It hits the sweet spot between
providing powerful weaponry and extreme vulnerability, and was our first look at the innovative tactical dismemberment concept that forces players to make split second decisions in the heat of combat.
The Ratchet and Clank series if the king of this sort of thing as far as I'm concerned (Mass Effect does better, but I'm not a fan), as its bonuses carry forward all the way through several of the titles in that series and
provide cheap access to
powerful weaponry.