Splicers have grown more dangerous and gruesome from continued adam use.
Welcome back to Rapture!
Bioshock 2 takes place ten years after the events of the preceding game (now 1970) and the world of Rapture has taken a turn for the worse. The then decaying and leaking Rapture has entered a state of forsaken disrepair, including several locations that have been reclaimed by the sea. In Bioshock 2 you play as one of the first Big Daddies, named Delta. The main goal of this game is find your little sister, but each level has its own antagonist who will either attempt to guide or destroy.
You in your journey. The predominant force against your progression is Lamb, an altruist psychiatrist you believes you to be a monster. The story focuses on a journey of self discovery, trying to find out why you have been awakened and what has happened to cause it. The story will keep you gripped until the very end. While the game still retains some most of the mystery and wonder that kept me playing the first game Rapture seems very familiar now. I played through the first Bioshock again a couple days before Bioshock 2 came out and when I transitioned games it almost felt like I hadn’t switched at all. All of the first game’s splicers return, except for the nitro splicer, but over the years of continued splicing each enemy is now more deadly and gruesome than before. In addition to the old enemies several new enemies make an appearance in the sequel including Brute Splicer, Big Sisters, and the Rumbler Big Daddy.
The graphics in Bioshock 2 are okay but nothing new. Again, it just seems too familiar. The graphics were not upgraded very much from the original to the sequel. Even though the graphics are nothing special they complement the art style of Bioshock 2. A facial animation system was added to make the characters more lifelike. I did come across one texture glitch while I was playing, while in the area Pauper’s Drop strange lines started appearing across in a second story room. This was a single occurrence and when I returned to the area it had texture had returned to normal, so other than this the game runs very smoothly. Although the underlying graphics fell short the water and lighting excelled. Over the game the player will see the city become waterlogged and in some cases completely overcome by the dark ocean. The water was spectacular to say the least, seeing the supposed utopia breaking at the seams and watching the water flow in was just remarkable, but what were just breathtaking were the underwater scenes. Every once in a while Delta is cast into the ocean; these sequences give the player a break from the tension of Rapture to just take in the beauty of Rapture. It is a strange feeling seeing Rapture from the outside even though you know that within the buildings is a literal hell on earth; from the outside it almost seems serene. Lighting was yet another aspect that Bioshock 2 triumphed in, the water always casts a gloomy illumination on the room that seems beautiful and unsettling at the same time. Shadows are also used to scare the players, most commonly occurring around corners, and I have to saw seeing a shadow being casted by a splicer only to turn the corner and see an empty room. There are also short parts in the game were all you have to light the way is a flashlight, which always seems to cast eerie shadows wherever it is pointed.
Delta prepares to take on a Rumbler Big Daddy.
Sound is always something that is paid attention to in the beginning of the game but over time seems to fade into the background. In the case of Bioshock 2 much of the noise was in the background, whether it is the water dripping or the walls creaking. The sound of Rapture slowly being filled with water is with the player until the end of the game and over time it goes from a slow dripping to rushing water. Another background noise that added atmosphere to the game was the Rapture creaking and moaning under the pressure of the ocean floor. The voice acting was fairly good, nothing special, but delivered well. The splicers incoherent mumbling was always made me uneasy while playing, and whether or not you are carrying a little sister at the time will change what they have to say. Along with the voices, the sounds of the Big Daddies and security gave them their own personal personalities. The Big Daddies old and labored groaning made them feel like watchful old men, the happy chirping of the sentry bots made them seem childish, and the turrets constant beeping gave them the feeling of alertness. And, of course, there is nothing more terrifying than hearing the scream of the Big Sister on her way to take you down. The sound effects of the drill and guns were also done very well.
Multiplayer maps are based on levels from Bioshock.
Gameplay has received a complete overhaul from the first installment. Playing as a Big Daddy means that the player will experience more of and more challenging enemies than previously seen in Bioshock. Being a Big Daddy, the developers had to have something in the game that would make you genuinely afraid. The Big Sister fit this role perfectly, being more powerful and faster than you she is a formidable opponent. Overall the game did not provide enough of a challenge for me and without the return of super-human difficulty hard mode is as challenging as it gets. Delta can wield weapons and plasmids at the same time, which makes for more fluid combat and provides for the opportunity to certain combo’s such as freezing a splicer and then breaking him apart with the butt of your gun. Each weapon will also have a third upgrade which gives the gun a special ability, i.e. the maxed out rivet gun has a chance to set splicers on fire. The biggest addition to the gameplay is the adoption of the Little Sisters. No longer are you forced to either harvest or save them on the spot but instead you can prop them up on your shoulder and have them harvest adam for you. Once the Little Sister leads you to a body filled with adam Delta can build defenses to prepare for the splicers that try to take the adam for themselves. While at the beginning this break from the story seemed fun, near the end of the game it began feel labored and I almost just passed up some bodies just because I didn’t want to go through the defense sequence again. All weapons from the previous game are replaced by the new ones, although you can still find the old ones carried by splicers. Any weapon that you saw a Big Daddy use in the first game will be available to you in Bioshock 2, plus new ones, including a double barrel shotgun, minigun, and my personal favorite, the harpoon gun; which sticks enemies to walls. Hacking returns but with a twist, the Pipe Dream mini-game is replaced by a hack tool were the player must line up a moving point on small patches of green or red; green letting you advance to the next stage and red alerting security. If you hit neither green nor red you receive a small shock that hurts Delta for a minimal amount of health. Unfortunately plasmids did not receive the attention that the weapons did, there are very little new tonics, and you will remember almost all of them from the first game. All the old plasmids return such as fire, ice, telekinesis, shock, and insect swarm. The enrage plasmid returns under the name Hypnotize which will make enemies fight for you. Two brand new plasmids let you leave your body and use plasmids and hack security and summon sentry turrets to your side. There are a few scares scattered in the game but not as much as the first. Trophy Hunters will find themselves playing through the single player many times to get the platinum, but for casual gamers the single player attracts another play through because of the games four alternative endings. Overall the gameplay in flows much better utilizing the dual wield feature and is much more action packed.
Bioshock 2 provides a fun experience that still retains the feel of Rapture.
One feature that Bioshock offered that I was a tad apprehensive about was the addition of multiplayer. I was unsure of how the single player game would translate into a multiplayer experience, and I am excited to say that Bioshock 2 has completely erased any feelings of doubt from my mind. The multiplayer delivered phenomenally and will keep you playing for hours at a time. Multiplayer includes ten maps, all from the first game, and although they seemed a little big for Bioshock’s 5 vs. 5 matches it actually plays very good. There are seven game types to choose from, your basic free for all, team death match, and king of the hill; but two game types really seem to bring Bioshock into the multiplayer. One is capture the sister, a single flag CTF but the defending team has one random player chosen to be the Big Daddy and defend the little sister. Big Daddies are available in most of the game types but is very overpowered in free for all, if someone grabs the big daddy suit and knows how to use it, they will most likely win. The other is adam grab, or its team based counterpart team adam grab. The goal of this game is to hold on to the little sister as long as possible. Players can choose from multiple characters and customize them to their liking. You can also make your own load-outs comprised of two weapons, two plasmids, and three tonics. New plasmids and weapons were made especially for multiplayer such as aerodash, which lunges you forward at enemies and knocks them back, and the drill gun, which unleashes powerful projectiles with a fast fire rate but needs to be charged up first. You can also hack turrets and vending machines, but the hacking mini-game is replaced by a progression bar. Photography is also used in multiplayer, when you kill someone you have the option to take a picture of their body which gives you a damage bonus against that player, but be aware that if they kill you, you will lose that damage bonus. Weapons are also upgradeable such as; automatic firing for the pistol, a faster fire rate for the shotgun, and larger clip for the machine gun. You progress through forty levels with unlocks for almost every one so there is no period were you get level up multiple times and gain nothing. The progression system and upgradable weapons will keep me playing until, at the very minimum, I reach max level. Reaching level forty will also be challenging because I have played the multiplayer for a while now and I am only fourteen. The multiplayer experience is fun and addictive and will keep you playing for a long time.
Tags: 2K, BioShock 2, PlayStation 3