I just finished this game myself and been readying many reviews and i dont think the reviews do this game justice to be honest.
could this game be better? sure, same as most games but seriously only with 1 analog stick its pretty hard to ask for some things like the camera.
Only problem i had sometimes was Sam's size which take over most of screen in some angels and one corridor where he is suppose to jump while running (i think) which was sort of impossible but beh who cares i trigger 1 alarm. Other then that i think the game look really nice and i had lots of fun. So if you like sneaking game this is pretty good.
oh ye the game is dark but i guess its hard to make it in another way considering the sneaking part. This was mostly not a problem for me though.