I let this game download off of Steam last night. I decided to get it for the PC because I felt that I'd probably get bored with the game if I had it on a console.
Anyway, I played it for about forty minutes before I had to get ready for work this morning and I have to say that, so far, it seems like a pretty awesome game.
The graphics are not the best at all. I've noticed that people on the streets look pretty terrible overall and buildings look pretty bland higher up, but they're fine at ground level. I don't hold these points against the game though, because you're usually moving too fast to really pay attention to those little details. The only time said, "Wow, that looks genuinely bad" while playing was when I was climbing up a skyscraper and noticed that the texture for the building just repeated the whole way up and it felt very last-gen.
Controlling Alex is a hell of a lot of fun. The game opens up with a scene that takes place 18 days after the start of the game (when you wake up in the morgue) where you have access to all of Alex's powers and you're pitted against loads of soldiers, tanks, and infected people. It's a little overwhelming to have to slaughter them all, but it's a lot of fun.
I felt that Alex came to terms with his powers too quickly. I mean, I destroyed a few helicopters (which happens as soon as you escape the morgue) and Alex simply said something like, "I cannot believe that I just did that" in a pretty lifeless tone.
The guy is pretty cool though. I've seen "emo" thrown around to describe Alex, but it doesn't fit him at all. Alex basically just wakes up and is thrust into a "WTF?" scenario and he quickly gets pissed off about it and after that, he just seems to run around with a lot of subdued rage as he tries to figure out what the hell has happened to him.
I like consuming people so far, too. It's really violent looking as Alex just thrusts his hand at their face and slams them to the ground. I can almost feel the pain that the poor people go through when he latches onto them. Bystanders literally freak out and run like hell when they see Alex consume someone and take their form. Something I liked about this was how I actually had to get away from quite A LOT of people in order for everyone to stop panicking. I had to run all the way down a long city street and round a corner before I bumped into people who weren't afraid of the shape changing murdering asshole that I was, but that was only because, you know, they didn't see me commit the act. People freak out when you revert back to Alex's form too. I consumed a bystander and walked around as them for a bit until Alex started coughing a lot and then changed back to himself, which prompted mass confusion around me as people scrambled to get away from me.
I didn't get too many powers in the forty minutes I played besides consuming, climbing, and super speed/strength. It's a lot of fun running down streets and throwing people and cars out of your way as if they're merely ragdolls.
Also the controls are pretty damn great and are very responsive.
My initial impressions tell me that this game should at least be rented by anyone interested. It's certainly a well made game.
