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Satisfying action is diminished by the lack of combat depth and rigid linearity of levels.
The level design is textbook execution. Environmental cues highlight points of interest. Combat beats are broken up by "exploration" and story beats. Set pieces and sweeping vistas periodically wow players visually. Everything comes together well, except that the levels are so rigidly and so obviously linear. Half the time I was not sure exactly where I was. Most of the time I had no idea where i was relative to anything else. And 100% of the time I did not care because i knew i was on a straight line and so my location did not matter at all.
The overarching game narrative is too narrow in scope. It focuses entirely on one location; one part of one planet under attack by invaders one time. I kept waiting for the narrative to open up and explore beyond the confines of the facility, but the story never reaches escape velocity. It is like the entire game is narratively the equivalent of the introduction/first invasion act in Halo 2. It does not go anywhere and left me unsatisfied.
Finally there is the combat. It is a shallow, one-button-mashing experience. Like the story, the combat never evolves, despite adding more weapons to the mix throughout the game.
Overall, this game is fun for a while, but soon gets old. You will forget about it shortly after completing it, if you get that far before moving on to something more interesting.
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