The constant use of cover and nonstop gunplay make kill.switch almost feel like a third-person-shooter take on Namco's popular light-gun series Time Crisis. Even on hard, though, the game really isn't very difficult, and if you're good at ducking behind cover and popping off one or two aimed shots here and there, you'll skate through the game without any trouble. The game's AI doesn't throw you any curveballs, either. Sure, they'll occasionally toss a grenade in your direction, but they usually just stay behind cover, occasionally popping out to look for you, making them easy kills.
Both versions of kill.switch look quite nice, though the Xbox looks significantly cleaner and smoother. The Xbox version of the game makes great use of lighting effects and casts some nicely realistic-looking shadows. The PS2 version keeps up pretty well, but its frame rate isn't as smooth, and its effects aren't as impressive. On both systems, the animation looks nice at first, but there simply isn't enough of it. The canned animation for every action in the game makes you feel as though you're engaged in some sort of robot combat simulation. While it's understandable that a brainwashed supersoldier would be running and moving by the book, the enemy soldiers have a similarly digital look to their movement that takes a bit away from the game's otherwise solid graphical presentation.
Both versions of kill.switch look quite nice, though it's obvious the Xbox version looks significantly cleaner and smoother.
On the sound side of things, kill.switch has some pretty forgettable music that defaults to a volume that drowns out some of the sound effects. Turning the music down to around 50 or 65 percent corrects this. The game's sound effects are quite well done, but, as you might expect, they consist almost entirely of gunshots and explosions. In these regards, kill.switch excels. On the other hand, your character seems to occasionally make twice as many footstep noises as he should. This isn't a big deal, but it's noticeable.
In the end, you can't help but get the feeling that kill.switch is half a game. The mechanics for ducking and getting behind cover are well done, and all the aiming interfaces and other activities work great. Unfortunately, the game surrounding these mechanics is generic and short, at times feeling more like a demo than a finished retail product. While one could easily imagine a great sequel that uses these mechanics and has corrected the game's inherent problems, what Namco has delivered here is really only worth a rental.
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