Lonewolf, a first person neo-noir shooter, is reminiscent of Max Payne with its sleek style, no-nonsense protagonist, and crime-addled mystery. The game's cut scenes are hand drawn and showcase the game's effortlessly natural writing. The protagonist, the eponymous Lonewolf, was hired by the Assembly, a shady organization who wants you to kill their various enemies. Simple, yes? But who are the Assembly? Why are they so keen to keep testing you? Why do you, Lonewolf, want to see their leader so badly? These questions are slowly unraveled as you go through the game, with each mission revealing more bread crumbs back to the answer.

As you could expect, Lonewolf is rated 17+/M for blood and violence. While it's not exactly graphic, it's still something you'd want to avoid showing off to wee impressionable minds. The strength of Lonewolf is that it's easy to immerse yourself in the world. The atmospheric, somber music, easy controls, and slow-building mystery are also tremendously effective hooks, with the missions acting as stepping stones to further the plot.

There are thirty missions in Lonewolf, each with different difficulties and listed objectives which get trickier as you go on. Multiple targets, moving targets, or targets known only by a certain feature are just some of the ways the missions can vary--not to mention those targets who know how to defend themselves. Some missions even give you a health bar, putting you directly into the action.

Successfully completing missions, as well as high accuracy scores and going for headshots, earns you in-game credit. You can use this credit to change your rifle to over a dozen other styles, or add attachments and other personal effects that can actually improve the rifle's performance.

The story is definitely the major hook, as well as the character Lonewolf himself. He's not a passive figure at all: he's assertive, sarcastic, determined. He doesn't blindly follow the Assembly's orders, making him (and, by proxy, the player) an engaged participant in the story.

This sniping game is an immersive experience with over five hours in story mode, lots of missions that can be replayed, and other features such as shooting ranges and trophy rooms. Its high rating (four-and-a-half stars at the time of this review) are more than deserved. The little touches--a unique story, strong main character, improvements to your weapons--make Lonewolf an almost embarrassment of riches. Definitely worth playing to experience for yourself.