PGuybrush
02-27-2012, 04:36 AM
To start with, there's the FOV issue. For anyone who doesn't yet know, the FOV is locked at a very narrow angle, and the only way to change it is with a hack that causes issues for some people (for me it worked flawlessly, though).
In terms of story, large parts of it make little sense to someone who's not read the comics, even if you've played the first game on console (as I have). The fact that you've got a carnival level, a graveyard level, a subway level, and a catacomb level makes the story seem like little more than an excuse to drop the player into these fairly generic (though visually attractive) locations.
The main character is difficult to empathise with, and not a good person. This makes it hard to care about him, or his girlfriend. The plot centres around Jackie's quest to "save" his "dead" girlfriend, and acquire "the siphon" from "the brotherhood". But you never really find out what the siphon is for, you never get enough time with Jenny to bond with/care about her character, and the whole experience feels hollow. The ending is foreshadowed to an extreme degree, and doesn't really offer much in the way of conclusions, answers, or satisfaction.
The voice acting is excellent, and the cartoony style and animation works really well. The gunplay is solid, but the darkness powers make the whole thing too easy. Your health takes about 3 seconds to start regenerating, and the executions take about 5 seconds to complete - so as long as you're knocking people over and executing them, you're basically invincible. The lengthy execution moves are great the first two or three times you see them, but they pin you to the spot, and you can't even look around to plan your next move. This effectively gives you an instakill button (after shooting/slashing an enemy to make him stumble, or shooting off a little armour on some enemies), but isn't particularly /fun/, and there's nothing to stop you doing it ten times in a row. There's a couple of bosses, but they're not particularly hard or interesting.
It can be completed in about 5 or 6 hours, but I haven't tried the MP.
In terms of story, large parts of it make little sense to someone who's not read the comics, even if you've played the first game on console (as I have). The fact that you've got a carnival level, a graveyard level, a subway level, and a catacomb level makes the story seem like little more than an excuse to drop the player into these fairly generic (though visually attractive) locations.
The main character is difficult to empathise with, and not a good person. This makes it hard to care about him, or his girlfriend. The plot centres around Jackie's quest to "save" his "dead" girlfriend, and acquire "the siphon" from "the brotherhood". But you never really find out what the siphon is for, you never get enough time with Jenny to bond with/care about her character, and the whole experience feels hollow. The ending is foreshadowed to an extreme degree, and doesn't really offer much in the way of conclusions, answers, or satisfaction.
The voice acting is excellent, and the cartoony style and animation works really well. The gunplay is solid, but the darkness powers make the whole thing too easy. Your health takes about 3 seconds to start regenerating, and the executions take about 5 seconds to complete - so as long as you're knocking people over and executing them, you're basically invincible. The lengthy execution moves are great the first two or three times you see them, but they pin you to the spot, and you can't even look around to plan your next move. This effectively gives you an instakill button (after shooting/slashing an enemy to make him stumble, or shooting off a little armour on some enemies), but isn't particularly /fun/, and there's nothing to stop you doing it ten times in a row. There's a couple of bosses, but they're not particularly hard or interesting.
It can be completed in about 5 or 6 hours, but I haven't tried the MP.