izigame.me

Oh the glory of the "double A" game, the bizarre world of jank, graphical fidelity that feels a generation or 2 behind, and weird gameplay ideas that, while not always perfect or fully explored to their potential, still don't fail to give some enjoyment. This is a world of hidden gems; that said I'm not going to be hyperbolic here, Unknown 9 isn't necessarily a hidden gem but at the same time I would so far genuinely hesitate in calling it bad either.
As I write this I want to add the context for the future that this game is this week's punching bag; it's not reviewing particularly well and there's also this bizarre hate campaign surrounding it for some silly reasons I won't get into, but I want it said that my enjoyment and recommendation of this game so far is not one that stems from a reactionary place; a lot of my growing up happened on the Xbox 360 and this style of linear single-player adventure with a bit of stealth, a bit of action, and a cool gameplay gimmick or 2 to spice things up was very common. I have a distinct nostalgia for that kind of game; stuff like Enslaved Odyssey to the West and Remember me; they weren't perfect and they were very much of a certain outdated era of design but there's a comfort in them. Unknown 9, for better and for worse, feels like it was plucked straight out of that era.
Now let's just get this out of the way, graphically but especially in character models and facial animation, this game leaves a bad first impression; in motion during gameplay it's not that bad but the face rigs animate in a way that just feels off, I wouldn't normally care that much but the game opens on arguably one of the worst examples of this and it's just a bit odd of an initial moment to start the game on. But give the game a minute and a classic "walk behind your mentor as they teach you the basics" kind of opening and very quickly the game gets you your toolkit and into the flow of things. Now combat and stealth isn't the smoothest experience, you can feel a bit of stiffness to all of it but the tools the game gives you to enhance both combat and stealth is admittedly quite fun. Pushing and pulling enemies with powers is always fun in games, no exception to that here, and jumping into enemies to take over them and set up traps is also a nice novel edition that spices things up a bit. Add to that your basic distraction move, invisibility, a shield that can parry, a dodge button, and some basic melee combat and you've got a serviceable system with some fun gimmicks. It's not exceptional but being mid fight and suddenly pushing enemies into explosives and traps while taking over people to run them towards said traps to make them even more deadly... That's genuinely good fun.
Now I've been playing this on the hardest difficulty and... I'm surprised this is the hardest, normally the hardest difficulty in these games is full of unbearably tanky enemies and one hit kills on you but it's shockingly balanced in a way that actually keeps me engaged and using all the tools at my disposal... I don't know what the other difficulties are like but I'm surprised this is the hardest because I can only presume that the other difficulties wouldn't have me feeling like I need to use all the tools in my arsenal like this one does; it's a surprisingly balanced difficulty so far and I actually recommend if you do play this to consider giving it a go, you will die but, at least so far it's felt really fair and honestly has for me opened up the game to being more fun by forcing me to engage with it properly.
Still, it's early days for me, I'm about 5 hours in and, while I am having fun, the danger of giving me all my tools so early is potential repetition, I don't know how much this game will suffer from that but it is a strong possibility for any game like this, but I have been seeing the occasional new enemy type so, we'll see. As for the story to carry me through... It's fine, some of the writing is genuinely witty and snappy but overall, so far, it's nothing more than okay, I'm not massively compelled by it but I'm not skipping cutscenes either, it's not a particular highlight but some character interactions are fun so, it's okay.
Now at full price I can see this game being a hard sell, I don't regret it so far but I got strong 360 era nostalgia and a budget that allows for it, it probably won't be worth full price for most people though but, on a sale, I honestly don't think it's that bad at all, it's definitely outdated. Its design and overall feel really does feel like it comes from over a decade ago but, honestly, it's nice to see a game like that appear again. These kind of linear single player stealth/action adventure games are a lost art, and while I'm sure some would say that that art was lost for a reason, it's not for me. I've been smiling my way through this one so far, the occasional jank ragdoll from pulling a sniper from a ledge just adding to the charm. I'm not going to tell you this is some great game but I would be lying if I called it a bad one so far. I enjoy it, imperfections and all, and sometimes that's all one can ask for.

An addendum upon game completion:
Yeah, nothing really to contradict here, the game stayed fun, didn't outstay it's welcome, higher difficulties definitely seem like the way to go, can lead to some minor frustrations but it forces you to use the mechanics to their fullest which is nice. That said the game never really rises above its own "okayness", there are hints and moments of level designs or fights that show that there is some more potential to be mined here but, for now, this is what we have and what we have is reasonable even if not exceptional.
Honestly it's a shame that this game's sales and reviews are low because this is honestly the kind of game that I think needs sequels more than most, a sequel that can iron out the issues and really go for it and push the game forward even more mechanically, in the world we live in though I'd be very surprised, which is a shame, there's potential here that absolutely can be mined, and sadly this game only touches the surface of it.
That said, on a sale, and/or if you have a bit of nostalgia/miss that old 360 experience, even if it brings the jank with it, I think there's an enjoyable experience to be had here; nothing exceptional but there are moments where it feels like there's another world out there where with more time this all comes together a bit more. But, maybe partially because of it's weird little awkward state it's in, I can't deny I was charmed by it and would be more than happy to see and play as Haroona again one day :)