El Paso, Elsewhere Review (Ambassador of Benevolence)
There are parts about this game I really liked. The voice acting is very good, and the music feels fresh and sometimes perfect. (Imagine if Max Payne started rapping along to the soundtrack in his emotionally-dead voice.) Some of the story cutscenes were well-composed.
But there was more I didn't like about the game. It's far too long for such simple, easy gameplay. The gameplay doesn't make enough use of slow-mo or diving to justify it. The graphics never make use of slow-mo (a few times stained glass shatters and falls, but these moments are far and few between.) A few set-pieces were evocative, like the endless bathrooms, but a lot of the game is set in flat and generic settings. The weapons all feel like the same gun with different fire modes.
There are also small annoyances, like how much time it takes to consume several pills at once (why make this change from Max Payne?); the fact that the audio logs wouldn't play if you left their location (!!); the lack of pre-set difficulty options (that I could find).
I think it would have been great as a three-hour story mode, with plenty of arena or time challenges afterward. As it is, the uninspired gameplay in repetitive levels is unfortunately leaned on, padding a better story that also feels pointlessly dragged out.