It's been about three years since BioShock was released. It was critically acclaimed the moment it was released winning multiple game of the year awards and leaving fans wanting more and anticipating the sequel. But does it live up to the hype of the original?
The game is set in Rapture once again, in 1968 about 10 years after the events of the original and shit has hit the fan. Though you're in different locations in the underwater city, the game maintains the exotic 1950's look of the original game. You play as "Subject Delta" one of the original prototype Big Daddies on a quest to find Eleanor, a Little Sister than you lost contact with many years ago.
BioShock 2 maintains the same FPS/RPG gameplay that the original had. As you progress through the game you can upgrade your character by modifying your weapons, augmenting your attributes with gene tonics, and giving him different plasmids/powers like electric shock, and incineration to name a few.
But BioShock 2 brings some new things to the table. Hacking involves precision timing with the a button now. You can either walk up to the machine/safe you want to hack and physically hack it or you can use your hack tool which works as a weapon which you can aim at and fire at a distance. If there is a room for of splicers and there's a security camera around, you can hit the security camera from a distance, hack it and sit back and relax while security robots mop up the room for you. I really liked the new method of hacking, added some new strategy and depth to the gameplay.
Gone are the old revolver, and tommy guns of the first game. You have a new arsenal of weapons that pretty much funtion the same as the old one, you have a rivet gun which works as your mainstay pistol/rifle, the Big Daddy drill as your melee weapon, and the machine gun which resembles a minigun but has the same rate of fire as a tommy gun. The rocket launcher makes it's return as well as the anti-personel/anti-armor rounds, and there are new forms of "trap" ammo for certain weapons which you aim and deploy with such as trip wires, electric wires, proximitity mines and mini deployable turrets. This adds to the strategy and comes in handy when guarding little sisters.
Perhaps my favorite addition to the game is the ability to use plasmids and guns at the same time compared to the first game when you could only use plamids/guns one at a time and had to switch. Left trigger fires plasmids, and the right trigger fires your guns. You can make some pretty sweet combo's, my personal fav is winter storm combined with the big daddy drill.
The gameplay is alot more tough than the first one. Splicers are almost everywhere this time and you have a few new enemies to deal with including the Big Sisters which make the Big Daddies look like a bunch of wimps. But I found the fights and battles to be alot more intense than the original and you will have to use your plasmids more than the first game which you could get through by running and gunning. The fights get really intense when you get a hold of a little sister. The original gave you the choice of harvesting or saving them. Well that choice is there once again but if you choose to save the little sister, you get less ADAM (Money used to buy plasmids/tonics), if you save the little sister you can get more ADAM by escorting them to dead splicers with ADAM and protecting them as they harvest it. This is where shit hits the fan.
Within seconds the eerie music kicks in and splicers are coming at you from all sides. This is where the trap ammo comes in handy. Some might not like this but I found the battles to be very fun. After you escort the little sister to two dead splicers, you have to take them to a little sister hole and that's where you get the choice to save them or harvest them. Adopting and harvesting yields more ADAM than adopting and saving but I enjoy the extra challenge.
With the slight increase in difficulty your health/eve (magic/mana) bar is very small compared to the original even with the increases you can get overtime. At most you can carry only 5-6 health packs/eve refills. BioShock veterans will have no problem dealing with this issue and the way I see it, it makes the game more challenging. On easy difficulty the gameplay was pretty hard and I did have a couple close calls, but that makes the game alot more refreshing.
Fans of the original BioShock won't take long to be acquainted with the sequel as the same visuals and core gameplay are back. There are some new additions and features to the game which add more strategy to your actions. I found the battles to be even better than the first with new enemies and insane battles where you have to actually rely on your plasmids to bail you out instead of your guns. I found the story to be...adequate but it was slightly lacking when compared to the original game. Did BioShock 2 top the original? No, but is still a good game? Oh yeah, it seems to me that 8/10's are the new 2/10, I don't understand the logic to that, but BioShock 2 is a great sequel that fans of the original will enjoy.
The Verdict: B+
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