Overall a great stage set, for a pretty decent main quest, which gave me just enough urgency to follow it at my own pace (Witcher 3 or Skyrim felt a bit to pressing). The sidequests on the other hand were pretty numerous, but overall pretty forgettable. There were some great exceptions, but overall more filler than thriller. Game mechanics mostly worked well for me: Gunplay was fun, melee a bit less but still pretty decent, hacking was a bit "meh" (but unless you count Paradroid, I've never seen fun hacking mini-games). Stealth was OK as well. Crafting was a bit dull, but at least rewarding. The only totally un-fun mechanic was driving, but I don't like driving games in general, so don't take my word for it :-) Playing since Patch 1.05, I didn't encounter any game breaking problems, besides a few odd decisions of the physics-engine what counts as a deadly falling height (I'm pretty sure 1m shouldn't count). However, given the setting I wished it had more opportunities for role-playing. The story seems pretty linear and except for slightly different rewards in side-quests choices or different approaches don't seem to have much impact on the outcomes. There are different endings but how you behave in the game has little impact on them (It's more a question of having ended certain quests rather than your choices). And mostly I miss the opportunity to be a more, you know, Punk. Johnny, PanAm and even River the Cop felt more Punk than V. V's just a Merc, having no agenda (and seldomly the opportunity) to do anything besides saving his/her own ass, and picking up money along the way. I dunno, somehow feels like there's something missing.
The world looks awesome, the game plays much smoother as well (and there's no annoying enemy that can be only wounded in the back, 2013-Berserker I'm looking at you :-) ) and the weapons feel different and there's enough of them to experiment, without a feeling of having an obvious choice that outshines all the others. Also gone, are the linear levels. Yay. Technically speaking, everything is a step ot two ahead, of Shadow Warrior. The only complaints I would have, is that I expected more of an old-school FPS and less of a Borderlands-like Looter-Shooter. The other point would be the story. Shadow Warrior 2013 started goofing around, but got intense pretty fast, hit me all to often with suprises and had me at tears in the end. Shadow Warrior 2 lacks an urgency for the most part, which at least gives the Devs time to develop the world a little further: Earth has coped with the collision, more or less, with a demon princess celebrity while other demons work with the criminal underworld and the wilderness mutates. I really liked this, but the story didn't feel urgent or intense until the last two mission, where you get a (not very) suprising main villain to beat and a ending, that doesn't offer much closing and feels more like a set-up for part 3. I guess after the awesome roller coaster ride of 2013, I just expected more something different. Still a good game.
Yes, it's truly beautiful in nearly all aspects, but as a game it felt lacking. Rhe playable aspects felt more like an excuse to tell the story, and show the awesome sound and art. Playable aspects are mostly combat and that was neither fun nor challenging. In the end, the Game felt much to short and didn't inspire me to replay it.
