Bioshock 2 Review

February 27th, 2010

 

The first BioShock was a mega hit when it first arrived on our consoles in late 2007, and man, did it ever deliver.  Stumbling upon Rapture was one of the most thrilling experiences we have lived through in gaming in a long time. Why? Because it was different.  We dove several miles under sea, in the middle of nowhere, and what we saw and felt was all very new.  The introduction is still one of the best we’ve seen in all our years and that feeling lingered until you completed the campaign. The visuals were jaw dropping, especially when it came to the in-game water. Throughout the game we couldn’t help but admire our surroundings.  Let's also not forget the incredible orchestral soundtrack, which really made our neck hair stand.

The audio design was creepy as hell and provided for some tasty icing on the cake. BioShock also brought forth a combination of gameplay features such as plasmids, tonics, researching, hacking, and weaponry.  All these elements made the game really fun to play and the controls were brilliantly laid out.  Enemy design was also up to par and featured great work on the splicers, the infamous Big Daddy, and the Little Sisters. The challenge level the title offered was difficult but not impossible. We never got bothered by dying because the game never allowed us to break away from our continued gaming experience with the new vita-chamber re-spawn system. Let's also never forget the incredible orchestral soundtrack which really made our neck hairs stand.



Ten years have passed since the events of Jack's story concluded.  Now you take the role of Subject Detla, a bad-ass prototype of the Big Daddy. This means you get to carry the powerful rivet gun and wield the sweet Drill Arm. Returning to Rapture has never felt better.  There is a new adversary in town and she’s a real bitch. Big Sister, at first glance, gave me the same chills the Big Daddy gave me back in the original. You just know they are not to be messed with and this is something you keep telling yourself all the way through.

The second you turn this game on you will be in familiar territory. The level design doesn’t steer too far away from the original Bioshock.  After all, you are back in Rapture, just different parts of the city.

BS2 takes you through some incredible moments. My favorite being the instances where you are completely engulfed by the sea. The underwater sections disable you from performing any actions and really let you relax as you go move through the underwater environment. The only thing we could have asked for was more action in the underwater sections. Imagine the Big Sister combating you underwater, trying to pull off your air tank, while a great white shark attacks the both of you.  Intense. 



Rapture is now under the control of a female psychologist named Sofia Lamb whose ideas for human progression are a sharp contrast to the city's deceased founder, Andrew Ryan. Under Sofia's guidance, the first generation of Little Sisters have matured into adolescents. The Big Sisters, as they are now known, are highly aggressive and have the ability to use plasmids absorbed from gathering Adam as a children. Sofia sends Big Sisters out to coastlines across the Atlantic, kidnapping little girls and turning them into new Little Sisters.

In 1958, Subject Delta- the first Big Daddy to be successfully pair-bonded to a Little Sister- is forced to commit suicide by Sofia Lamb, who informs him that his Little Sister is actually her daughter Eleanor. Ten years later, Delta is revived by a Vita Chamber and begins to receive psychic messages from Eleanor pleading for help.  Delta encounters Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum who tells him that in order to save Eleanor and stop Lamb he must travel across the ruins of Rapture to Fontaine Futuristics, where Eleanor is held.  If he does not, a failsafe device designed to trigger if he strays too far from his Little Sister will activate, thus killing him.

Without a doubt, the best improvement is the ability to equip both one weapon and one Plasmid at the same time, which makes the gameplay so refined that it really makes BioShock 1 feel outdated.



Plasmids feel so much more powerful and likewise, every single bullet you shoot will have you thinking twice as ammo is pretty limited. Multiple new weapons feature alternate ammunition types that can be used in specific situations, even going as far as setting traps for the enemies. You can now melee with any of the weapons and overall close-range combat is much more effective in this sequel.

The progression of your character is also very well paced.  In the beginning of the game you may feel a little limited, and in survival mode.  however as you advance, things will pick up in terms of ammo, health, and eve, and thus you will be better prepared for the mayhem that awaits you.

The basics of the game are as you remember.  First Aid and EVE are the two things you will be searching for at all times, along with ammo and weapons.  Collecting money is once again a necessity, particularly for visits to the vending machines.  All the new Tonics are more clever than ever as they manipulate things from your character speed, increase specified attacks, give you damage resistance, and other interesting perks that make the game more fun.



The hacking mini-games are much slicker and require much less time than before.  This is the second best improvement in Bioshock 2.  The tedious hack process was completely thrown out.  You are required to stop a quick moving arrow multiple times in the correctly-colored marked area of a gauge represented in Green and Blue. The green areas are generally not too difficult to pull off and the blue areas are more challenging to complete but offer bonuses at random.

Since you are a full-time Big Daddy in this game, you will be given the task of protecting your Little Sister when she’s gathering ADAM for you.  As she drains the ADAM out of some poor bastard you killed, you will face waves of splicers who are out to hurt the little tyke. 

Let's not forget how important research is in BioShock 2. After taking a picture of an enemy, you have a short time to do as much damage to that enemy to score a number of points, which are then added towards the research of that enemy type. You have 4 levels of research to complete per enemy and each level you achieve with your photography skills rewards you with new abilities, increased damage, unlocking tonics, and more.  So just a word of advice… make sure you get used to using your research cam as much as possible.



BioShock 2’s Mulitplayer is actually a prequel and takes place prior to the fall of Rapture.  The player takes on the role of a splicer fighting in Rapture's civil war. The player is being sponsored by Plasmid manufacturer, Sinclair Solutions, as a test subject for their weapons, Plasmids, and Tonics.  As the player progresses through the multiplayer experience, new weapons and Plasmids will be unlocked.

Multiplayer comes in 7 different modes, two of which have a single and team based mode.  Here they are:

- Survival of the Fittest: A 'free-for-all' mode where the player that has the most kills or 20 kills at the end of the match wins.

- Civil War: Similar to 'Survival of the Fittest,' but in this mode players are divided into two teams and the team with the most collective kills at the end of the match wins.

- Last Splicer Standing: A variation of 'Civil War' in which players do not respawn after being killed. The goal is to outlive the opposition.

- Capture the Sister: A 'Capture the Flag' style mode where players are divided into two teams. One team has to protect a Little Sister while the other team tries to steal her and place her in a vent on the other side of the map.

- ADAM Grab: In this mode there is one Little Sister on the map and the player must seek her out and maintain possession of her as long as possible. The first person to hold onto the Little Sister for 3 minutes wins.

- Team ADAM Grab: A variant of 'ADAM Grab' where players are divided into two teams. The objective is the same, but victory is determined by a collective score rather than individual scores, and the first team to hold the little sister for 5 minutes wins.

 - Turf War: Players are split into two teams and each team must reach pre-determined points on the map to capture that point. The team with the most control points over the longest time wins.

In all modes except 'Capture the Sister' a Big Daddy suit will spawn at a random location in the level. If a player can find the suit, they will have the optiont become the Big Daddy.  This is a double edged sword as the player will have greater strength and endurance, but will be unable to use plasmids.



I don’t think its fair to compare Bioshock and Bioshock 2 side by side.  No one saw Bioshock coming.  No one thought it could be what it was, and it was a definite surprise for the most part.  The surprise element is now completely gone, so Bioshock 2 clearly had its work cut out for it.  The world and the gameplay elements were all now defined. 

Theres no doubt in my mind that b2 is head and shoulders above its predecessor.  In terms of gameplay, controls, and overall fun factor, bioshock 2 has the strength to both stand alone and be mentioned with the original.

Even though the sequel was laid in the hands of a new team, we are here to tell you that BioShock 2 delivers and all expectations have been met. It will easily rank up there as one of the best fps titles of 2010. BS2 has a total of six endings that will have you coming back for more.

The adventure wasn't as long as we wanted, clocking in at a solid 9-10 hours, but the intense action all the way through made up for it. BS2 has a total of six endings that will have you coming back for more.

 

Submitted by: theprofessor29