The weapons are great. They are almost all useful and sooooo fun to use. Moreso than the majority of FPSs. R1 had that going for it as well. I think R2 has less weapons though, which is lame. Mainly just used Auger, Bullseye MK-II.
Getting rid of the weapon wheel from R1 was a really bad decision. Instead of YOU the PLAYER creating strategies to beat each battle (by thinking, "hmm, maybe I could try using this weapon") the game is like "here is a sniper rifle on the ground with just enough ammo to shoot the enemies at a distance." and then you kill them and move forward and it's like "you are now out of ammo and look! Here is a shotgun! Use it to shoot the close-up enemies you will fight next with just enough ammo to kill them".
They basically created an extremely scripted FPS. In fact, R2 is probably the most scripted FPS I've ever played from a gameplay perspective. They tell you what to do and you just do it while trying to survive.
The ending was kinda lame. I'm glad they
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Killed Hale
though because the end of R2 was channeling Condemned 2 in a bad, bad way. At least R3 could be interesting now. Lack of real story just because it's a "middle" game is stupid. There's plot but you don't know what's going on and that's what R3 is to explain.
I like the art direction with the 50's towns and 50's music and cool chimera architecture. It's a shame the texture work is nothing special throughout. Also because it's so linear and scripted you don't really get to explore these cities much which kinda sucks since they look neat.
And putting INVINCIBLE FURRIES in the water everywhere so you DON'T SWIM because the water physics are lol is hmmmmm
Was still a better SP Campaign than CoD4, but less interesting/memorable than R1 and much weaker than Halo 3.
Finally I will say the same thing I said in the Gears 2 thread: This campaign would have been MUCH better if you could play it 4p coop with your friends. Especially since R2 is all about overwhelming you with tons and tons of enemies and having TEAMMATES to setup an attack strategy would make a lot of the situations way better. Halo 3 set the bar last year and neither Gears nor R2 were able to catch up. Gears 3 & R3 better have it by then. No excuses left.