The gameplay in RTX Red Rock is a combination of action and platformer genres with some high-tech gizmos thrown in for good measure. As E.Z., you’ll explore space stations, human colonies and a lot of desert locales in your quest to defeat the L.E.D.s. Controlling E.Z. through these locations is simple in theory, though accessing his special features can be a difficult, if not frustrating, experience.

E.Z. comes equipped with a special eye implant that allows him to view the infrared spectrum, scan for life forms and review his progress using a visual mapping system. In essence, much of the functionality is similar to the scanning system in Metroid Prime. Along with his bionic eye, he’s got a cybernetic hand, which can be switched out to handle various weapons and devices. While these two features should make the game more interesting, they instead turn it into an uncontrollable experience that will push you to the point of controller throwing.

Take, for example, the bionic eye, which is accessed by hitting L2 but requires you to use R2 if you want to scroll through the vision modes. To add to the frustration, if you want to review the various maps you’ve downloaded, you can’t just shuffle them around with the analog stick; instead, you have to hit yet another button to move through the maps. And it doesn’t end there. You can’t move while viewing a map, so as you make your way through a new level, you’re constantly in search of a safe hiding place so you can switch to map mode, scroll to the correct map, find an objective and get moving. This detracts from the pacing of the game and often leads to some painfully slow gameplay.

The gameplay slows even more since there are almost no enemies to keep the pace up. The first level, which takes place inside a space dock, is a representative example, and not just of the lack of enemies. This initial level sees you wandering in search of keys and generators to get the dock’s systems back online. It’s a mindless trek through empty corridor after empty corridor looking for clues (there are none) as to what on Earth (or Mars) you need to be doing. The level ends with aliens attacking the docking station. This could be exciting, had the aliens actually sent in a boarding party. But they don’t. Instead, they attack invisibly from space while your alarms start blaring and you’re instructed to escape before the air runs out. Ironically, there’s no indicator of the air pressure’s level, so you end up running as fast as you can in hopes of finding the airlock and escaping the station "in time." But once you find the airlock, you’ll die several times before figuring out (on your own) that you can’t just leave through the airlock; you need a special piece of equipment that looks more like an environmental decoration more than it does a crucial tool.

I could forgive this excessively dull mission, were it not representative of the frustration you’ll find in nearly every level. Be they "search and destroy" type missions or simple platforming levels, you’ll find them devoid of anything interesting. You just keep moving along, passing checkpoints and praying you’ll achieve whatever you’re supposed to achieve before falling asleep. I wouldn’t be surprised if the RTX Red Rock development team worked on Star Wars: Obi Wan for the Xbox, since both games share the ultra-slow paced gameplay.

Later levels will have you controlling robots and vehicles, which thankfully is pretty easy to do. The problem? They’re equally un-exciting, and every mission is so linear that you can’t really have much fun with the vehicles. I would rather the developers omitted these extras and worked on properly pacing the game.

RTX Red Rock tries to mix up to distinctly different types of gameplay, but it fails to make either one work well on its own. The platforming levels, which are basically Super Mario 2103, will have you repacking the game and taking it in for a refund out of lack of originality. The action levels are equally bad, since they lack any real "action" or urgency. Basically, one or two enemies will rush you, and you will blast them, and the alien AI is so poor that you’ll find no challenge whatsoever, even on the harder difficulty settings. You’ll just pull out your blaster and shred through L.E.D.s like yesterday’s newspapers. And if you do end up dying, most likely from missing a platform, E.Z. will reappear right where he fell, with no penalty. It’s not exactly the most immersive experience.

At first glance, RTX appears to be a pretty good-looking game. But upon closer inspection, you’ll find that the graphics engine must have been ripped right out of Star Wars: Obi Wan, as it suffers from every defect that game had. The horrible clipping, the lack of environmental interaction and the fact that E.Z. never actually seems to be touching the ground all work together to ruin some nicely rendered character designs. The graphics also shift inexplicably from somewhat realistic to utterly cartoon-like within the same level. It frequently feels like an extra art team was pulled in at the last minute to get this game out the door, and someone forgot to do a consistency check.

The camera, while attempting to create a cinematic experience, ends up turning the game into a grueling exercise in futility. The camera moves far too quickly for the player’s good, which causes you to fall off of ledges, miss jumps and get clobbered by nearby enemies.

The environments, which look good at first, quickly sink into the depths of mediocrity. It all feels like a paint-by-numbers canvas that’s uninspired and uninspiring at the same time.

The soundtrack for RTX is a diamond in an otherwise rough game. During gameplay, it’s nice and unobtrusive, just hanging out in the background as it attempts to express a sense of action. It’s too bad that the game is so dull, or the soundtrack might have stood a chance at giving this game a feeling of urgency.

Sound effects, though, especially weapon effects, are incredibly weak. Gunshots should "crack," not "clank," and the sound of E.Z. unholstering his weapon is laughable. The aliens, who should emanate an aura of sheer evil, sound like robots from 1950s sci-fi films and emanate more comedy than drama - when they make their rare appearances.

Assuming you finish RTX Red Rock, there’s no reason to go back for more. It’s a simplistic, linear game that makes it ripe for a quick return to the local game shop. There are no hidden goodies, no unlockables and no secrets that would force you to sneak another round with the game. You’ll finish it and pack it up for resale, probably within a few days.

I sincerely feel bad about being so harsh toward RTX Red Rock, but this game should never have been released in its current condition. LucasArts had a great kernel of a concept, and they completely dropped the ball. The pacing is too slow and the levels too uninteresting to get me to recommend this game to anyone. I sunk some "quality" time into this game hoping that there might be one shining moment that would save it. But that moment never came. If this game had been held back another six months for some play testing and reworking, it could have been an absolute blast. Instead, LucasArts shipped it as-is: a boring, tedious and graphically unappealing misadventure on Mars that plays like a mix of Obi Wan and a mangled Super Mario Bros.