Bioshock 2 is a game that really shouldn’t have a sequel. The way I remember the ending of the first game, because I harvested a couple of the little sisters, was that everyone in Rapture (including the splicers) got out and ran rampant on the world. But, now suddenly everyone is back.
The developers promised the story would make sense even for the people that played the first game. They also promised it’d be more challenging than the first, with less of an abundance of vita-chambers (where you re-spawn when you die). Did they deliver?
You play as a prototype big daddy that after attempting to protect his little sister is convinced to shoot himself in the head. You miraculously wake up 10 years later and are set off on a journey to find the little sister that you’re bonded to and get to the bottom of what’s happening in Rapture.
YAY :
- There’s a lot of really fun tie-ins with the original Bioshock. It was cool to learn more about who Fontaine was before he started pretending to be Atlas. Also, they talk about the character you play in the original. How he was hypnotized to respond to phrases that began with the letters w-y-k, in that order. You also see a portrait of the Ryan family in Fontaine’s office.
- The weapons are great, the drill’s a little underwhelming, but other things make up for it. Like the spear gun. It’s slow, but pinning people to walls is very fun. They should have made it a one-hit kill on splicers though.
- I ‘ll admit I kind of rushed through the original Bioshock when I first played it. I think I finished it in one day(around 6-7 hours). In this game I did a lot more exploring than the first, as well as saved and did the two harvests with every little sister, but it still took me 17 hours to finish a single playthrough.
- It did also seem a little more challenging than the first. I didn’t die more times, I just felt like I had to use more health packs.
NAY :
- The story is very ‘meh’. Sofia lamb convinces your character to shoot himself in the head, then you suddenly wake up 10 years later alive and well?(they ‘explain’ how this is supposedly possible, but it’s still a bad starting point) If everyone left after the ending I got for Bioshock where did all these people come from? And why are sane non-splicers still living down there? It doesn’t make sense.
- A lot of the aspects of the first game carry over, but don’t make sense with your character being a big daddy. You still eat and drink despite wearing a supposed airtight suit. Security cameras and turrets want you dead, but other big daddy’s don’t trigger them, even if you’ve hacked them.
- Without spoiling any parts of the game, I felt like a lot of the set-pieces and tasks were just copies of parts of the first game. If you play both Bioshock and Bioshock 2 those moments should really stand out to you.
- The multiplayer plays like a tacked on game mode. It’s pretty standard fare with some smaller maps. My favorite part about it was the apartment you start in before you go to matchmaking. That’s not a good sign.
Bioshock 2 isn’t really a bad game, it just doesn’t live up to the expectations set by the game it follows. Would I want to play it again? Probably not. Coupled with the things that I thought just didn’t make sense, the game on a whole is a little too dark and moody for my tastes. The multiplayer isn’t going to be reeling players in either. There are a lot better first-person shooters out there to spend your time with. I’d happily give this game a rent, but I don’t think it’s worth a purchase.
