Not unlike Assassin's Creed it's the core mechanics that make this game. Running and jumping across rooftops is a singular experience. Movement feels intuitive and the stunning visuals and sound design root the game firmly in a believable world.
It's a shame the game isn't always clear about its intentions though. It seems to suggest confrontation should be avoided at all cost, yet many times you are forced to enter into combat. Your relative weakness coupled with the extremely short windows on disarming moves makes this frequently frustrating. It feels like the game could have been stronger had it encouraged you to seek out alternate paths, resorting to violence only by choice...
The story in the game is serviceable. 1984, framings and betrayals... It didn't really grab me, but this may have been more because I was playing it in very short bursts (rarely more than half an hour). I felt the 2D (flash?) cutscenes clashed rather a lot with the very straight realistic style of the in-game. There are in-game cutscenes also, which take control away from the player for no apparent reason. It would have felt more cohesive had DICE taken a page from the Valve/Infinity Ward book and left the player in charge during these scripted sequences.
Still, when it's good, it's really good. DICE has proven that first-person Parkour can be done, and brilliantly so...
