Bioshock 2 Review
It seems everything I review lately is a sequel. The follow-up to the acclaimed Bioshock brings the player back to Rapture 10 years later as a prototype Big Daddy. One big thing to note, is that generally the gameplay is largely unchanged. The only major change is the hacking mini-game is quicker and not pipe dream anymore. Also, they provided a multiplayer experience that now seems to be a staple for first person shooter experiences.
After an opening cut scene sets you on a journey to recover your little sister you will have all story updates provided over the radio, or telepathically from your little sister. Although the story is still quite a bit better than most games out there, it lacks most of the emotional impact that the first game delivered. On its own merits however, it is still good enough to provide the necessary incentive to continue forward. There is also slightly more moral choice opportunities that have an effect on the ending you receive. I didn’t find it vital to have played the first game to enjoy the story, but in order to make the most sense out of all the audio logs you come across, you will need to experience the story from the first game in some way.
As I mentioned earlier, Bioshock 2 isn’t much different than Bioshock 1 in terms of gameplay. It is still a finely tuned first person shooter, except now you can use your plasmids at the same time as your weapon. As well, the hacking mini-game is pretty much a form of a quick time event that doesn’t pull you from the action while you do it. Another addition is also underwater sequences, yet they didn’t seem to turn out to be anything special. You won’t encounter any enemies while underwater, and it seems to serve as a means to move you from one area to another.
One thing you want to be careful of, is to make sure you take care of all you want to before leaving a stage. In the first Bioshock you could travel between stages, but in this sequel, once a stage is complete you cannot return and pick up stuff you missed. The advantage to this is you will get slightly more variety in the environments, even though they don’t look much different from the first game. This also makes it a somewhat more linear experience.
Once you play through the single player campaign, there is a reasonably fleshed out multiplayer experience, setup fairly similar to Modern Warfare in terms of a load out system with perk type elements. You will earn ADAM which acts as the experience points that will level you up all the way to level 40. Although the features are there, I found the experience rather laggy, and inconsistent. The first few hours were really great, but once you figure out how things work you start to realize the multiplayer is a little broken. It’s a great diversion from the single player, but not a good reason to go pick up the game as you will likely burn out on it before hitting max level.
Another unchanged feature are the visuals. It looks almost identical to the first Bioshock, which looked really good for the time it came out. Although you visit mostly different locations within rapture, it seems to have lost most of its unique charm if you played the first game. A great musical score accompanies the action, and the voice acting is absolutely top notch.
I know I mention this game is very similar to its predecessor, but that isn’t exactly a bad thing. Bioshock is still one of the best games of this generation, so this sequel is still a very enjoyable experience. If you played the first game though, this is less of a must play unless you are a fan. The first Bioshock is definitely the better of the two (despite the multiplayer addition) and because of that fact I found this sequel slightly less enjoyable. The defending the little sister tasks (should you choose to do them) are a little annoying and the necessity for ADAM is greatly reduced since I found by the end of the game I had way more than I wanted to use. The new big sister adversary is a welcome challenge, but I found I had to pump way too much ammo to take her down towards the end. It made the fights boil down to fighting near vending machines so I could replenish ammo and health as I needed (and I needed to a lot).
Bioshock 2 is still a very clever and entertaining experience on its own merits, which will give you at least a good 10 hours entertainment to play through the single player campaign. Although it’s hard not to compare it to its predecessor, you will still likely enjoy this game whether you are new to the series or not.
