Having read all the reviews I could before buying this game, I was expecting a slightly above average First-Person Shooter. And while this game is not perfect (I would have given it 4.5 stars but it is not allowed here), its few flaws are more than made up for in its atmosphere and tension. The weapons sound effects are unsurpassed; I really felt like I was shooting real guns here. Each mission is totally absorbing and very difficult. And when I say difficult, I mean it feels like what it must be like in real life. If you get hit two or three times, you are dead, just like in real life. This places stress on the player and causes you to be very very careful. Just running and gunning is not recommended. You must be sneaky. The AI is not very smart however. If you shoot somebody, his friends will not seem to notice that he is dead, nor will they seem to hear your gunshots. I however had no problem in overlooking this glitch. The missions are huge and each one will require several hours to get through successfully, mostly because there is no in-mission save-game feature. If you are killed, the mission must be started over. And while many have objected to the lack of save-game, I found it added to the stress of the situation, where you feel as though you have a lot at stake. Besides, I didn't ever mind playing the same mission several times, as each time I had to start over, I tried something new, approached from different directions, with different weapons, etc.
 One bothersome thing I noticed was that when you start a mission, you are very lightly armed. I can't believe on a mission involving so many hostiles, you wouldn't go in more heavily armed. But this too adds to the tension and was probably done to balance gameplay. Also, you can pick up other weapons along the way. Med-Packs are also very rare here, so try not to get shot much!
 I read a lot of reviews saying how unfair it was that enemy soldiers re-spawned; that after you had cleared an area and left it, more soldiers would re-spawn there, eventually resulting in you spending all your ammo and dying. I almost didn't buy the game for this reason alone. But I have not yet noticed this happening at all. Maybe it's because I'm playing it on 'easy' setting, I don't know. But take it from me, even on 'easy' setting, this game is not easy.
 The graphics are superb, and as I said before, the levels are huge. And not only are the mission areas huge, but if you want, you can wander outside the areas for many many miles. If you see a mountain in the distance, it's not just a background; you can actually go there, although I doubt there's much to do once you get there.
 I also read that this game requires a monster gaming machine to run, but I've just got an old PII 450 with a 16mb NVidia TNT1 graphics card and 256 mb system memory, and it runs flawlessly and smoothly.
 All in all, a tense, sweat-inducing game with a you-are-there feel, greatly aided by wonderful ambient sounds and weather effects. Another thing; when it's raining, your distance of view is realistically diminished--it really feels like you're in a rainstorm. Overall, just a great game that has been unfairly overlooked by many people who I'm sure would enjoy it if they only gave it a chance. Be patient at first, and take the time to set up your controls to your liking, and read the manual a little so you understand how the binoculars and sniper scope work, and I'm sure you'll have a great time!
Having read all the reviews I could before buying this game, I was expecting a slightly above average First-Person Shooter. And while this game is not perfect (I would have given it 4. 5 stars but it is not allowed here), its few flaws are more than made up for in its atmosphere and tension. The weapons sound effects are unsurpassed; I really felt like I was shooting real guns here. Each mission is totally absorbing and very difficult. And when I say difficult, I mean it feels like what it must be like in real life. If you get hit two or three times, you are dead, just like in real life. This places stress on the player and causes you to be very very careful. Just running and gunning is not recommended. You must be sneaky. The AI is not very smart however. If you shoot somebody, his friends will not seem to notice that he is dead, nor will they seem to hear your gunshots. I however had no problem in overlooking this glitch. The missions are huge and each one will require several hours to get through successfully, mostly because there is no in-mission save-game feature. If you are killed, the mission must be started over. And while many have objected to the lack of save-game, I found it added to the stress of the situation, where you feel as though you have a lot at stake. Besides, I didn't ever mind playing the same mission several times, as each time I had to start over, I tried something new, approached from different directions, with different weapons, etc. One bothersome thing I noticed was that when you start a mission, you are very lightly armed. I can't believe on a mission involving so many hostiles, you wouldn't go in more heavily armed. But this too adds to the tension and was probably done to balance gameplay. Also, you can pick up other weapons along the way. Med-Packs are also very rare here, so try not to get shot much! I read a lot of reviews saying how unfair it was that enemy soldiers re-spawned; that after you had cleared an area and left it, more soldiers would re-spawn there, eventually resulting in you spending all your ammo and dying. I almost didn't buy the game for this reason alone. But I have not yet noticed this happening at all. Maybe it's because I'm playing it on 'easy' setting, I don't know. But take it from me, even on 'easy' setting, this game is not easy. The graphics are superb, and as I said before, the levels are huge. And not only are the mission areas huge, but if you want, you can wander outside the areas for many many miles. If you see a mountain in the distance, it's not just a background; you can actually go there, although I doubt there's much to do once you get there. I also read that this game requires a monster gaming machine to run, but I've just got an old PII 450 with a 16mb NVidia TNT1 graphics card and 256 mb system memory, and it runs flawlessly and smoothly. All in all, a tense, sweat-inducing game with a you-are-there feel, greatly aided by wonderful ambient sounds and weather effects. Another thing; when it's raining, your distance of view is realistically diminished--it really feels like you're in a rainstorm. Overall, just a great game that has been unfairly overlooked by many people who I'm sure would enjoy it if they only gave it a chance. Be patient at first, and take the time to set up your controls to your liking, and read the manual a little so you understand how the binoculars and sniper scope work, and I'm sure you'll have a great time!