There's little doubt that the first Bioshock was one of the most engaging
and immersive titles of the current generation. It's immersive storyline
and daringly sophisticated concept was driven by a thoroughly engaging
narrative that made it one of the best games of its generation. Anyone who
played through the game won't soon forget the haunting vistas of Rapture,
a doomed undersea city founded on utopian ideals that went horribly wrong.
The new game is not surprisingly a very studied return to the first
environment, and allows you discover many new areas of Rapture and learn
many of its secrets. Your return trip takes place a decade after the
events of the original game and, Bioshock 2 takes players back to the
cursed city to see and explore its wreckage to uncover many hidden areas.
This time, you're a prototype Big Daddy named Delta who's been reawaked
after many years of hibernation. The reasons for this are mysterious and
finding out who revived you and why is a key element in the new story. As
one of the protectors, your mission is to find and locate your Little
Sister who has been separated from you for the past decade.
Locating her isn't going to be easy. She
still has a bond with you but re-uniting is not as simple as it sounds,
since she was the daughter of a psychiatrist named Sophia Lamb. When
Andrew Ryan imprisoned Sophia, her daughter was accidentally (or
purposely) taken into the Little Sister program and converted into one of
them. Since Rapture's founder was killed, Dr. Lamb has taken control of
Rapture and has taken it's governance in a new direction. Instead of the
rugged individualism spouted by the original founder Andrew Ryan, she has
a collectivist socialist mentality that she wants to instill on Rapture.
As its de facto leader, she controls much of the population who swallow
her every word. Since Lamb is your Little Sister's mother, she is working
to deprogram her daughter and save her, and will do everything in her
power to stop you from rescuing her. The story runs parallel to the action
and is just as immersive this time around. There are some areas that
expand and enhance of the first game's brilliance, and the added details
make you appreciate the total storyline even more. This is the basic
outline of Bioshock 2's storyline, which effectively turns the original
story on its head and this change lets you see the events from a very
different perspective.
This makes for a somewhat different
experience when it comes time to play. Playing as a Big Daddy lets you use
the famous drill on opponents, which is quite effective when it works, but
it constantly runs low on fuel and having to replenish it often means its
not the killer app you'd think from the first game. Paradoxically, being
in the shows of a Big Daddy makes the others you face seem far less
intimidating this time around. In the decade since the last game, the
Adam-addicted residents of Rapture have run amok and you'll see signs of
the city's further decay as you wander through it. The Splicers themselves
have been enhanced and seem to attack you much more aggressively this time
around. There are more of them and they seem to have learned some new
tricks, there are some that will throw fireballs at you and even some who
will teleport, making them much harder to kill. One of the most
intimidating are the new hulk splicers, who are incredibly powerful brutes
that inflict a lot of damage and charge at you relentlessly, making them
very challenging opponents who are much harder to beat than the standard
ones.
These new foes make the game less
predictable and even those who were truly good at the first game will find
Bioshock 2 offers a surprisingly different challenge. As stated earlier,
Bioshock 2 brings back the Big Daddies who will attack you mercilessly
whenever you get near a Little Sister, they remain tough opponents that
are hard to beat. However, in a new twist as the Little Sisters aged and
grew older, they were turned into a new class of protectors called Big
Sisters. They come out of nowhere and try and protect the Little Sisters,
and when you hear them roar, its quite terrifying, which brings a new
level of danger to the gameplay. Like the Big Daddy, a Big Sister is
protected by armor but unlike the plodding and slow moving Big Daddies,
they move very quickly and jump around frequently, they also throw a lot
of firepower at you which makes their attacks much harder to withstand.
One new gadget at your disposal is the film camera. This allows you to
take pictures of enemies as they attack you. While you are in battle,
filming your opponents allows you to learn their weak points and this
makes these types easier to defeat later on. It's a cool addition that
makes the game less intimidating.
Bishock
2's learning curve is relatively mild and most players familiar with the
first title should have little problem getting through initial stages.
Like the first game, there are loads of vita chambers which are frequent
save points, making progression easy and fast. The game isn't a cakewalk
since you don't automatically regenerate health or plasmid power. These
can be collected from fallen foes or purchased at many of the vending
machines in and around each level. A key difference this time is the
ability to wield both a plasmid and a standard weapon at the same time,
which increases the damage you can inflict and makes Bioshock 2 a much
easier title than the first game. Overall, the game's less balanced
approach makes it easier for novice players, but also makes the sequel
slightly less satisfying.
Bishock's plasmid system from the first
game returns as well, with some new abilities that let you throw objects
around or freeze opponents along with old favorites like shock and fire
weapons that allow you to kill opponents from afar. There's also a new
telekinesis ability that lets you levitate and throw objects at opponents
if you like. Finally, there's a new hacking ability weapon that lets you
target objects from afar and either hack or control them. This applies to
the vending machines, security robots and even gun turrets you find in
Rapture. You can switch between these weapons on the fly and use several
of them in combination to decimate your foes. Like your standard ammo,
these are limited and require enough EVE hypno to use, so you have to
wield them wisely. As in the first game, one of the Plasmids allows you to
take control of the security bots that plagued the first Bioshock also
return, though you can now hack them. Doing this makes them attack the
other characters and you can make them target specific areas so any
opponents who walk through are sitting ducks.
Bioshock 2's level designs are more
straightforward this time around, which makes them easier to traverse and
gives the game a more linear feel. You won't have to do a lot of
back-logging to complete levels and many of the secondary characters can
be largely ignored. However, there are some moral moments where you can
choose the fate of different characters. There are three main points where
this happens and while it doesn't seem to significantly affect gameplay,
Bioshock 2's storyline pivots on what decisions you make. If you show
mercy, things might turn out differently than if you take on your
monstrous side. As in the first game, you also have the choice to either
rescue any Little Sisters you encounter or harvest them for the Adam they
contain, which also makes a huge difference in how the story unfolds.
These dilemmas add another layer of interactivity to the proceedings and
help to immerse you further in the story by giving you a stake in the
outcome. It remains a very effect device in this respect and makes Bishock
feel like more than a just another mindless shooter.
From an aesthetic standpoint, Bioshock 2
looks just as good as the original. It's expansive art-deco environments
bring its lost world to life vividly with mid-century period pieces such
as the music, clothing and style evoking a time and place that feels lost
and submerged. Special effects such as lighting, shadows and muted colors
create an ominous, haunted look that permeates every aspect of the game.
The old-style 30's music soundtrack has been created for the game is once
again brilliant and fits the time period flawlessly, and the posters and
design that you see only add to the atmosphere. Finally, the omnipresent
water effects are great, it dribbles, rains, floods and soaks everything
it touches and makes you feel like you're inside a liquid environment
that's gradually sinking. There's no doubt this is a gloomy and oppressive
place, and your character's thudding movements make this a ponderous and
somewhat depressing game. However, the production design is flawless for
the most part and its technical achievements, such as detailed
environments make it one of the best-looking and imaginative titles on the
market.
Bioshock 2's immersive and richly
detailed environments deserve all the praise they get, but it's the solid
play mechanics, interesting storyline and great selection of enemies that
will keep you coming back for more. Unlike the first game, Bioshock 2 is
more structured and gives you less in the way of exploration. This might
seem like a drawback, but the more linear approach makes the gameplay more
accessible, and allows progression to occur at a much faster rate. Far
from feeling watered-down, the new installment enhances the original by
focusing its attention on the core elements that made Bioshock so
appealing in the first place. The enemies are slightly harder to beat this
time around, but the wider selection of weapons and plasmids, plus the
ability to use both simultaneously helps to even the score. Those who
enjoyed the first game will find that the return trip uncovers more
secrets and background information behind Rapture's fall, while
introducing new characters and elements that keep things from feeling
stale. Bioshock 2 is one of the rare sequels that lives up to the vision
of the original game while adding enough to make it a solid title in its
own right.
- Michael Palisano
