No leaning? First thing you see in the manual is the X-crap controls with arrows pointing to a keyboard, with no reconfigurable keys. No prone? Seems to me this is the same game. Over and over. And in a format that has been history for about 5 years.

Once again there are all the rooms and buildings with the invisible barriers. Game has a premium price with some real low grade mechanics. Played for 5 minutes and I might as well have gone to the casino. Waste of money either way. Should have bought STALKER Clear Sky like I intended. If your thinking about buying this game and you like the old fashioned shooters from years gone by, then this game is for you.

Forgive me in my haste. I found the controls and have got it set up pretty good. And there is a myriad of improvements to the game.

The graphics are very good and the game so far is playing very solidly. The hit detection is very good and the feel of the gun movement is very real.

So far the AI are also miles above any of the other games. A few stupid ones but also some very clever ones. And I love the headshot cam.

I have reconsidered my stupid statements earlier and now deem this game a must have. It's really good and the metascore is correct if not a little low. Once again I ask the community and moderators to forgive me.

Further, you may delete this entire post if you wish. I've removed my foot and all is well.

No worries, man. The manual does leave a lot to be desired and appears to be put together as an afterthought. They should have given us a better key map and made it easier to find out how to re-map keys.

I have never seen a change of mind like this.

theres both improvements and things that have gotten worse.

graphics and the maps is the main improvement as i see it.. and also the ability to hit where you aim, was a frustration in the previus games although i wouldnt mind if there were a little more weaving when you try to aim the gun.
although we need the prone as we were promised.

unfortunatly they changed the AI to the worse.
they are not really agressive anymore, you dont see them suddenly come rushing towards you and they do not try to outflank you anymore. they just defend themselves.

the 3rd person cam when your dug in?
whats the idea? i thought it was about realism.
also the grenade indicator is a bit cheasy... again, thought it was about realism.

its cool that you can have your squad in stealth positure when you have not yet engaged an enemy in a mission but just because your in stealth positure doesnt mean that the krauts are suddenly blind.

and the tank missions are just arcadish...doesnt belong in a game that tries to be realistic.

I think the worst change is how much easier it is to pick off enemies from behind cover, compared to RtH30 and EIB. It makes the game, even in hardcore mode, just too easy.

The game is actually quite playable and enjoyable.

The weapons kick and post shot stability and accuracy feel realistic. The sound needs to be ramped up a bit IMHO (I think they don't want the players to go prematurely deaf!)

Two Peeves:

The Camera FOV in game feels wrong. Everything looks closer than it is. I say this because even in the cutscenes, the distances look telescoped.

Though the voice acting is OK and the body anims look good, the facial gestures look wooden/nonexistant. The faces look a bit strange but still distinct (probably trying to save on modeling face counts)

..First game I've seen where they got the unwashed, grimy hand skin tones right!