Navigating is another matter entirely. Walking is done by extending one foot forward from a standing position and holding it there (sticking it out further makes you walk more swiftly) — you back up by moving your foot backward — while rotating your upper body turns your view right and left. While that may not sound particularly complex, in practice it’s the game’s real “nightmare.”

Since both games were fully voiced by the same cast, the performances are top notch and the soundtrack is great as well. There did seem to be some issues where the audio levels would fluctuate in spots with dialogue getting louder and softer, but it’s a mild complaint.

Although the majority of the game takes place from a first-person perspective, you switch into a third-person view whenever you enter cover (left shoulder button). The transition is slick and responsive, which is important since it represents such a critical gameplay element. You can easily pop out of cover to fire rounds (right trigger) though aiming down sight is done by clicking in the right analog stick, which is never my favourite method.

For such a conceptually simplistic hack-‘n-slash game, your fingers will be plenty busy. The face buttons control your three attacks (melee, ranged and stun) and an evasive move. Blocking is done with the right trigger while the left is used to pick up objects. A time-slowing special attack can be unleashed with the left bumper, and the right bumper deploys your consumable items (you switch between them via the d-pad). The right stick can be used to aim, though I found myself attacking in the direction I was facing about 99 per cent of the time.

There are two prominent problems with the controls in Elevator Action Deluxe. First, jumping just isn’t as responsive as it should be for a game in which the system of advancement is based on completing levels under a specified time. I won’t even venture a guess as to the number of times I went sprawling down an open elevator shaft instead of making a relatively modest jump to safety.