Visually, Restricted Area gets the job done. The urban atmosphere and dirty streets look as bleak and hopeless as most cybetpunk games gone by. The worlds are large and chock full of detailed backdrops, detailed lighting effects and oodles of clutter and junked vehicles on the side of the road. (Where’s Giuliani when we need him?) The character design is nothing more than your proto-typical cyber punk fair. You have the trench coat wearing badass, the big-breasted heroin, the hot cyber nerd hacker, and a sword swinging marital arts master. Where the big twist comes to play is that you can swap out body parts, which will make you more powerful and immune to certain situations. Sure, the 2D sprites look rather 20th century, especially with Warcraft 3, Rise of Nations, and other games that are utilizing 3D technology, but old school is not always a bad thing. What is bad is that there is not a huge variety of enemies to encounter, so the game may get that not so fresh feeling a few hours in. In the end, the game looks like Diablo 2, only with mutants, guns, and a dark cyberpunk atmosphere.

Audio also won’t really heighten the senses as the techno bounce of the musical score, and the off key and often-laughable dialog won’t have you turning up those speakers to a more than listenable level.

Gameplay is very straightforward. As with most action RPG’s of this type, it is click, click, kill. The only real monotony breaker comes in the form of the 75 skills you can obtain that can be maxed out at 10 levels. This includes weaponry, cyber and bioware, and other skills that will give your player more impact as you venture throughout each level. What’s more, these upgrades are noticeable as soon as the adjustments are made, which will give gamers a bigger sense of accomplishment than with other games of this genre. Another cool idea comes in the swapping of your body parts for bigger upgrades. This includes arms, legs, eyes, skin, and even your heart. Like changing shirts or a new pair of shoes, the option to upgrade body parts is a very innovative idea indeed.

Restricted Area is not terribly long, but the cooperative missions and unlimited computer generated sub quests will give gamers a reason to come back repeatedly if they choose to do so.

While Restricted Area has some bright spots in terms of innovated ideas, you just can’t help but get that old, been there done that feeling while you are playing. The lack of any real plot will not help matters much more. If you dig old school, Diablo style RPGs, and liked games such as Shadowrun, then this game may do something for you. Otherwise, for most gamers out there, it just seems like old hat.