Well this was waiting for me when I got home this evening and just had a chance to play it. I played the first one about half way through and didn't get a chance to go back to it, mainly due to me being afraid! I really enjoyed what I played of the first one hence me picking this one up. My intention is to finish this first and then go back to the original, weird I know! Anyway back to this game, I only played the first mission plus a bit of the second so far but my early impressions are it is pretty good.
Let me get my gripe out of the way so far, the second half of the first mission is very dark which makes it very hard to see where are you going. The enemies you face in towards the end of the mission are also very dark which in turn makes it hard to see where the enemy is. I died a couple of times due to this towards the end of the mission, only after I turned the brightness up quite high from the options menu did I see a little clearer. I have now set the brightness back to the default and everything is fine at the start of the second mission. I sure hope there are not many of these darker sections, otherwise I will have to turn the brightness back up again and that would be rather annoying. Gripe over.
On to the combat, which has evolved quite a bit from the first one. LT and RT control your left and right hands respectively, whether you're bare knuckling or you have a weapon of some sort in your hand. Successive hits will start off a combo which will be broken if you take too long to hit again or you get hit yourself. You block by holding LT and RT together, timing is essential here as a well timed block will parry an enemies attacking leaving them temporarily disoriented. You can combine blocks and hits to string together slightly longer combos if you wish to do so. Another new addition is the hook attack, hold down the left stick button and press LT or RT to unleash this attack. The benefit of this attack is that it stuns or in some cases floors the enemy for a while allowing you to beat on them while they are down! In the first one you could choose what sort of execution you wanted to do when an enemy went down their knees via the d-pad, well this has also now changed. When the enemy goes down their knees you hold the LT and RT together and drag him/her towards an destructable object such as a TV and you will basically smash them into it to finish them off. Last combat addition is a QTE based one, if you double tap LT or RT near an enemy you will trigger the event and will have to press the buttons to the ones on screen in time to lay the smackdown on the enemy.
*Sighs* Well that pretty much explains the combat mechanics, they seem a little overwhelming at first but it won't take you long to get used to them. I would say that the combo system is a little flawed though, in the heat of the battle (when being attacked by multiple enemies) you might overlook doing combos and maybe go for standard punches/hits or hooks. I might be wrong though, as later on in the game some enemies might only be beatable by combo attacks or something similar.
As expected, even if not a huge upgrade from the original, the game looks very very good. Environments look genuienly dark, murky, gritty and grimy.....basically places you would never want to go unless you're a psycho! The sound is an area where this game excels, if you have a 5.1 system set up you will absolutely love this (or maybe not due to the creepy sounds). When wandering through alleys or halls you will hear almost everything whether it be chatter from the enemies or an object falling to the ground, it all builds the atmosphere in the game.
One of the things I noticed is that gone are the collectable dead birds only to be replaced by emitters and tuneable TV's, won't ruin the surprise by telling you how exactly they work though. I loved the addition of "wonky walking" during the first mission, you are stumbling around rather than walking steadily! This a due to Ethan probably having rather too much to drink and being a tad dellusional, I thought it was a nice little touch. Oh and before I forget when you do get a gun you can now look down the sight for more accurate shots, looks rather lovely too. Will leave more impressions over the weekend as I play through it more but that is me for now
Let me get my gripe out of the way so far, the second half of the first mission is very dark which makes it very hard to see where are you going. The enemies you face in towards the end of the mission are also very dark which in turn makes it hard to see where the enemy is. I died a couple of times due to this towards the end of the mission, only after I turned the brightness up quite high from the options menu did I see a little clearer. I have now set the brightness back to the default and everything is fine at the start of the second mission. I sure hope there are not many of these darker sections, otherwise I will have to turn the brightness back up again and that would be rather annoying. Gripe over.
On to the combat, which has evolved quite a bit from the first one. LT and RT control your left and right hands respectively, whether you're bare knuckling or you have a weapon of some sort in your hand. Successive hits will start off a combo which will be broken if you take too long to hit again or you get hit yourself. You block by holding LT and RT together, timing is essential here as a well timed block will parry an enemies attacking leaving them temporarily disoriented. You can combine blocks and hits to string together slightly longer combos if you wish to do so. Another new addition is the hook attack, hold down the left stick button and press LT or RT to unleash this attack. The benefit of this attack is that it stuns or in some cases floors the enemy for a while allowing you to beat on them while they are down! In the first one you could choose what sort of execution you wanted to do when an enemy went down their knees via the d-pad, well this has also now changed. When the enemy goes down their knees you hold the LT and RT together and drag him/her towards an destructable object such as a TV and you will basically smash them into it to finish them off. Last combat addition is a QTE based one, if you double tap LT or RT near an enemy you will trigger the event and will have to press the buttons to the ones on screen in time to lay the smackdown on the enemy.
*Sighs* Well that pretty much explains the combat mechanics, they seem a little overwhelming at first but it won't take you long to get used to them. I would say that the combo system is a little flawed though, in the heat of the battle (when being attacked by multiple enemies) you might overlook doing combos and maybe go for standard punches/hits or hooks. I might be wrong though, as later on in the game some enemies might only be beatable by combo attacks or something similar.
As expected, even if not a huge upgrade from the original, the game looks very very good. Environments look genuienly dark, murky, gritty and grimy.....basically places you would never want to go unless you're a psycho! The sound is an area where this game excels, if you have a 5.1 system set up you will absolutely love this (or maybe not due to the creepy sounds). When wandering through alleys or halls you will hear almost everything whether it be chatter from the enemies or an object falling to the ground, it all builds the atmosphere in the game.
One of the things I noticed is that gone are the collectable dead birds only to be replaced by emitters and tuneable TV's, won't ruin the surprise by telling you how exactly they work though. I loved the addition of "wonky walking" during the first mission, you are stumbling around rather than walking steadily! This a due to Ethan probably having rather too much to drink and being a tad dellusional, I thought it was a nice little touch. Oh and before I forget when you do get a gun you can now look down the sight for more accurate shots, looks rather lovely too. Will leave more impressions over the weekend as I play through it more but that is me for now
Bleeders, that bit you mention is an homage to the original. It was damn creepy though, I just stood there for a few minutes in total shock and then slowly walked past 
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