Too many frustrations
The atmosphere is fantastic in this game. The levels are robotic, sterile, claustrophobic and sinister. The only thing that kept me from being drawn in was the fact that i had to focus so much on the shoddy controls and frustrating camera angle.. The character is slow, clumsy and awkward. Now I'm all for a simple control scheme if the level design or game play elements complement it, but neither the level design nor camera angles made the trek through each level enjoyable. It was impossible to judge distance, and the camera would suddenly switch without warning just in time for me to careen into a spiked ball or bottomless pit. Levels, despite their impressive ambiance, feature dull, repetitive, unoriginal layouts.
Level 20 is a particularly bad culprit and a shining example of everything that went wrong with this game. An instant death memory puzzle with unpredictable projectiles and a paper thin platform to maneuver with your clumsy, tank like movements. It combines all the shallowest forms of artificial difficulty known to video game design and it's unfair to the player.
Another point I should mention, is that while being self aware can be a saving grace from a comedic standpoint, in this game is presented to the frustrated player who just died twenty eight times trying to maneuver another ledge maze, so it feels like your insulting us more than anything.
I give this game a five, because before the rusty controls got to me, I was completely enthralled with this mysterious character and her equally mysterious and sinister predicament. It was a world devoid of life, and yet something was still watching you at all times. It gave me the perfect sense of displacement and ambiguity. But as time passed, my virtual world wonderment became overpowered by my real world anger.
I didn't mean to bash the game or anything. With enough patience, it can be beat so nothing about it is out right broken. I just feel a unique world like this one should have equally clever game play design.