After playing 1, I went straight into 2. 2 is a marked improvement in every category. The story is bigger, the locations are bigger, the scope and scale are bigger, the game is longer, there are more characters, boom! It's great. Seriously great.
I really dug the story and the globe-trotting aspect of it. You go to a lot of places and do a lot of cool stuff. The quality is really steady throughout and there are no parts that stick out as noticeably better or worse. The set pieces hold up great and the gunplay is also better. It's fun seeing Nate and Chloe plus Nate and Elena all in action. There's some great twists and some...weirder ones.
I wish I had been writing reviews when I played through the series as my thoughts would have been a lot more thorough and coherent. Because I marathoned the whole series, my memories kind of run together. I can't remember the main thoughts I had about each game as I went.
I will say that I played 2 knowing that some consider it the best in the series and many consider it the best of the first three. As such, I left it slightly underwhelmed because it didn't blow me away, and also I was a little pessimistic toward 3 since I was concerned it would be a step backward for whatever reason(s). 2 is super good, but it's not mind-meltingly amazing, which is what I was expecting. It has mind-meltingly amazing moments, but it's also a little long.
Having played the whole series, I would say that 2, 3, and 4 are all excellent in their own right but they have their pros and cons. I came away thinking 2 didn't grab me like 3 did and it felt a little too long. Those are the only criticisms I really have of it.
I really dug the story and the globe-trotting aspect of it. You go to a lot of places and do a lot of cool stuff. The quality is really steady throughout and there are no parts that stick out as noticeably better or worse. The set pieces hold up great and the gunplay is also better. It's fun seeing Nate and Chloe plus Nate and Elena all in action. There's some great twists and some...weirder ones.
I wish I had been writing reviews when I played through the series as my thoughts would have been a lot more thorough and coherent. Because I marathoned the whole series, my memories kind of run together. I can't remember the main thoughts I had about each game as I went.
I will say that I played 2 knowing that some consider it the best in the series and many consider it the best of the first three. As such, I left it slightly underwhelmed because it didn't blow me away, and also I was a little pessimistic toward 3 since I was concerned it would be a step backward for whatever reason(s). 2 is super good, but it's not mind-meltingly amazing, which is what I was expecting. It has mind-meltingly amazing moments, but it's also a little long.
Having played the whole series, I would say that 2, 3, and 4 are all excellent in their own right but they have their pros and cons. I came away thinking 2 didn't grab me like 3 did and it felt a little too long. Those are the only criticisms I really have of it.