The movie had a great plot and some very far-reaching sci-fi elements, all recreated here...except for Tom Cruise. Nope, sorry ladies, he decided not to lend his likeness to the game. Lawyers.. pfft. Anyway, even without him, the lead character is voice acted well enough to provide those who have not seen the movie with enough info to the enjoy the game's storyline as well.

At it's heart, the game is basically Fighting Force, a resurrected version of Final Fight. You'll encounter tons of bad guys, each one needing to be beat down in order to advance. You'll do this through an assortment of moves, more being earned as the game goes on. You'll buy these maneuvers via the "black market," along with weapons and power-ups as well. Now, explaining how you "buy" a roundhouse in the middle of a heated battle from the black market is....well...unexplainable. If it keep things fresh when you get deeper into the game, helping avoid the repetitiveness so prevalent in the genre, it's acceptable. Also helping are the rocket pack stages. Though they're brutally hard to control, it's one hell of a rush when you're running over people.

Though the lead character looks nothing like Tom Cruise, everything looks fine. Not great, not bad, just fine. The characters are jointed everywhere so when they hit the ground, you'll have the pleasure of watching limbs fly in all sorts of directions that they're not supposed to. Even better are the almost completely destructible environments which allow players to throw all the bad guys through windows, into garbage cans, blast 'em through trees, smash them into displays, and who knows what other things you'll discover. It adds so much more enjoyment to this one and takes it way above par. Plus, some of the weapon effects are great. Just wait till you begin tossing your intestinal track out when hit with the proper weapon.

Dolby Pro Logic II is supported here and it's used to the fullest. You'll here everything coming from every direction. The movie's soundtrack is also here, which gives the game added Hollywood flavor. As a bonus, the enemies scream in agony when tossed down steps or launched from high ledges, truly satisfying in it's own way.

The game has three difficulty levels....hard, brutally hard, and "I'm not playing another level" hard. It's not so much the number of enemies, it's the ludicrous amount of blocking. Later in the game, you'll pray to bust out a combo and not have it blocked. To add to the frustration, the boss battles are ridiculous. It doesn't matter who you are, you're not dodging 300 machine gun rounds pointed point blank at your head. Invincibility codes are available, and for some people, that's going to be the only way out.

This is a blast of a next-gen game in short bursts. It's even more of a thrill to those who have seen the movie. Though you're not likely to finish this one without some kind of help, it's a worthwhile pick up just to toss people into different objects. Now, ever get the urge to toss another human being onto a stove with boiling water on it? Yeah, thought so.