Only recently, with releases such as Breath of the Wild and The Phantom Pain, have games begun to catch up to the immense sense of freedom this game exudes. The maps are designed with so many intricate means of approach, and the mechanics at the player's disposal offer so much to work with, juxtaposed with conservative ammounts of hand-holding, that the end of each level always comes attached with a ridiculous sense of autonomy and accomplisment. Many were the times when I found myself having a blast while, supposedly, exploiting the game's limitations before realising: "wait, this is exactly what it wants me to do". It encourages thinking outside of the box in whatever way that works for YOU. It's the gaming equivalent of free jazz.

Ironically enough, this approach to gameplay also seems to go hand in hand with the game's narrative. A compilation of balls to wall conspiracy theories that somehow end up capable of being taken seriously by means of the great writing on display and the ways it tackles its ideas of "free will". We've heard of great VAs saving awful lines but this is closer to the opposite. The voice acting may not be some lazy embarassment (the Hong Kong section is kinda weird though) but it ain't some crazy achievement either, yet each character felt real, and each topic engaging enough so as to drive the player forward.

I may have found some jank here and there--no doubt a fault of its age--but each example ended up a non-issue:
-The cameras take a while to move again after you hide and there's no way of knowing where they're pointing while taking cover, making it very easy to be spotted again just from peaking--yet that only encouraged me to take bigger advantage of the pretty cool in-game hacking;
-The guards' AI is dumber than a koala but, by some happy little accident, it ended up flawed in a way that's fun and engaging to play around with;
And I honestly think that's it. There were some floating dead bodies here and there, but I didn't even bother to pay those much mind. Every game has glitches and programming flaws so, as long as it doesn't ruin the immersion/ experience, I won't give a shit--especially given its age.

Honestly, how stuff like that could ever dent the immersion present in something such as this is beyond me. The graphics may not be anything worth writing home about--even for the time--but the locales they built around them most definitely are. The lighting is honestly phenomenal in its ambient use and the OST's quality isn't talked about nearly enough. These elements, mixed with the previously mentioned genius of how each map is built, constantly kept me playing for hours on end before realizing the lights outside were now coming from the street instead of the sun.

It's a special little (big) piece of gaming History that should be played through at least once. Some old 3D games from that era may have aged as poorly as ur mom lol, but this one stands proudly near the top of those that didn't.

Heads up: just like the other 2000 RPG juggernaut classic that I love to hell and back, "Final Fantasy IX", you may need some mods in order to get the proper experience. I, for one, prefer to play games as they were intended so I limited myself to installing the Deus EXE launcher and the Unreal Engine Direct3D 10 Renderer--as I recommend you do too, since all they do is pretty much get the game running up to standard with modern systems.

Anyway, stop reading and get playin'.