Dear Diary: Today was my second foray into Bleed 2. In many ways, the game's design represents the very nightmare that caused me to become a home console gamer. Because these kinds of games are the very ones that caused me so much public shame via my nascent performance, that I felt the need to be able to play somewhere outside of the public eye. But no, I eventually came to realize that these designs were just the ones implemented by a design culture that had a long way to go to mature. At face value, I much prefer the modern, story-driven experiences of 21st century games. But I also see in some of them, the enjoyment that can be had from a pure, simple, and expertly executed mechanical experience. Bleed 2 gets a lot of things right from that 21st century perspective. But it also, in its effort to be a throwback game, carries a lot of that 1980s and 90s baggage with it. Regardless, overall, this is an above average game, somewhere in the 6.5 to 7.5 range on a 10.0 scale. Campbell knew what he was building, and the dev is unapologetic in laying it on thick. You gotta respect that.
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