The Best $25 I've Spent In Years
I just picked up the game from Steam about a week ago, and I am LOVING it.
I don't mind all the combat, because it is awesome. The guns have a heft to them that feels natural, and there are just so many of them. I got the Fortune Pack at the same time as the actual game, and the crossbow is the best weapon in the game, bar none. Also, the weapon combinations you can make are quite useful. I am currently wielding the AR-16, an Uzi, and the DLC Crossbow, but I have had everything from a stealth set (silenced pistol, DLC silenced shotgun [No Country For Old Men throwback, I loved it], and the dart rifle [the most efficient weapon in the game, but one of the least entertaining]) to a fuck-shit-up set (IEDs, Grenade Launcher, and the Flamethrower).
The game isn't without flaws though: Some of the diamond cases are fucking hard to get, the respawning guard posts are sometimes annoying (although I normally either just snipe everyone in them or just drive by), and I have experienced a bug where when I healed one of my buddies, it instead said it was a mercy-kill in my Journal and the person was dead. These are just minor annoyances in what is my GOTY for 2008 (a bit late, but it is the thought that counts). The multiplayer is fun, but by the time I got the game, it has mostly died out. I can only rarely find a full game to join and the lack of an actual server list bugs me, but it is still an nice addition.
I would have been more disappointed if I had paid the full $60 for it, but the $25 I paid for the game and the DLC was a steal. I have almost 30 hours of gametime, and I'm about 60% of the way through the main mission. I'm an obsessive when it comes to open world games, I must find, do, and kill everything to get that 100% completion, so this game will keep me entertained for a very, very long time.
PS: The graphics for this game are gorgeous. My PC is pretty midrange with the hardware, but it can still run everything on the highest settings. The fire, water, and shadow effects are jaw-droppingly amazing, and the healing animations are gruesomely wonderful.
