80

Good game and good sequel

britishlad | May 11, 2013 | See all britishlad's reviews »

Bioshock was a wonderful game that had many twists and turns that had me utterly gobsmacked as I made my way through Rapture. In a return trip to Rapture, I found things felt all too familiar, yet I was still affected by the narrative and ambience of the wondrous world. Bioshock 2 is a separate story from the original game. In this fame you play as a big daddy. You are a decommissioned (murdered) Big Daddy who is resurrected for unknown reasons, drawn to the little girl who was your original Little Sister. Playing as a Big Daddy should've of been an awesome experience being be powerful and heavily amoured but this simply wasn't the case. The game explains it away as you are only at half strength, but it would have been nice to have those powers and roam around that world. The added nemesis of the Big Sister was truly excellent and fighting them was the most epic part of the game.

The graphics were top-notch, again, the sound perfect. The little details were there, clearly apparent in the final level where you get to see things in a different light. It is these sorts of things that make the Bioshock franchise stand out from others. I would have liked a more original story instead of a game that felt far too familiar and there were no amazing twists like the first game, but the time spent in Rapture was a delight, despite the sameness to the game.

90

"Who watches over the sleeping Angels, Mr Bubbles?"

pasinduthegreat | May 6, 2013 | See all pasinduthegreat's reviews »

Delve back into the undersea rapture that is Rapture and it does not fail.

Its different this time. More broken, just holding itself together. Ryan's dream has a little more life in in. This time however, the story is about the psychiatrist who uses a little girl to control the Rapture.

Just like it's predecessor, Bioshock 2 is a game that is based on a very nice shooting mechanic, as you do get to use some very nice weapons, at the same time as you get to use your awesome plasmid abilities, allowing you to set your enemies on fire, shocking them and several other possibilities.

Important to say that, this time, you play as one of the fearless - and terrifying - Big Daddy! But don't get your hopes up just like that: the game is still going to present you a worthy challenge; their names: Big Sister!

Just as powerful as a Big Daddy, but extremely faster and more acrobatic, each Big Sister encounter is very likely to keep you tense, as you try to think your ways out of the fight victorious!

Summing up, the game is great. It'll give you the same drab atmosphere as the previous, with very nice gameplay and awesome controls, and, most of all, a great challenge with the new and slim-killer enemies: the Big Sisters!

89

Bioshock 2, much of the same

maddocks2379 | May 5, 2013 | See all maddocks2379's reviews »

Bioshock 2 is pretty much the same as the first one with improvements, like weapons in one hand and plasmids in the other, new items like hacking darts, but otherwise its pretty much a continuation of Bioshock 1.

The story is good and keeps you interested, the combat is pretty much the same but with new weapons and the graphics are still good for a 3-4 year old game.

Bioshock 1 is probably better but this one is still good and should be played

90

A little bit behind the original, but it is still a great game

onewinged90 | April 9, 2013 | See all onewinged90's reviews »

Developed by different developer with a mix of some staff of the original. But does it live up to the expectations of the first? As for me I thoroughly enjoyed myself playing the game.

• Playing as a Big Daddy, how badass can it be?
• Rapture is much more of an eye candy now. Improved graphics, and 10 years after the events of Bioshock, it is so familiar and different at the same time.
• Improved gameplay compared to the original. Mouse targeting works well enough now, but still not perfect as a true shooter.
• No more plasmid toggle (in the original you need to right-click then left-click to use plasmid) where you can now use plasmids and weapons at the same time.
• Enhanced plasmids. Different level of plasmids have significant upgrades and how they deal damage. For example the level 2 of Electro Bolt enables chain lighting, and level 3 creates continuous electrical arc.
• Bye-bye pipe hacking. Bioshock 2 replaced the original's style of hacking with needle hacking, a much welcomed change and do not feel as tedious as it is before. Beware: The game does not pause when you are hacking.
• More variety of enemy splicers and big daddies. Oh did I mention you gotta fight Big Sister as well?
• Voice acting is superb as always, Fenella Woolgar as Sofia Lamb really took over the personality of Andrew Ryan and Atlas from the first game.

• Multiple ending makes a comeback, which makes the game highly replayable.

• Story does not have the same twist as it had in the original.

• Shorter gameplay length compared to the original. Even if you take your time in the game, you complete it sooner than expected.
• The Games for Windows Live is very bad, I'm sure those of you are aware of that.

On one note, Bioshock 2 does come with a DLC - Minerva's Den. Where player assumes the role of Subject Sigma, another big daddy. With only $5 and around 4-5 hours worth of gameplay, it is a must get. The only problem is that the DLC is only purchasable at Xbox.com website and not available anywhere else including GMG, which is a bummer actually. If you're willing to go through the atrocious GFWL, I really recommend you to get that add-on and it will be worth your money.

80

Begs for comparison, yet falls short

Endyo | March 29, 2013 | See all Endyo's reviews »

It's been a long time since I played BioShock, so long that I pretty much had forgotten the whole story and had to look it up soon after starting BioShock 2. It didn't particularly help much despite them being set in the same location (Rapture) and being separated by only 10 years. A single notable character returns from BioShock and leaves early in the game, serving only to sort of kick off the story line. Everything else is new content. It can be a bit strange to have so much familiarity surrounding you in the environment as the player, but so little of the original (and quite good) story remaining. I think one of the most interesting differences, however, is that you'll be playing as the voiceless Alpha Series named “Delta”, a version of the “Big Daddy.” Regardless, BioShock 2 does offer a memorable foray into the leaky halls of Rapture.

BioShock 2 has many of the gameplay elements that the original game had. You'll still be firing a weapon with your right hand (LMB) and using Plasmids with your left hand (RMB). Plasmids themselves are very similar to those in BioShock as well – with a couple of new additions such as Hypnotize and Scout. Weapons of course are more attuned to the capabilities of a Big Daddy despite having the same mechanics as the weapons of the original. The use of these tools in the game are fairly entertaining. It is seldom expressed what differences there are between varying tactics, such as using a minigun with the Winter Blast plasmid or Incinerate, but trying out the combinations is one way the game stays a bit more dynamic.

There are, of course, elements of the gameplay that have changed from BioShock to BioShock 2. While you'll still be rescuing Little Sisters, much more of the game is wrapped around it. You'll be taking them to corpses to collect ADAM rather than simply releasing them from their mind control and letting them go or harvesting them as soon as you finish off their Big Daddys. Then you ultimately are given the choice to do the same, save them or harvest them, but it seems like a sort of ridiculous way to just slow down the game. While collecting, random spawns of enemies come after you and halt the collection process. You can choose to simply take the Little Sisters an not collect any ADAM, but of course the severely hampers your ability to progress in the game effectively.

Another change from BioShock that I felt was unnecessary was the hacking system. I always thought hacking in BioShock was one of the best mini games in modern games. It was changed into a sort of “stop the bar” thing where your task is to stop the bouncing needle in the green or blue colored marker. It just seems like a huge step down from something fairly innovative.

The majority of the game you'll be traveling from objective to objective in the standard murky hallways, some lit reasonably well while others are completely dark. Water drips and flows from every conceivable area and enemies make enough noise that they rarely surprise, but often build suspense. Occasionally you'll come across a room that acts as a central hub. This usually serves as an indication that you'll be backtracking here. I've never personally been a fan of backtracking in games, and it is made worse here by seemingly infinite respawns of enemies. At times you can simply go in and out of a door in the hub and there will be spawns of enemies. A mechanic that made me stop playing Far Cry 2 all together.

When you load up BioShock 2, you immediately recognize the environment and the design of the characters and structures. It may have some visual improvement from BioShock, but it's really hard to tell because of this. Is there more detail on the splicer's face? Maybe, but I don't remember what they looked like in BioShock. It is all well crafted though and never really leaves you feeling like the designers weren't giving 100%. It has a quality that few games can emulate or hope to achieve these days. You really get the feeling you're in a place deep in the ocean that's dark and wet and just all around uncomfortable. As much as it delivers the standard hallway-hallway-room-hallway formula that FPS games have been offering for decades now, it seems to just make sense in the design of an underwater city. Enemies have animations that are appealing and a weight that makes them seem believable. The city of Rapture and the people within it feel just as you would expect them to, and that's exactly what I wanted.

The sound of the game is a strong point. Weapons make sounds you'll come to recognize and react to and the feedback that provides pulls the player a little further in to the game. The voices of the majority of the splicers are sufficiently manic and environmentally fitting, though they sometimes get a bit repetitive. Big Daddys, just like in BioShock, radiate their deep whale-like groans through the metallic hallways giving you a chilling “impending doom” feel. It's probably one of the most recognizable and suspenseful sounds in any game. Raspy songs of the 50s return in the game as well, providing an equally creepy feeling to the game in the same way they did previously. I think that there really couldn't be a BioShock franchise without the sound department being as good as it is.

What you get from BioShock 2 is an experience that, while still entertaining in many of the same ways as the original BioShock, finds itself lacking much of the same vigor and surprise that blew so many away in 2007. It's a good game, but being in the same location with much of the same weaponry, plasmids, enemies, and visual elements kind of feels like a cop out. The story is also not anywhere near as engaging and doesn't have enough twists or turns to make it stand out. Any elements of the story that could create breadth are trapped in the recordings that are seldom even audible over the sounds of combat. I didn't choose to make so many comparisons between this and BioShock, because the game itself seems like it was specifically created to be directly compared. Still, BioShock 2 is fun and if you can ignore the comparisons thrown in your face by the game, you'll enjoy it.

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