes to show you that they really wanted to take advantage of the advancements in technology that have flooded the market in recent years.
Also, you could tune the sensativity of the “look” function so that Joanna was looking around as quickly as a shoplifter amped up on ding-dongs and speed. Or as slow as someone swimming in honey while doing the thorazine shuffle. The point being, this FPS reminded me more of a PC game then a console game with these decidedly PC menus. And hust so you know, I liked these options. As we work towards games that look as good as their PC cousins, I think it’s fair to say that we will see more of these high level options.
Of course, once I got the setup the way I felt it needed to be, I began playing through the single player adventure. And I must say, that even though you could tweak things and select auto-aim/invert crosshair type options, the game never felt as smooth as some of the other games I have played. It wasn’t bad mind you, in fact it was a pretty tightly controlled game, but there was this just this little edge I felt the game was missing that put the controls into the upper echelon of controlled games. It’s great, it’s just not as great as I thought it should have been. Either way, it does indeed get the job done and you will probably be scratching your head while recalling my comments as you play, but to me, I thought it just seemed to miss that razor’s edge I thought there should have been.
