Wow, what a great game, this is one of those few games that makes you feel hollow when it ends, so good that they are.
The story and the setting were incredibly well done and the characters very well developed, even if sometimes you get the feeling that some characters deserved more time, some characters don't appear at all and their fates, a mystery(maybe they are saving something for the dlcs). The Vox Populli arc for example, although very strong could be handled better, without spoil anything, it was sudden and some characters did not recieve the attention necessary. And it would be great to have had a better feeling of how the population is handling things after said arc ends. Other than that its a very complex and strange story, that answers a lot of questions with more questions but never insulting the player's intelligence by throwing mysteries just for the sake of complexity, everything that happens, even what I could not pierce together has a reason to happen..
The gameplay is spot on and much improved over bioshock, but nothing new, also those expecting System Shock 2's methodical gameplay will be disappointed, this is a fast paced action game with tons of powers and weapons. The powers themselves are very cool, but not a step up from bioshock, I played most of the game without using them, because I did not need them, although that changes a bit next to the ending, other problem is that all the powers feel to similar there is no surprise in using them and none of them will make you go Wow, I expected something more well developed, you'll never get the same feeling you got when you had your first plasmid back in the first game. The weapons too are nothing new, but at least they are darn fun, they feel powerful and responsive. All in all the combat it incredibly well done, if unoriginal. Just a word of advice, the game is not very challenging on normal, so those expecting something of a challenge should play on Hard.
The world as said before is well realized with some very beautiful sights, the problem is that sometimes you will forget that you're supposed to be in a floating city, for all the city in the sky aspect, it kinds of lack a bit of verticality, you never feel to higher from the ground somehow, its hard to explain, its just the feeling I had. Maybe it needed more jumping from one building to another, Dishonored felt more vertical than this gam, and also sometimes you forget this is a city and some parts devolve in the standard shooting corridors. The firefights seem to be condensed on arenas, even if some are quite big when the fight goes out, it stops feeling like a city.
I guess my main criticism with the game though is how little you interact with it, you either search for supply on boxes or shoot your way out and that is it. The character interaction is restricted to shoot or not to shoot too. Sometimes you walk into a bar and all you can do is start getting their stuff, many times they dont even care, and when they do, well, guess what? You have to shoot them, you never get to talk to them, help them, interact with them in a more meaningful way, the only actual interaction happens on scripted events and there is nothing to do. I didn't expect huge dialogue choices like and rpg, but it could have been handled a bit like Dishonored or Deus Ex. At least for some characters, maybe they were afraid it would disrupt the flow of the game, but for such a well realized game, it could have benefited from more exposition of some main characters of commom folk. Even with Elizabeth there isnt much to do other than hear what she has to say or get items which she throws at you, that part being particularly helpful in combat.
Ending was amazing, I had some hunches that would prove to be correct later, but even when they did it was well done, one of the best endings of all time. My game of the year so far and I don't expect something better anytime soon.
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