"Bomberman Act Zero 2: The Bombinating"

There was a lot of fuss made when it was announced Bioshock was getting a sequel. As a game, it is very self-contained. The atmosphere and story made it great, but also seemed to have wrapped everything up nicely. What could you even do with a sequel that wouldn’t ruin what the original game accomplished?

I am happy to say that I have returned to Rapture in Bioshock 2 and came away liking their dark, dystopian world even more.

Bioshock 2 is a FPS (first person shooter) with some character progression elements. It isn’t a full-on RPG experience, but there is some customization on what you spend your limited resources on upgrading. The world has a very retro-steampunk look and feel to it, and includes many science fiction elements that allow for the game’s unique setting and characters to exist.

In the original, you find that a man by the name of Andrew Ryan has set up his own personal Utopia in the form of the underwater city of Rapture. When you arrive, his Utopian vision has fallen. In Bioshock 2, you awake in Rapture ten years after the fall. Eight years have passed since the original game and thankfully, they did not try to find a way to have you once again play as Jack, the protagonist from the first game.

You play as the original Big Daddy, known as “Subject Delta”. The Big Daddies are the guardians of the Little Sisters; girls who have been genetically altered to gather ADAM, the magical goo that re-writes DNA and gives people crazy super-powers. After awakening with no memories of your past (because you are a video game hero), you set out in search of your Little Sister, Eleanor. You quickly find that a woman by the name of Sofia Lamb, who was at odds with Ryan, is now controlling Rapture and it’s deranged populace.

If you have played the first game, it might seem like more of the same when you first get going. The good news is, Bioshock 2 takes what the original did well and expands on it. Once gain, you will find audio diaries from various characters hidden throughout the game which reveal more of the world. They tell the story of what happened in Rapture, how things got as bad as they did, and also do a great job of tying the two games together without contradicting the first game.

To collect ADAM, used for upgrading your character, they have introduced an interesting mechanic. In the original, you killed the Big Daddy guarding a Little Sister, then had the option of either harvesting the ADAM from her or freeing her, which gave you a lot less ADAM. In Bioshock 2, not only do you have to get the Little Sister away from her Big Daddy, but now you can adopt her to temporarily become your Little Sister. You can then have her find ADAM sources, where she can harvest for you. The twist is that the Splicers, the people that have gone completely mad with the power that ADAM has given them, will come in waves trying to take your Little Sister away. It is your job to protect her while she gathers.

This new feature was a very welcome addition to the games mechanics. It adds a new level of challenge to the experience, and requires you to think defensively. Since you trigger the event, you have time to litter the room with traps, try to find a good area to defend from, and really kick some splicer ass. It also addresses the difficulty concerns some had in the first game. Since you quickly re-spawn in the nearest “Vita-Chamber” and Big Daddy’s keep their damage, people thought the first game was too easy. If you die while defending your little sister, you have to start the sequence over again since she retreats if you are defeated.

"Eleanor is telepathically linked to Delta"

They have also added some new enemy types that keep things interesting. There are new, stronger Big Daddy types, brute splicers that will hurls projectiles charge at you, and the Big Sisters. The Big Sister will appear after you have successfully dealt with all the Little Sisters on a level. They are super-agile and strong, and also have many ADAM powers at their disposal. They are Boss fights without being generic or cheesy “find the week-spot” style boss fights. The overall difficulty seems to have been cranked up from the first game. I found myself retrying some of the Little Sister segments numerous times before finding a successful strategy. However, the game’s “Easy” mode is a great way for new players to experience the story without getting so frustrated they give up on it.

While Bioshock 2 does add a multiplayer mode, I did not spend enough time with it to do a review here.

If you are looking for a great single-player shooter experience, something that does things in a fun and interesting way (rather than the old World War II standby), Bioshock 2 is a great choice. While it does tie in to the first game’s story, you don’t have to have played the first game to enjoy it. It does a great job of bringing you up to speed and expanding on the universe set up in the original. It does have a bit of a thriller/horror twist, so if you are jumpy it may not be for you.

This review is based on a the Xbox 360 version of Bioshock 2, rented by the reviewer.

Tags: 2K Marin, Big Daddy, Bioshock 2, Eleanor, First Person Shooter, FPS, Irrational Games, PC, ps3, rpg, Subject Delta, Xbox 360

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 3rd, 2010 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.