fuchikoma

I think it's got me because it's less of a guns-blazing FPS and more of a stealth game where you (usually) play an FPS/stop&pop guy... The AI definitely reminds me of the Tenchu games. The map is like a sixth sense, but I guess it makes some sense since you can't always see/hear a handheld as well as you should in public.

Yeah, I mostly mean the look is generic - American operatives sneaking in and shooting Arab soldiers with modern real-world guns. Modern war shooters are like platformers with jumping. Also, the cover system from Gears, melee like Halo, the map from GTA/many others, the combo system from The Club, soldier AI from MGS, etc. It comes together nicely though - I'm gonna buy it when I can get my car out of the snow here.

Still really hooked on the full game too. I'm glad to see it's a fair bit more diverse, though it's no easy feat making timed missions or be-seen-and-lose stealth missions fun, it doesn't usually make them horrible.