Cobalt

[Lunix I]

Cobalt starts off pleasantly enough, introducing an intuitive combat system that lets you easily manage an arsenal of useful weapons and countermeasures to adjust to different foes and situations. I enjoyed stopping to soak in the soundtrack of catchy, kitschy elevator-music electronica as I guided my maneuverable robotic avatar through the expansive levels. Early encounters do a decent job of teaching the fundamentals of combat and exploration. Hidden caches of loot nearly always rewarded my curiosity. "Hidden caches of loot nearly always rewarded my curiosity..." The frustration ramps up quickly. Enemy placement in story mode often seemed either random or malicious, resulting in a number of unpreventable deaths at the hands of arbitrarily timed high-explosives or unseen snipers. Cobalt gives you precision tools and encourages you to flex your muscles and utilize a speedy, bullet time-fueled agility to block incoming projectiles and return fire, but more often than not the reward for boldness was a frustrating, unfair-feeling demise.