This wasn't supposed to be so long but I just started typing. More under the cut.
The gameplay works well and the two weapon limit (while frustrating in some respect) requires working around to make sure you are well adapted to the particular situation you find yourself in. It takes planning ahead and consideration of what you're going to do instead of just having the right weapon to whip out whenever it's convenient. People on some people will see the 2 weapon limit and scream "casual" because it's not like more old school shooters, not thinking of the value of needing to think around limited weapons resources.
Vigors aren't as powerful as the Plasmids were but they play a less critical part in the story and aren't nearly as widespread in the city's society. You'll rarely find yourself using the "traps" you can set up with the vigors because most of the game it's the enemies which will be surprising you. The upgrade system for the Vigors is also lacking compared to Bioshock's and you'll find yourself running out of Salt far too often for them to be a viable combat alternative. This is the weakest point of the combat.
Compared to Bioshock the enemies are very distinct and you are able to plan your strategy accordingly. The standard bad guys will go down with ease but they'll usually be backed up by something more powerful. Armored enemies are also common and require additional effort to defeat, almost to the point of being annoying at some parts of the game.
The story and atmosphere of the game is really top notch. I found myself in awe at how nice the city felt and the little details like civilian conversations and musical easter eggs. I went from feeling positively amazed with the image of the city to genuinely disturbed at the darker side of the saccharine and whitewashed portrait of American Exceptionalism. Worshiping figures of American history went from almost funny as a man prayed to Thomas Jefferson to downright creepy as I see a portrait of John Wilkes Booth with a halo shooting a demonic Abraham Lincoln. As I was forced to choose between throwing a baseball at a mixed race couple tied up on stage or throwing it at the announcer on stage and blowing my cover I felt a real discomfort out of which decision would be best to make.
Father Comstock makes a more involved villain than Andrew Ryan (or Sophia Lamb but let's forget Bioshock 2) but many parallels between the two can (and have been) made.
Elizabeth is a truly fantastic companion character. Not only is she not a chore to drag around, she's also immensely useful in combat, able to summon obstacles, maneuvering areas or even weapons and supplies in the middle of a fight, as well as randomly tossing you ammunition or salt in combat and money outside of it. Her story is both intriguing and personally important to the player character. Without spoiling anything big she's kind of a big deal.
Most of the other characters are also greatly enjoyable. The Luteces are a kind of Cheshire Cat character, appearing randomly and offering cryptic (but important) advice to the player during the course of the game. Only becoming more interesting and more crucial as time goes on. Fink is the business mogul your history teacher warned you about.
The game is relatively short, coming in at roughly 8 or 9 hours for some, depending on how good you are at the combat. I don't really see a problem with this as the story is told in a manner that gives everything the creators intended to give and doesn't waste the player's time with room after room of meaningless fluff meant to artificially extend the playtime. It's got good pacing and keeps the tension high throughout.
Overall the game is a wonderful storytelling experience with a very competent gameplay structure built around it. If you don't very much care for shooting games you can likely suffer through the combat with enough hard work (but you will die a lot if you don't move quick enough) and still get to enjoy the fantastic world and story that Columbia has to offer.
