The combat could have been so much better... It looks and sounds great, at least. The animations and time-manipulating effects are excellent, pumping electronica accentuates the action, weapon sounds have a lot of punch to them, as do most of the other sound effects during combat, and bullets react with the environment in a satisfying way. It's all very stylish as you'd expect from Remedy, but there are too many strange design choices. The game demands a fast pace, but for some reason you can't run while shooting, so you always have to slow down to a walk to take aim. The weapon spread and recoil is ridiculous, so you're practically blind firing even when you are aiming. Enemy variety is too limited, the AI is bad, and some of the more difficult enemies are just annoying bulletsponges. The movement feels sluggish and unresponsive, the powers are kind of uninspired, and the selection of weapons available to you are boring. What a shame.
The way they incorporated the live-action "TV show" is... Weird. I think it could have been quite interesting and unique if they'd used live-action cutscenes in place of in-game cutscenes; but instead, there's a full ordinary game here with just as many cutscenes as you'd expect from one, in addition to the several 20 - 30 minute long live-action shows placed between chapters. That's quite a long time to sit back and put your controller/mouse down when your state of mind is that you're playing a game, not watching TV. I just don't know what the point of all this was, because as it turned out, it doesn't really add anything meaningful to the experience. As far as the quality of the shows go, they're not as bad as I feared. Just about average, but not something I'd actually choose to watch if they weren't part of the game.
The story as a whole is pretty good though. It's a bit convoluted and kind of falls apart under close scrutiny, like many time travel stories do, but it's compelling and they obviously put a lot of work into it. Remedy are very good at world building, and they haven't lost that skill at all. The game has that charm and quirkiness that's characteristic of them, along with some weird humour, nice little subtleties and a strong attention to detail. It all seems a little muted compared to their other games, but it's got that Remedy touch. Unfortunately, it's their worst release so far, because the gameplay is very mediocre, and the live-action show attached to the game isn't much more than a very expensive gimmick.