It's kinda difficult to review Brutal John 2 for me, as this is another one of those cases when I would really appreciate having a middle option. It's leaning more towards recommend, but there are some pretty major caveats to it. In the game's vernacular, I would recommend it, but by a skin of its (not steel) balls.
BJ2 is, by all intents and purposes, a Temu Duke Nukem 3D. A lot of things that made D3D the legendary FPS it is are present here, as well, though a whole lot of them are usually watered down.
From the humor, gore effects, to the protagonists, and the setting itself, all is basically Duke, but either half-assed, overplayed/underplayed, or flanderized. It's a strange mix of some things going further, more vulgar, and other things backpedaling, making the game more, I guess, Reddit-friendly?
For example, in Duke, the shooting and explosions are notoriously meaty and impactful. In BJ2, it's all a bit floaty and has a lot less punch. In Duke, the gore is fantastic, putting G into Gibs. BJ2 has a nondescript, weak blood VFX. In Duke, there are strippers who will show you their tits in exchange for some currency. In BJ2, there are censored strippers (why even bother?). In Duke, there are cultural references from books, movies, TV shows, events, other games, and everything in between. In BJ2, the references are mostly from Duke or from Youtubers (who presumably shilled the game). In Duke, most of the one-liners are from great contemporary movies. In BJ2, most one-liners are from Duke.
You can probably see where I'm going with this. A lot of the game is just derivative. Which wouldn't be inherently bad on its own, but in my opinion, it just makes the game a lot cheaper and less fun than it could be. I wish devs would try to step out of Duke's shadow a bit more.
The other problem is that the game is VERY short. Not even six hours from start to end, and that's on hard, with copious screwing around, looking for all secrets.
Don't get me wrong, BJ2 has its moments. Some levels are genuinely cool. The map design, in general, is definitely a highlight of the game; it's great. You will probably chuckle a couple of times, too. Coupled with its very fair pricing, I would recommend it. But it is a so-so recommendation.
