Recs.
Updated
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Intuitive, friendly user interface that will be familiar to Windows and Office users
The user interface follows Microsoft's UI design patterns, making it familiar and comfortable for Windows and Office users.
The editor provides a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) way to build out your scenes. You can drag and drop objects, arrange, rotate, and resize them with your mouse. You can easily access and change properties of selected objects in the sidebar at any time, including adding predefined behaviors.
Pro Free for simple projects
Construct 2 Free provides a functional preview of nearly all engine features, and allows non-commercial publication.
It's not time restricted in any way, but does have limitations. It limits a project to 100 events, along with other technical restrictions.
Pro Allow server-less multiplayer game creation
Construct 2 uses WebRTC technology to support it's multiplayer functionality. The nature of the technology allows peer-to-peer connection which does not require game developer to create server side architecture to allow communication between games.
Cons
Con Dependency on 3rd parties for all exports
Unless you are creating a game strictly for browser/HTML5 usage, exporting to desktop or mobile is risky, as Scirra has no control over your final export quality. Since desktop uses NodeWebkit and mobile is Crosswalk, Phonegap or CocoonJS there is no guarantee that your final export performance and quality will be up to scratch for pro level 2d games.
These 3rd party "browser wrappers" are very prone to breaking and introducing lag and bugs that can't be controlled from Scirra's side.
Con HTML5 is very dependent on browser performance
Theoretically all browsers should run HTML5 pretty much the same way, but thats not always the case. Something that worked fine on Chrome, for instance, might malfunction on Firefox (or vice versa). And there's nothing the devs of Construct 2 can really do about it, but to hope next Firefox update might fix it. Internet Explorer is not even recommended.
Add to that the fact that exporting to mobile or desktops rely on these sort of stripped down versions of web browsers (Node webkit, Crosswalk, Ejecta) that you pack with your game, and you can have a real headache if you're trying to make your game work properly through multiple platforms.
Con Discontinued as of July 2021, in favor of Construct 3
Construct 2 licenses cannot be bought anymore since July 2020, and support has ended on July 1st 2021 with the release of the final r280 version (see here). Existing customers can still use the game engine, but it will no longer be updated.
Con Does not export to native mobile code
Construct 2 builds to HTML 5 only, which can cause performance issues on mobile devices depending on the HTML5 engine that the OS is using since that will be the biggest bottleneck. Even though it's not really the engine's fault, it still is at a disadvantage compared to native game engines.