This is a long review because it pains me to give this game a thumbs down. There's a lot of stuff I really like, and I hope the developers will listen to feedback.



The mechanics are straight from Receiver 1, so if you liked that you'll mostly be into this. The visuals have been upgraded, the GUI looks nicer, etc. The sound design is punchy, and the guns are legitimately deafening (though there is an setting to reduce this).

The trouble starts with the rank system - if you collect a set amount of tapes (5 in the early ranks), you rank up. If you die, you rank down. After a lot of playing around, I've really come to the conclusion that I don't find the ranking system fun. In honesty, it feels like it's just there to pad the game out. New guns are locked behind the rank system, so you won't get to experience them if you don't rank up - and higher ranks are exponentially difficult. You go down a rank if you die no matter how well you were doing - even if you were a single tape away from ranking up, you'll ALWAYS go down a rank.

Another glaring issue is that you get a really inconsistent experience throughout the levels. There's ranks where you'll be drowning in ammunition and there's almost no enemies, and there will be ranks where enemies drop the smallest amount of ammo possible and you're starved for rounds.

Receiver 2 prides itself on its attention to detail on gun mechanics. I'm not sure if I've seen another game actually simulate negligent discharges, stove pipes, etc. Unfortunately, Receiver 2 won't always give you enough ammunition during a rank to let you play the game, and you'll end up playing an extremely tedious stealth game.

Receiver 2 adds a 'hacking' mini-game which involves you getting within hugging distance of a robot and precisely tapping a key and keeping it within a sweet spot. Tap too much and you'll be detected (and the turret / drone you're trying to hack will try and shoot you). There's also a timer system, so you cannot take your time with the hacking - you're on the clock to complete the hack.

That sounds pretty in depth for a little side mechanic, but the reality is that it's pointless. The margin of error for hacking is very slim, and the price of failure (death and deranking) isn't worth saving a singular bullet - especially when you will always get at least 1 bullet back from shooting a turret. There's a new type of enemy that I won't spoil, but I bring it up because it (along with drones) aren't always possible to hack in the first place due to them being out of reach. This ties into my earlier stated thing about the game not giving you enough ammo to have fun: hacking feels like it's a band-aid solution to not balancing the amount of ammo you give the player.


The next section talks about the firearms in the game. If you don't want spoilers, skip to the last paragraph of the
review.

- The S&W Model 10 and Colt Detective Special are identical for gameplay. One of their cylinders spins clockwise, and the other one spins counterclockwise. I really don't get why there's two of these, other than to make it 'more likely' to get a revolver when you 'roll' for a random gun at the start of the rank. There's tons of unique revolvers out there, so I have no idea why these two, almost identical, revolvers were chosen.

- The Glock 17's trigger safety is entirely ignored by the game, and the in-game explanation for this is pretty lame. Otherwise, the most interesting feature of this firearm - the full auto fun switch - is brought down by the fact that the game doesn't give you enough ammo to use it. This just feels like missed opportunities.

- The M1911, P226, M9, and Hi-Point are all good fun to play with. They all differ slightly in their operation, their quirks around safety/decocking. Unfortunately, the 'blocked' magazines mechanic start to make all of these semi-auto guns feel same-y -- you'll almost always end up with a magazine that can only take 5-7ish rounds.

- I've only ever had the Desert Eagle once in 9 hours of playing, so it's hard to comment on it. I'm not sure if the gun selection is truly random, or biased at certain ranks, but it certainly feels like some firearms are less likely to be picked.

- The final handgun in the game is the Colt Single Action Army, and it's a good time. I've seen some people get overly upset about it due it's exceptionally quirky operation, but it's a great fit for Receiver. It's a shame that this final handgun is only accessible if you get to the last rank in the game.



Some closing thoughts:
Writing this review, I realize I never bother with extra magazines. Since most of the enemies are static, you often just unload your current magazine and reload it with loose rounds. Because so many magazines end up being bad/blocked, you give up on them and end up just using one. There is a limit to the amount of loose rounds you can carry (something like 25ish?), you could theoretically use spare magazines to carry more ammo overall - if the game were more generous with ammo.

It bothers me that the Single Action Army is the final handgun. Removing the Colt Detective Special and replacing it with this would add a lot of variety to the early game.

The blocked cylinders / 'bad magazine' mechanics feel misguided, and the lore explanations feel shoehorned. Blocked cylinders make you resent starting with revolvers since there's no way to fix them during a rank - where as you can (sometimes) find good magazines during a rank. It ultimately slows the gameplay, since you often only start with 1 magazine. You spent less time exploring and shooting, and more time tediously unloading and reloading a magazine is could've held upwards of 15-17 rounds, if it weren't blocked.

It bothers me that the developers limited themselves to handguns again. There's actually a tape in the game that talks about shotguns, and the mechanics of Receiver would be an amazing fit for a shotgun.



Overall:
I can't recommend Receiver 2 over Receiver 1. The mechanics are technically more detailed, the visuals are nicer, but the ranking system seriously detracts from the rest of the game. The game wants you to appreciate the firearm simulation, but you often don't get enough ammo to have fun with it. Some new firearms are interesting, and others feel like missed opportunities.

This is a long review because it pains me to give this game a thumbs down. There's a lot of stuff I really like, and I hope the developers will listen to feedback. The mechanics are straight from Receiver 1, so if you liked that you'll mostly be into this. The visuals have been upgraded, the GUI looks nicer, etc. The sound design is punchy, and the guns are legitimately deafening (though there is an setting to reduce this). The trouble starts with the rank system - if you collect a set amount of tapes (5 in the early ranks), you rank up. If you die, you rank down. After a lot of playing around, I've really come to the conclusion that I don't find the ranking system fun. In honesty, it feels like it's just there to pad the game out. New guns are locked behind the rank system, so you won't get to experience them if you don't rank up - and higher ranks are exponentially difficult. You go down a rank if you die no matter how well you were doing - even if you were a single tape away from ranking up, you'll ALWAYS go down a rank. Another glaring issue is that you get a really inconsistent experience throughout the levels. There's ranks where you'll be drowning in ammunition and there's almost no enemies, and there will be ranks where enemies drop the smallest amount of ammo possible and you're starved for rounds. Receiver 2 prides itself on its attention to detail on gun mechanics. I'm not sure if I've seen another game actually simulate negligent discharges, stove pipes, etc. Unfortunately, Receiver 2 won't always give you enough ammunition during a rank to let you play the game, and you'll end up playing an extremely tedious stealth game. Receiver 2 adds a 'hacking' mini-game which involves you getting within hugging distance of a robot and precisely tapping a key and keeping it within a sweet spot. Tap too much and you'll be detected (and the turret / drone you're trying to hack will try and shoot you). There's also a timer system, so you cannot take your time with the hacking - you're on the clock to complete the hack. That sounds pretty in depth for a little side mechanic, but the reality is that it's pointless. The margin of error for hacking is very slim, and the price of failure (death and deranking) isn't worth saving a singular bullet - especially when you will always get at least 1 bullet back from shooting a turret. There's a new type of enemy that I won't spoil, but I bring it up because it (along with drones) aren't always possible to hack in the first place due to them being out of reach. This ties into my earlier stated thing about the game not giving you enough ammo to have fun: hacking feels like it's a band-aid solution to not balancing the amount of ammo you give the player. The next section talks about the firearms in the game. If you don't want spoilers, skip to the last paragraph of the review. - The [spoiler]S&W Model 10 and Colt Detective Special[/spoiler] are identical for gameplay. One of their cylinders spins clockwise, and the other one spins counterclockwise. I really don't get why there's two of these, other than to make it 'more likely' to get a revolver when you 'roll' for a random gun at the start of the rank. There's tons of unique revolvers out there, so I have no idea why these two, almost identical, revolvers were chosen. - The [spoiler]Glock 17's trigger[/spoiler] safety is entirely ignored by the game, and the in-game explanation for this is pretty lame. Otherwise, the most interesting feature of this firearm - the [spoiler]full auto fun switch[/spoiler] - is brought down by the fact that the game doesn't give you enough ammo to use it. This just feels like missed opportunities. - The [spoiler]M1911, P226, M9, and Hi-Point[/spoiler] are all good fun to play with. They all differ slightly in their operation, their quirks around safety/decocking. Unfortunately, the 'blocked' magazines mechanic start to make all of these semi-auto guns feel same-y -- you'll almost always end up with a magazine that can only take 5-7ish rounds. - I've only ever had the [spoiler]Desert Eagle[/spoiler] once in 9 hours of playing, so it's hard to comment on it. I'm not sure if the gun selection is truly random, or biased at certain ranks, but it certainly feels like some firearms are less likely to be picked. - The final handgun in the game is the [spoiler]Colt Single Action Army[/spoiler], and it's a good time. I've seen some people get overly upset about it due it's exceptionally quirky operation, but it's a great fit for Receiver. It's a shame that this final handgun is only accessible if you get to the last rank in the game. Some closing thoughts: Writing this review, I realize I never bother with extra magazines. Since most of the enemies are static, you often just unload your current magazine and reload it with loose rounds. Because so many magazines end up being bad/blocked, you give up on them and end up just using one. There is a limit to the amount of loose rounds you can carry (something like 25ish?), you could theoretically use spare magazines to carry more ammo overall - if the game were more generous with ammo. It bothers me that the [spoiler]Single Action Army[/spoiler] is the final handgun. Removing the [spoiler]Colt Detective Special[/spoiler] and replacing it with this would add a lot of variety to the early game. The blocked cylinders / 'bad magazine' mechanics feel misguided, and the lore explanations feel shoehorned. Blocked cylinders make you resent starting with revolvers since there's no way to fix them during a rank - where as you can (sometimes) find good magazines during a rank. It ultimately slows the gameplay, since you often only start with 1 magazine. You spent less time exploring and shooting, and more time tediously unloading and reloading a magazine is could've held upwards of 15-17 rounds, if it weren't blocked. It bothers me that the developers limited themselves to handguns again. There's actually a tape in the game that talks about shotguns, and the mechanics of Receiver would be an amazing fit for a shotgun. Overall: I can't recommend Receiver 2 over Receiver 1. The mechanics are technically more detailed, the visuals are nicer, but the ranking system seriously detracts from the rest of the game. The game wants you to appreciate the firearm simulation, but you often don't get enough ammo to have fun with it. Some new firearms are interesting, and others feel like missed opportunities.