a well done shooter
graphically: pros- more vibrant colour scheme, slightly higher poly count, higher rez textures.
cons- aliasing becomes a big issue especially with some of the particle effect which aren't to grand to begin with. also there have been a few times were the game will freeze for a second or two.
sound: improved for sure atmospheric and excellent use of surround sound and great subtle sound design.
gameplay: the one major difference is the use of a two weapon system. this does change strategy a bit as before there were multiple ways of accomplishing things with many weapons now you have to plan ahead. your weapon choices do effect your chances of survival. the game is overall more difficult in the first in that enemies are more powerful and there seems to be more of a focus on the main player where as the first the enemy AI would concetrate somewhat on your team ai. this however is the big dissapointment for me as i personally believe ai the most important part of any game. i want my enemies to act life like and to have a thought process. while the enemies do a good job of following you and attacking you and only you it just becomes old and repetitive at least it did for me.
online: this is where a bulk of their time seems to have been focused on. there now a class system and i found the co-op to be the best new improvement in the game. each class actually affect the gameplay and you can rank each class individually and it really forces u to work together. 60 player online at once, i found, just causes the game to loose focus and it turns into a free for all type of match where everyone runs around doing there own thing
closing comments: while it doesn't do anything new really, what shooter really does, it is a solid well done shooter. its obvious though that this time around the focus was on the multiplayer and the campaign suffers because of it.