@ckmlb - It's like System Shock 2. It is a shooter at its heart, but it also has a lot more of "something else." Some try to say it's an adventure element, but that's only part of what the difference actually is. It involves stats and abilities and RPG-ish upgrading/customizing. The element fits the shooter gameplay well, but it slows the game down a bit, gives you the option of being strategic and preparing yourself. Of course you can just go in shooting the whole time too, but you'll get raped. Its a thinking-man's shooter, and there isn't much else like it out there aside from Deus Ex and System Shock titles.
To sum up, it has pseudo-adventure elements (but mostly RPG elements), but at its core its a shooter. That is, the combat takes place at quick speeds, and you have plenty of weaponry at your disposal. But to simply classify it as a shooter is to mask the fact that it really plays in a new genre all its own.
"Whenever you find a man who says he doesn't believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later." -C.S. Lewis
"We all make choices... but in the end, our choices... make us." -Andrew Ryan, Bioshock
Prediction: Wii passes 360 in US between July - September 2008. (Wii supply will be the issue to watch, and barring any freak incidents between now and then as well.) - 6/5/08; Wow, came true even earlier. Wii is a monster.
