Sure it doesn't have a huge plot twist like the first one and there are two very annoying gameplay mechanics (Protecting Little Sister while they're harvesting and Big Sister fights) but all in all, I think people look at the original Bioshock with super red rose-tinted glasses. That's not to say I dislike the original because I love them both but it seems every time someone brings up the sequel, everyone just piles on it. To me it plays better than the original and again, while the story isn't as good as the first one, it was still pretty decent and kept me engaged. The multiplayer was surprisingly fun too, admittedly I wasn't expecting much but it was perfectly okay. Plus that drill dash move was awesome every single time you did it, if you never played it because everyone made it sound like the biggest disappointment in the history of video games, you should give it a try.

Because it wasn't the first game. I actually really liked Bioshock 2 and thought it fixed a lot of the problems with the first game from a gameplay perspective. It also was a bit of a letdown because it felt more like Bioshock v2.0 and not Bioshock 2. It felt too similar to the first game in terms of tone and story. They had a Ryan wannabe, they had carbon-copy environments that felt like they were stripped from the first game, and the Ryan wannabe (I can't remember her name) felt like a weird character to add because, seeing as how paramount she was in this universe, she was never mentioned in the first game. It really did feel like a direct to dvd sequel to Bioshock.

But I don't understand the people who actively dislike it. It was a fine game that did really well considering the crazy expectations it had facing it.

It was just weird. Like, now YOU ARE THE BIG DADDY, you're delta, who... was an experiment or something and I actually don't remember. But there were big sisters now for some reason, and their vision is messed up and... it just wasn't as good, I don't know. It was well worth the rental, I'm glad I played it, it just wasn't as good.

Love both bioshock games, I love the mood and style of rapture and wish I could explore the world more. I remember the initial announcement of bioshock 2 felt like a dirty cash grab(which it was), however the actual bioshock 2 game is great. I doubt the haters actually played the game, even the multiplayer had some neat ideas.

I love Bioshock 2, it was my first Bioshock game. I think there is something about Bioshock games that makes you want a singular experience. For example I don't feel like playing the first one after I've played 2.

Same thing happened when Final Fantasy VIII came out and for a lot of the same reasons. I liked both Bioshock games, but the first one was special.

It may sound nitpicky, but I always found it really dumb how I'm supposed to be this giant, strong Big Daddy..Yet generic Splicers are still totally a threat?

I don't know, that part was just a major disconnect for me.

I actually thought Bioshock 2 was a better game.  While the first one was more original obviously, I thought 2 did everything better.  The  in  2 was better not having to switch between plasmids and weapons, and the atmosphere was just as haunting.  As for the story, I honestly didn't care for 1's story and thought the twist was kinda stupid.  2's story wasn't great either but I thought it was a step up from the original.

Bioshock 1 is one of my favorite games ever, but I still really like Bioshock 2. I like them both for different reasons.The first one has a better story, seeing as how Ryan was a better antagonist than Lamb, but actually playing the second felt better. Running around doing the dash drill move on everything contributes to some of my favorite experiences of the series.

There was nothing wrong with the game, I thought, but after playing the first Bioshock, the second one wasn't quite interesting enough to keep me going the whole way through. As @JasonR86 said, it felt like Bioshock v2.0, and not even as good.

I enjoyed Bioshock 2 quite a bit. The thing is, the first game was more impactful due to it's far superior writing and story as well as Rapture being a fresh location.

I very much prefer Bioshock 2 to Bioshock. It plays better, it has better pacing, and the tacked on multiplayer actually manages to be unique and fun. The story isn't quite as good as Bioshock, but it's concise and the twists and turns are still enough to make it interesting.

I thought it was an enjoyable experience, though it didn't feel as unique and it lacked the feeling of unknown that made the first game so fun.

I thoroughly enjoyed Bio2, but it does feel a little B-side I suppose after the epic first game. I say this every time the game's brought up, but play on hard and turn off the VitaChambers, and the gameplay is elevated drastically. U actually have to think a bit tactically and use powers (like the one that lets you call bots to your side) to get thru fights instead of just blasting/plasma-ing away. I heard the DLC is very good, too, although I've not played it.

@Masha2932 said:

I love Bioshock 2, it was my first Bioshock game. I think there is something about Bioshock games that makes you want a singular experience. For example I don't feel like playing the first one after I've played 2.

Dude, you're missing out on the real beef of the Bioshock universe.

On topic, it was a fine game with improved combat to boot. Also I did not find protecting the Little Sisters and Fighting the Big Sisters particularly annoying. In fact I enjoyed it quite well. A competent sequel for sure.

@Cloudenvy said:

It may sound nitpicky, but I always found it really dumb how I'm supposed to be this giant, strong Big Daddy..Yet generic Splicers are still totally a threat?

I don't know, that part was just a major disconnect for me.

Yeah, splicers in 1 were torn to shreds by Big Daddies all the time and now... I'm a big daddy and they're a threat?

There are other little niggles about Bioshock 2 that I have questions about, but none of them are game-breaking and none of them are really story breaking either. In short, Bioshock 2 fixes a lot of the things I didn't like about the first game but then causes some story questions, which is something that I did like about the first game.

So, in essence, if you were to put the strengths of both into one game and drop the weaknesses of each, you might have the perfect atmospheric shooter. Which reminds me of at least one other franchise that I greatly enjoy...

I really liked it, i got as far in it as i did in the first as in right up to the last area before moving on, i struggle to finish games that give me the creeps, i have a hard time doing it in a timely fashion at least, i really enjoyed the multiplayer for a short time too

I think people were too harsh on Bioshock 2. It still had a lot of what made the original great; those environments, that gameplay, an even better crafted atmosphere, but I do think it was a step down from the original. 2 felt like it was retreading a lot of what the original had already pulled off excellently and didn't have a great deal to add to it. Rapture in itself may be a great world, but one of the reasons it was so impressive the first time round was because it was something we hadn't seen before and the game was very much about a process of discovery. When 2 adopted it, it didn't do as much new with that environment as I would have liked.

The underlying message and tones of the story in the second one also didn't feel as fresh or pointed as that of the original. There was a fair story there, but the socialist Rapture felt more like a case of them needing another political and social system to institute in the world, rather than them wanting to make a statement and being greatly enthused about seeing how certain technologies, political ideas, and social ideas might play out in a world (albeit a slightly dramatised one). In fact the story didn't really do all that much for most of the game. I did enjoy the ending, heck, the game probably had a better story than most games out there, but it wasn't just that it didn't have a twist, there was nothing greatly exceptional about it in any regard. The narrative and world were the things that really pulled people in to the original Bioshock and when 2 couldn't pull them off as well as the original could, there was always going to be backlash.

I don't have any problem with it, because I never felt the urge to play it in the first place.

@Gamer_152 said:

I think people were too harsh on Bioshock 2. It still had a lot of what made the original great; those environments, that gameplay, an even better crafted atmosphere

You're crazy man.

@TentPole said:

@Gamer_152 said:

I think people were too harsh on Bioshock 2. It still had a lot of what made the original great; those environments, that gameplay, an even better crafted atmosphere

You're crazy man.

Noted. I just thought the visual effects in Bioshock 2 gave it a better edge there.

I liked Bioshock 2.

@OwnlyUzinWonHan: @Gamer_152:

There was also huge glaring plot holes within the game that they didn't think or care about.

First off why would Sofia Lamb a proven socialist/commie psychologist even attempt to go to Rapture that was so clearly advertised as the super libertarian undersea city of Objectivism. How did she even get in? It made sense in the first game how a working class emerged, because that's what happens when you have a city. A working class emerges that handles maintenance. Obviously they unionize and Fontaine gets support.

Second off which is the biggest problem I had with the game was that 2K marin more or less threw away the plot of Bioshock 1.

The entire plot of Bioshock 1 was, even though you had all these top scientists running around and working together, the only idea they had to crack the top of the line security for Andrew Ryan and use his vitachambers was to actually fucking use his genes. Take his bastard and toughen him up to assassinate Andrew Ryan.

That was the crux of the whole thing, Andrew Ryan closed the entirety of Rapture as his own little paradise, so they used you to get in and kill him. Why didn't they just hack the door and send in a big daddy? Because they couldn't.

So how does Sofia Lamb and a little girl take control of it afterwards? They can't just claim it as theirs just cause...

The people who made the security locks and systems of Rapture only had one answer, and that was to make a duplicate key. Not to pick the lock.

It's not a bad game at all, but my problem is that it felt unnecessary. It seemed to exist simply so that they could use the name to sell more games. There was nothing left dangling at the end, or even room to allow for the continuing adventures of characters from the first game. To me it was like a movie studio deciding to make a sequel to Citizen Kane: it was a great piece of entertainment that should have been left to stand on its own

Yeah (without reading any of the comments), I don't understand it either. I mean, personally, I love the first more, I'd say it's one of my very favorite games ever made, while Bioshock 2 was one of my favorite games of 2010. I think the biggest problem with Bioshock 2 isn't even the game itself really, it's rather the version I played and have. I think playing the 360 version would have been better than the PS3 version, but even so, I still highly enjoy it. I think the one thing that I find hard to do though, that I didn't really have a hard time with the first Bioshock, is getting through it again.

I've played it, and played it, and played it, but the time was always so far apart I always wanted to just start over, and I never got through it again. I've beaten Bioshock about three (maybe four) times on 360, twice on PS3, and once on PC. Now, I'm sure there are a lot of people here that don't really like how GameSpot scores games, but if I were to go about it that way, I'd give Bioshock a 10 on 360 and PC, a 9.5 on PS3, and Bioshock 2 on PS3 a 9.0. Of course, this is if I were to round a specific score to the nearest ten though.

Because it felt like they were trying to milk me for money rather than give me the experience I wanted (true). I didn't like the segregated chapters, I didn't like the concepts surrounding it (everything seemed very uninteresting), but the gameplay was fine and some of the environments seemed to be well thought out.

@MildMolasses said:

It's not a bad game at all, but my problem is that it felt unnecessary. It seemed to exist simply so that they could use the name to sell more games. There was nothing left dangling at the end, or even room to allow for the continuing adventures of characters from the first game. To me it was like a movie studio deciding to make a sequel to Citizen Kane: it was a great piece of entertainment that should have been left to stand on its own

This. Bioshock 2 looks and feels like Bioshock. If the setting was during the destruction of Rapture, if we could actually see, just for a moment, how Rapture looked when all the shit started i think it would have been a much better game. Rapture, before the fall, was supposed to be paradise under water, would have been nice to see that.

I thought Bioshock 2 was great. I agree that the story wasn't nearly as interesting as the first game but it played fantastically with way improved combat. And the environments were just as impressive as the first game. All of the "Bioshock doesn't need a sequel because meh I am so cool" crap that was being spewed forth at it's release was kind of infuriating because there was really nothing wrong with it. At least Minerva's Den garnered it some well deserved good press.

Bioshock 2 was a good game and gameplay-wise it was a much tighter experience than the first one. I'm not sure why people hold the first game in such high regard anyway. The story is alright, but it left a sour taste in my mouth since the plot is so similar to System Shock 2. Around the halfway point I didn't want to play it anymore and haven't gone back to it since. I will say one thing for it, though: Fort Frolic was awesome and Sander Cohen was a much more interesting villain than both Ryan and Fontaine.

I liked the game.

I actually really liked it. It was different and, at times, kind of went off on a tangent, but it was interesting and enjoyable.

But the fucking multiplayer. That is something to bitch about.

Maybe it's just me. But I never got the sense that I was the all powerful Big Daddy. Big Daddies seemed so much more bad ass in the original Bioshock.

Whenever a game takes a new point of view, instead of reiterating on the old, the masses cry out. It's always funny to see for me because before the release, everyone is hoping for some change, and then when it happens, no ones happy.

The point: Gamers are probably the most diva group of individuals on this planet. Including wherever @Video_Game_King lives, too.

I loved Bioshock 2, and the multiplayer was fantastic.

I liked it but I preferred the original. The original had far better writing and a better story, and it was different. Bioshock 2 was more of the same to me. Plus, I did not like how you were a Big Daddy but Splicers were still able to take you down with relative ease. I get that you were the first Big Daddy but... come on.

I think its clear why the Big Daddy is weak in the beginning. To have any difficulty in the game. The plot reason (although not explicitly stated) could be 1) Delta just woke up after many years being "dead", 2) The splicers have mutated even more than in the first game, becoming more powerful than before (I think thats said somewhere). The reason why Lamb is not mentioned in the first game could be historical revisionism in Rapture (she became an unperson).

BioShock 2 is a great game and a great continuation of the first game. People will complain. I like the MP to, but one great annoyance... the rapture metro pack DLC can not be used without GREAT difficulty.

@Masha2932 said:

I love Bioshock 2, it was my first Bioshock game. I think there is something about Bioshock games that makes you want a singular experience. For example I don't feel like playing the first one after I've played 2.

Please tell me you played the first one.

For me the second one was fun to actually play, but the sense of discovery and wonder that made the first game great just wasn't there. I really liked both just for different reasons.