lazatoy Intravenous 2 Review

Intravenous 2 is nearly a great game. As an extension of its predecessor's stealth and combat sandboxes, it offers a number of tools that are endlessly fun to play with. As a result, Intravenous 2 is one of the few games I've played where it's just as fun to go in guns blazing as it is to be sneaky, and a lot of that is due to that wild, swinging electric soundtrack by returning composer Xtruller. With this sequel, the developer thought to add social stealth levels, which add a nice bit of variety to an otherwise stagnant and aesthetically similar slate of levels. Returning from the original game are a number of custom difficulty options and modifiers that fundamentally change how you play the game. These are a blast to play with and manage to make the game feel refreshing on multiple playthroughs. Unfortunately, the narrative just isn't very compelling here. While it being dedicated to the developer's late father is touching and sweet, it never manages to go beyond pulpy fluff. While that pulp is entertaining for a time, tonally, everything is played so straight that it grows dull over time. Arguably, the most disappointing thing about the narrative here is the supposed branching paths, which only truly come into play in the latter half of the game and only make a significant difference if you're going for the worst possible outcome. Backed by moral choices that are as obvious as they are uninspired, only completionists will be compelled to see the game through to its four main endings. But that's not the worst this game offers. The latter half of the game throws escort missions at you in maze-like levels with shortcuts that your escorts cannot use. Using these shortcuts, you will often see your escorts shot dead in front of you because they refuse to climb over a fence or jump through a window. If the levels were smaller, this would be less of an issue, but they're some of the largest in the entire game. For all my complaining, though, Intravenous 2 managed to captivate me for at least three playthroughs. There's enough working for this game that these issues, which would derail any other game, managed to serve mostly as background noise until the third playthrough. I recommend it overall, and if you're looking for something that's decidedly old-school, it absolutely has you covered.