The essay seems well done, though I experienced attention deficit about 1/3 of the way through. Worst moment: "in this case it is probably the case", I can sympathize though, wording can be tough.
I felt the overall tone was too negative toward PD...I'm a "story, shmory" player, so I don't think character development etc makes much of a difference at all -- though I do feel that Elvis and, largely, his race *and its weapons*, subtract from the overall elegance of Dark. But in general, I feel the Solo missions upped ante on GE's like hell, the co-op and counter-op are icing and thus are ineligible for criticism, and the Combat Simulator blows GE's Multiplayer rather away -- though GE's period-of-invincibility between damage cycles does seem like something to be re-introduced in later iterations (as an option, of course; a main brilliance of GE/PD/TS is just as simple as *optionality*, something which neither Rare nor Free Radical have gone particularly wrong with). I'd be willing to examine the two side-by-side in terms of true multiplayer (i.e. no simulants), but otherwise I think it's a No Contest -- Rare did *not* screw up this sequel, spiritual or not, but instead provided so many improvements that the choice is, for me, quite clear.
