The combat is addictive, but unrewarding. More often than not, close combat is a foolish proposition given the relative weakness of melee weapons; when most enemies carry guns, getting bogged down in a stationary, pitched battle is reckless. This leaves ranged combat, which requires an odd combination of strategy and bloody-minded determination to do well. A repeating pattern forms regardless of which character is used: It's easiest to run away and dodge bullets, ducking in and out of range to fire off a volley of shots before retreating again. Combat is thus an endless sequence of neat, tactical skirmishes. The Culibine's system of amps adds some complexity to this, but it feels like a kind of battle candy, ultimately irrelevant to the fight. The same is true of the Human's mines and the Gladiator's camera drones. They're all toys that don't significantly change how characters are best played. That said, there's a compelling quality to it all, of the kind many of us remember from the days of Gauntlet. Repetitive battles are one of the primary therapeutic benefits of action-RPGs, whether we admit it or not.