Got my hands on Blackgate. I'm about an hour or so in.
Impressions:
Being stuck in the 2D plane's a bit annoying. There'd be times It'll look like I could go somewhere, but couldn't. Wish they took pointers from Other M with that regard.
Free Flow combat works well, though enemies die a bit too easily so it's easy to loose the chain (There's a trophy for 100 hit combo so I gotta see how that works out).
Grappling is interesting. Works well and kinda odd to grapple to a gargoyle though. Like the animation and the perspective of everything.
Weapon holding enemies have a vision cone now ala Metal Gear. Except you see the cone in front of an enemy.
Detective Mode is really cool. You can touch any part of the screen and drag your hand around to look for stuff. I've found a few things and learned how to utilize it when entering an area.
Cutscenes are done Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops/Peace Walker style. I like it.
So far so good.
