Wow, it took half a review to get into the stuff that actually matters and even then it's not quite satisfactory. Damnation IS a bad game, but you seem to be disliking it for all the wrong reasons (graphics, the absence of the far-from-vital cover-system and whatnot), at least for the most part of it. Of course, in the end opinion is quite a subjective thingy, but I guess that's why one's gotta know the reviewer in order to trust her/his opinion. I must say though that I found there to be too much uninteresting "noise" and not enough content in the review. Which might just be wholly subjective as well.
Also, on a personal note, I presumed the creators just failed, instead of failing on purpose in some vain hopes of some, uhm, "fast buck". And I'm a cynic, so what does that make you, heh.