I just finished the game about a day or so ago. Enjoyed the heck out of it for sure, but I do kind of agree with IGN's numerical scoring of the game. The visual style of the game is great, but on the technical side it's not exactly top-notch execution. The overworld does a nice job of giving a general feel of the city and Travis being on his turf, but it's awfully empty and void of things to do(besides going from one mission to another. Just adding random, Suda-esque comments from the citizens would have went a long way towards fleshing things out; instead it's like the town is full of robotic drones. You might say that's Suda's artistic intent, but I think it has more to do with budget and time restraints than anything else. Also, the side missions could have used some variety.
Those are the downers, but the game has plenty of great things about it. Like I said earlier, the visual style itself is great. The action is visceral, fast, and very satisfying. I love pulling off the wrestling moves during combat. All of the characters are interesting, neat, and/or funny. The dialogue is superbly cheesy. Then there are some neat things to do on the side as well: buying clothes, weapon upgrades, training at the gym, buying wrestling vids to learn new moves, and bringing the balls to the crazy, drunk Russian guy for new skills.
Based purely on having fun, the game is in the 9 range for me. Considering it as an entire package and it's overall execution, I can see why it scored just below an 8 at IGN. Fantastic fun, but could have used more time and money to be fully realized.
"I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself."
