The half-hearted gameplay is well masked by some phenomenal graphics, but it's still easy to see and feel...
So first off, even on Hard setting the game felt too easy (maybe except the times when the game sends dozens of enemies at you from all sides while letting you take cover only from one side). The enemies ordinarily come to you running like pigs to their butchery, they're stupid, and with a bit of solid aiming it's no biggie to shoot them all out within minutes. The cops are mentally ill, the only problem I ever had with them was when I hit them in a car so hard my engine died. The hand-to-hand confrontations are fairly boring, and most of all thanks to a counter-attack completely...unscrewable. The game gives you an objective in such way it seems you'll have to protect someone several times, but sadly all the NPCs are immortal, so apart from your own back, you don't have to watch over anything and anyone (unlike in the first game).
And well...that's basically the biggest problem of the game. It's a terribly low challenge, and as such the game isn't half as fun as I expected it to be. Aesthetically speaking, I had regular orgasms while playing the game, but I wasn't really immersed in it, because I simply wasn't particularly entertained. I never managed to keep playing for longer than an hour and half straight, which is hardly a good sign.
The story itself also didn't sparkle my attention very much. I generally couldn't care less for local characters, for the life of me I couldn't get into Vitto's skin, the few plot twists left me completely calm...damn, even the big cameo in the 14th chapter did literally exactly nothing to me. I don't really know why, but I just didn't care for anything at all. If this was a movie, I'd most probably stop watching it half way through.
But the dialogues alone were actually fantastic. Both well written and well acted (the English voice acting, I've had more than enough of the Czech one in the demo version). The sound design is in fact absolutely perfect as a whole. I was just blown away by the truck more than anything. Hand in hand it goes with music. I don't think I have to say we're dealing with some of the best compositions written in couple last years (at least of what I heard). The hit songs in radio are also chosen nicely, although you really won't hear that much of it during playing.
I admit the graphics took my breath away. This game is damn beautiful, but the most beautiful thing is how beautifully fluently it plays on the piece of crap I call my computer. When you'll walk some of local night streets and the street lamps and car lights start to create a unique and nearly moving lightshow, you'll understand.
I feel stupid about it, but I guess I'll cut the comment here. Yeah I know, I scamped it a bit, but somehow it seems that writer's gut of mine is on vacation or something.
+ Graphics, sound design, the original music, soundtrack, dialogues, exceptional system requirements, the atmosphere, the notable movie-like feeling
- The story (for me), the characters (again, for me), the driving physics (they're not flawed or anything, but they also don't feel as sophisticated as I hoped they would), the game time (a little over 10 hours of the story and after that the game has no more means of keeping you entertained).