The game is well-written and directed with beautiful imagery and an intense combat system which relies heavily on proper resource management. I think the story of the first game is better, but this doesn't change the fact that the story in this one is excellent, but brutal. The game is fairly hard, quite hard if you're not good at managing your ammo and supplies. Ellie being a lesbian, (or a woman for that matter) is largely irrelevant. I really don't understand why so many people are hung up on it.