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Seasoned FPS veterans know how niche the section for shooters with a female lead is, but it goes without saying how some of them not only turned out to be cult classics, but also influenced the genre as a whole, with the most formidable titles being No One Lives Forever and Perfect Dark. And, well, ugly ducklings like The Stalin Subway: Red Veil, possibly one of the most notorious underdogs of slavic shovelware for being so incredibly bad. Games like Nina though, won't ever be remembered for anything as it's not even "so bad, it's good", it's just boring and frustrating.

Very simplistic main menu, with about the same customization options in sound / video departments as in a console game. The menu theme can be heard if you crank the volume up to 200% and even then just barely. Aside from that, there's no music. Just like the main menu, the game design principle is hilariously simple: you literally just run & shoot. Crouching, walking, leaning or picking up guns of your foes = not here! You are dropped into a huge level with an introduction cutscene (not skippable) as the camera hovers over the current location and our girl narrates her mission or has a word with her assistant over a radio: her voice acting perfectly resembles a wanna-be Brit, with an obnoxiously drawn-out accent that sounds more like a mix of German and Australian. Meh, it's funny for a few seconds, I guess.

The campaign is broken up into 3 short missions, each with their own set of levels, they shouldn't take you longer than 2 hours to complete. Since your arsenal is pathetic, I'll just list it here real quick: first you have an MP5 and your sidearm, but since ammo pickups can only be found for your main gun, there is only one option left. Second mission is a little better, your main is a shotgun and your sidearm is a burst-fire pistol, both of which will be used frequently. Third and last mission again relies on your main alone, which is an LMG (possibly an M249). Enemy AI is dumb as sh@#t, big suprise, I know, their spawns are predictable and they pose no challenge (the game doesn't feature any difficulty settings either). Sometimes, you'll run into instant-death turrets, leading to frustrating replays due to inconveniently placed checkpoints / lack of manual saving system. Missiong design is always confusing and you often get lost, I don't think I'd be able to complete it without the help of a YouTube walkthrough. Now, Nina's unique skill is the ability to read minds of certain people, that's how you find the next lead. People with intel are equipped with normal pistols and have to be.....touched with hands via brute force, I really don't know how else to word it. Shooting them is not allowed and results in a game-over, after the "mind-extraction-process", they vaporize. Thankfully, it's not a regular thing, but annoying nonetheless. And it seems I'm on a streak of games with quirky mouse-sens, sigh.

It's forgettable, awkward, confusing, irritating and just plain f@#cking stupid. And yet, I will keep digging to see, how much worse it gets. I always end up thinking "yes, this one is the end to them all", but that is the beauty of searching the unknown grounds. And it's one way to find more joy in good games.


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