Following up the truly brilliant BioShock was always going to be an uphill battle for 2K Marin (and friends), and the results here are much what we expected; a structurally excellent sequel which never really reaches the heights of the original.
The sequel's biggest dilemma - and attraction - is Rapture. The underwater city is undoubtedly one of the most distinct video game environments ever created, and we'd already explored it, been shocked and surprised by it, and heard much of the tales it has to tell long before Bioshock 2 existed. Revisiting the wrecked dystopia, then, was never going to carry the same impact as it did the first time around - but 2K Marin does a good job trying.
BioShock 2
Gameplay footage
2:25Multiplayer gameplay
BioShock 2
Gameplay footage
2:25Multiplayer gameplay
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With Andrew Ryan dead and the city left to rot for a decade on the seabed, the late pioneer has had control of Rapture seized by his biggest political rival, ex-psychiatrist Sophia Lamb.
Lamb is basically the anti-Ryan; where he sought to build a society of objectivism and individual reward, the new boss believes in the greater good of a united society, sacrificing the self in name of the larger cause. Like most desperate societies, Rapture's mutilated citizens have turned to a religion of sorts - which goes under the moniker of 'The Family'.
DELTA FORCE You take control of another special member of the Rapture population, Delta - a prototype Big Daddy with plasmid abilities. As a very special Daddy, Delta was paired with a very special Little Sister before Rapture's ugly downfall - the daughter of Lamb herself.
When the big man wakes in a puddle after a ten year slumber, his sole motivation is to be reunited with his Little Sister - and he'll disrupt Rapture's precious Adam-splicing ecosystem as much as he has to so he can achieve his goal.
The sequel's premise is pretty simple, then - and admittedly doesn't carry the same sense of mystery as Jack's discovery of Rapture. But 2K Marin has done a wonderful job of weaving a deep and thoughtful narrative through the follow-up that, plot twists aside, stands tall alongside the original game.
Banter is again presented through radio messages, and this time you make contact with dozens more sane (and insane) survivors - and they're all highlights of the story.
Your main guiding light is Dr. Tenenbaum, who's still alive and safeguarding Little Sisters in the wrecked metropolis. Eventually, you talk with other colourful characters including Plasmid-manufacturer Augustus Sinclair, who helps you on your journey to being reunited with your little friend.
The majority of BioShock 2's characters are fantastically voiced (though there are some dodgy performances) and audio diaries are of excellent quality. 2K Marin offers willing players an even meatier selection of side stories, from Andrew Ryan's decade-old anecdotes to the records of a surface investigator who manages to reach the ruins of Rapture.
Because of this the BioShock universe feels more complete than ever, and level-for-level the sequel has more to offer than the original game. From a derelict train station to a 1950s-esque diner BioShock 2's rock-solid pacing never drops, and each Rapture environment introduces its own unique and interesting encounter with a Sander Cohen-style mentalist.
2K Marin's taken lots of pointers from BioShock 1's best level, and it shows. The game constantly rewards your work with chunks of narrative, whether through another burst of chatter from a mental Vicar, or an audio diary revealing the true intentions of the characters around you.
The tidying up of the original game's few flaws is consistent throughout the solo experience, from splicers' urgency to run off and heal themselves when you die, to the removal of the useless inventing system.
BIG DADDY'S HOUSE As a Big Daddy, Rapture's social system carries more depth and is more defined than during Jack's trip to town. Just like in the original game, Delta will spot Big Daddies and their escorted Little Sisters roaming the damp hallways, and if you want their sweet, sweet Adam you're going to have to defeat the even stronger guardians - which now come in rocket-hurling Rumbler varieties - in battle.
Combat, overall, is one of the sequel's strengths. Rapture, with its desperate and mutated inhabitants, feels like a more dangerous place, and multi-aggressor battles hinder our suited protagonist at every corner.
Increased toughness, bigger guns and ability to dual-wield plasmids and weapons means it's effortless for our big man to tear through gangs of baddies in tough encounters.
And with weapons like the ever-so-satisfying drill and Gatling gun - plus upgrades that make the original look simple - offloading bullets is simply a more gratifying experience than in the first game.
No better is this demonstrated than in harvesting skirmishes. Unlike before, recovered Little Sisters don't simply hand over their body-modding Adam; you have to fight to earn it. With the girl chucked safely onto your back, a quick hold of the X button forms a breadcrumb trail to the nearest, Adam-filled corpse, which kick-starts a combat sequence as you fight to protect your friend from waves of incoming bio-burglars.
You can inject tons of strategy into your harvest by laying traps and hacking nearby machinery, but it's usually far less effort (and fun) to meet every splicer visitor with the business end of your drill and a friendly ice bolt.
Gatherers' Gardens and Power to the People weapon stations offer greater rewards in the new Rapture, with maxed-out Shotguns utilising Tesla shock powers and Level Three Incinerate and Electro Bolt offering the option to charge up your shot.
Unfortunately, there's little to no variety on top of the Plasmids seen in the original game, but they're all-round less useless - even when shooting swarms of bees.
SISTER ACT But coming back to Rapture's spruced-up ecosystem, there's a third link in the chain. Disturb the city's Little Sisters too often and one of Rapture's new monsters will come knocking at your doorstep; the powerful and ever-present Big Sisters.
Big Sisters are Little Sisters all grown up. Armed with lightning-fast reflexes and an arsenal of devastating Plasmid powers, these screeching assassins are the police officers of Rapture. Screeching, hurling flames and chinning you with a giant needle, battles with the slinky aggressors are frantic and visceral.
But strangely, even though finally defeating them is an epic struggle, overcoming the Big Sisters doesn't feel as satisfying as it should. It's obvious that at one stage the Big Sister was perhaps (or should have been) a single entity with a bigger role in BioShock 2's plot.
But as multiple, faceless aggressors, laying the killer blow on a Big Sister feels without consequence - which is totally in contrast to the depth Marin has introduced to other areas on the game.
One thing BioShock 2 does brilliantly where the original game floundered is in creating a feeling of progression and consequence to your actions. BioShock 2 constantly chucks moral decisions at you (and not just whether you should off the Little Sisters or not) and through character dialogue and the odd painful flashback it's clear what kind of path your character is treading; good, bad or somewhere in the middle, ultimately culminating in one of many different endings.
This result is a single-player game that, on paper at least, is superior to its 2007 predecessor - in level design, pacing and combat. The one thing it doesn't do though - just as we expected - is recreate those 'wow' moments from our first title's trip underwater.
BioShock's opening bathysphere ride and that scene with Ryan isn't matched in the second game. That's not to say it doesn't go far enough in the impressive set piece department (there are some awesome scenes in the sequel) but it lacks the punch the original so powerfully delivered in 2007 and in the process is a lot more predictable.
On its own, then, BioShock 2 is a brilliant, if not-particularly-brave shooter story. But as a complement to the exciting and iconic original, it's a predictable but technically excellent second chapter to an unmissable FPS pairing.
Though the lobbies aren't exactly bustling with players at the moment, it's not too early to tell that BioShock 2's multiplayer mode is solid and surprising.
Developed by Digital Extremes (Unreal Tournament series), Rapture's debut online appearance is well-balanced, immersive and elegantly presented. After choosing one of four characters, you're presented with a cinematic introduction with your wielder/athlete/housewife picking themselves off their apartment floor, having injected their very first Plasmid.
From here you're free to explore your living space, customising your outfit via the bedroom wardrobe, visiting the Gene Bank or listening to unlockable character audio diaries. Head to the local bathysphere though, and the real action kicks off...
BioShock 2's multiplayer mode doesn't deny its Modern Warfare routes - and there are lots of them. Call of Duty's 'perks' are essentially represented as Tonics and Plasmid powers and you can configure up to three profiles with various fire-flinging plasmids, a pair of guns, Tonics and upgrades for your weapons.
Infinity Ward's RPG system feels more at home in Rapture though and along with some unique deathmatch features - such as the ability to hack turrets and vending machines or photograph a downed foe's corpse for a damage bonus - BioShock 2 offers something genuinely different to the online space.
As mentioned before weapon and plasmid balancing is spot on and your choice of loadout is at this admittedly early stage all down to preference. Do you want to slow your enemies down with Winter Blast, or simply set them alight with incinerate? Lucrative Big Daddy suits too - which occasionally spawn in arenas - are never impossible to take down.
FPS mechanics can at times feel clunky - and there are numerous bug and lag problems currently plaguing games - but Rapture's online debut is sure to attract a loyal community.
// Overview
Verdict
Lacks the impact of the original, but piece-for-piece a worthy sequel to one of the generation's best shooters.
Uppers
Level-for-level a better paced solo game Improved, frantic combat Excellent narrative Solid multiplayer
Downers
Big Sisters could've been better executed Rapture lacks impact the second time
all these forums i'm on have such miserable s**ts on them. i loved bioshock 1, must have gone through it 6 times in total. how the f**k can more of the same but improved be something to moan at? god damn. get a grip while those of us who are excited about playing it tomorrow unwrap our special edition boxes and insert that sweet sweet disc in our machines and proceed to put on the surround sound and beat the f**k out of the big sister, (scripted or not).
I was going to hold off on getting Bioshock 2 given how disappointed I was with the first one. Which to me had some great high points, but the second half of the game collapsed disappointingly into a very one dimensional shooter as the plot ran desperately short of ideas. However, given the encouraging reviews this has received, with particular reference to the moral choices being fleshed out quite a lot, it sounds like the flaws have been addressed. So might have to be pursued to give it a go.
@tmulford: Yeah, I'm with you on that one. The first chunk of the game seemed really good- but I always felt that the combat was really cumbersome. Then it became a little stagnated halfway through- I couldn't be bothered to play through it again- but I did enjoy the experience.
What's with all the games at the moment giving us players moral dilemmas? Mass Effect 2, this and Heavy Rain! I don't know what trends are going on with the developers but I'm liking it!
Loved the first one even though I generally can't stand FPS's in general... it was a breath of fresh air in a stale genre.
I'd not seen a game approach the genre with such an open mind as to how you achieved your goals since the last Deus Ex.
As for the sequel I'm really not sure, more of the same won't cut it, and if it's too much like a normal FPS then I know I won't have the patience to finish it.
I'm really enjoying it so far. The game has a good 'weight' behind it, if you know what I mean. Like Mirrors Edge does. (Ignore me quoting that mediocre game) The way your character moves immerses you into the story. Anyone get what I mean!?
@sinthetic.... Oh, sorry sire, I didn't know we weren't allowed to express anything but absolute gratitude to them for gracing us lowly proles with another game. Whatever was I thinking? Oh, that it's my opinion and that's what these forums are for? Bloody forum nazi.
The first game did not need a sequel in my humble opinion. I'm glad they didn't feck it up, doesn't mean that I'm going to race down the shops either.
I did not say that I would not at least try it out though.
Didn't get my GAME pre-order yesterday as I normally do. Anyone else in the same boat? It better be here today because I finished Dante's Inferno yesterday
got my collectors edition, the art book is out of this f**king world. worth £20 for just that. the game itself is also sublime, did the first hour. the feel is just as grandiose as the first one, the big daddy feels great, really excellent sound when he walks and grunts when he jumps. the rivet gun is really satisfying and gives a really clear thud when it makes contact with an enemy. the combat is weighty, something the first one lacked for sure.
the water section i just got through lead to this absolutely stunning scene, i won't ruin it for you, but maybe my saying that it involves sharks, jelly fish and billboards might give it away! you will know when you are there because the orchestral genius of garry schyman is in full swing
i turned off the vita chambers, put sensitivity to 100 and boy oh boy, that first battle with the big sister was exhilerating as all kinds of f**k. i was s**tting my pants the whole way through it. needless to say the boy wonder that i am, i dispatched her quicker than an order from gameplay.
this is pure wonder in full effect, no other game has made me sit there and feel small in comparison to the goings on, on screen. i am going to love every second of this.
The game is fantastic. Spent a few hours on the single player, and even more on-line. The multiplayer is great and very different - worth the price of admission on its own. What doesn't get a mention in the review is that the levels are based on Bioshock 1 (with presumably some more from the current game to follow).
A quick ice blast followed up by a shotgun to the head is a preferred strategy on-line - and this is available from the off. Just wait till I unlock some more plasmids to use on you!
I completely disagree with the reviewer and others on the familarity of the story. The wait for the return to Rapture has been far too long! All you moaners saying that you didn't want a sequel - shame on you!
Oh, and I haven't seen such a good looking and atmospheric game in ages.
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Level-for-level a better paced solo game
