Subtlety? Nah... just gimme some blood
Sorry.
This game absolutely rules over the first one. Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed Bloodrayne. Enjoyed it enough to go out and buy the sequel, in fact. There were a couple of issues with it that I didn't like, though. For a start, the controls were the same as an FPS (one stick for movement forward, back, left, right, one stick to turn and look up and down), which just didn't seem to work quite right in a 3rd person action game. Blade combat was limited to one button, so instead of having direct control over the carnage that Rayne dished out, you just hammered away on the L shoulder button until everything died. And, most annoyingly, you couldn't block.
Grrr.
Bloodrayne 2 has addressed every single one of these issues. Combat is now handled in a much beter way- one button for kick attacks, one for blade attacks. You can now lock on to specific enemies to do impressive leaping to-and-fro attacks, circle behind them, perform combos, gruesome fatalities etc... and yes! You can even block! Combat now feels a bit like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.
In fact, I'm pretty sure that the people behind this game MUST have spent a fair bit of time playing PoP: the platform sections in the game are also much improved, involving all manner of dizzying leaps, swinging poles, and even some Tony Hawk-inspired rail grinding, all of which wouldn't be out of place if set on the rooftops of Babylon. In fact at one point I was most disappointed when I fell off a ledge and couldn't rewind time... it just felt that similar.
Of course, it would be unfair to say that this is a PoP clone. Bloodrayne 2 has got it's own share of special features, such as the new guns that Rayne gets towards the start of the game. These can be used to fire a wide range of projectiles, and (rather niftily) if they run out of ammo, they can feed on the blood of Rayne herself. Useful, but be careful!
Rayne has also got a slew of special vampiric abilities, such as Time Dilation (well, EVERY game's gotta have a Bullet-Time mode since The Matrix came out, eh?), Aura Vision (basically makes it easier to see where your next objective is) and Blood Rage (Rayne hits harder and takes less damage). These can all be powered up throughout the game, with varying results.
Graphics are also much improved over the first game, particularly on Rayne herself, who has filled out a little and actually looks like she does in the cut-scenes (a niggle in the first game: the in-game Rayne model looked like a different woman to the Rayne in the cut-scenes). The dismemberment effects, particularly the blood that comes flying out of every orifice known to man in any battle, look especially, well, NICE isn't the word I'm after. After all, people get beheaded, sliced in two, mulched up by trash compactors... I think the word I'm after is "cool".
In fact, that's a word I'm going to use to sum up the game. Cool. It's not going to tax your brain, you're not going to be planning any kind of advanced strategy or anything, you're just going to be kicking ass, ripping people up and sucking blood.
Oh, and it helps that the main character is a hot chick dressed in revealing leather, obviously.