i think you're severely downplaying the importance of story, atmosphere, mood, etc in bioshock. that sense of awe and wonder in entering a new, fascinating world in B1 and BI is just not there in B2, and that to me, is the strongest aspect of bioshock and what defines it as a series
i also think the gunplay is better in infinite, and B2 was too reliant on the pseudo base defense/little sister defense stuff. it was great, but not great enough to want to do 2-3 times per level.
I preffer games that focus on offering a good design in terms of gameplay, levels, difficulty and variety than in the plot.
It's only my opinion, but it's A GAME, all the extra stuff is secondary, the most important thing is bringing a good overall design as a game.
Bayonetta, Metroid, etc...are good examples of what i'm saying.
If a game brings me a broken design, with limited gameplay "thanks" to a scripted plot, (like The Order, CoD campaigns, Uncharted, etc)
That's why i preffer Bio2 over the other ones, is better in terms of design and gameplay.