BioShock 2 (Xbox 360 - 1st completion)
Since the upcomin BioShock: Infinite is being released in over a month, I thought now would be the time to try the sequel to one of my favourite shooters that was the reason why (at the time) I wanted an Xbox 360. I was a huge fan of the original BioShock hat it got a rave review from me when I was blogging on Yahoo 360/Profiles and when I replayed it a couple years later. BioShock 2 is almost as good as the original and refines some of the previous game's gameplay elements but keeps others the same as before. I played through the game on Normal difficulty, rescued every Little Sister, spared the lives of three of the game's characters, and got the "Good" Ending. I also completed the DLC "Minerva's Den" on Normal difficulty and I think I got all 360 Achievements too. To understand the story below, it is best to read the story from the first BioShock on Wikipedia here. I never played the multiplayer part of the game so there is no comment from me on it.
BioShock 2 takes place again in the underwater metropolis of Rapture in 1968, 8 years after the events of the first game. Brigid Tenenbaum has briefly returned to Rapture once she realizes that someone is continuing her work by enslaving new Little Sisters. It is shown through flashbacks and audio recordings tha BioShock 2's protagonist, Subject Delta (the fourth Big Daddy created), is forced to commit suicide in 1958 by Sofia Lamb through the use of a mind-controlling plasmid. This was done in part because Delta's Little Sister, Eleanor, is actually Lamb's daughter. Lamb was originally brought to Rapture to help psychologically-stressed citizens of the underwater city cope with the lack of sunlight and used persuasion to entice her patients into a cult called "The Rapture Family", and attempted to spread her altruistic ideals throughout Rapture. Rapture's creator and owner, Andrew Ryan discovered this through a mole, Stanley Poole, and had Lamb thrown in prison leaving Eleanor in the care of Grace Holloway. Eleanor eventually confronted Poole about his betrayal of her mother. Poole panicked, kidnapping Eleanor and leaving her in a Little Sister's Orphanage, eventually leading to her conversion into a Little Sister. Lamb later returned to the city, reclaimed her daughter from Delta, and gained control of Rapture after Ryan's death after the events of BioShock. Lamb guided the development of the aging Little Sisters into more dangerous Big Sisters and sent them out to the Atlantic coastline to kidnap little girls for conversion into new Little Sisters in Rapture.
In 1968, Eleanor, now a teenager, has gained control over many of the Little Sisters and uses them to revive Subject Delta at a Vita Chamber. Delta is drawn towards Eleanor by their past Big Daddy-Little Sister connection. Tenenbaum encounters Delta, and explains that unless Delta reunites with Eleanor, a fail-safe device will trigger that will put Delta into a coma. With the help of the Little Sisters under Eleanor's control and Tenenbaum's ally, Augustus Sinclair, Delta makes his way towards Lamb's stronghold, encountering both Poole and Holloway en route. As Delta progresses, it becomes clear that Lamb is seeking to use ADAM to transform Eleanor into a perfect embodiment of her altruistic ideals. Lamb's ultimate goal is to have the collected minds and memories of everyone in Rapture become a part of Eleanor through the use of the genetic memory in ADAM, thus making her an "Embodiment of the Family" which Lamb believes will put an end to "The Self".
To watch the game's opening go here, or below:
Click to viewFor Part 2 go here, and Part 3 here.
Graphics/Art-9
+ Just as beautiful as the first game. Excellent environments, textures, animation, lighting, etc.
+ You can venture and walk between areas of Rapture in the ocean at certain points in the game. Very scenic.
- There are some slow draw-in texture problems at times. Sometimes the graphics look not quite as good as the first game.
Sound/Music-9
+ The same excellent voice-acting returns, including some returning talent. Audio recorders return in this game that give brief personal thoughts from various NPCs.
+ Great sound effects.
+ Some classic music from the late 20's-50's can be heard during the game's loading screen and in certain sections of levels.
- There doesn't seem to be as much popular licensed music compared to the first game. No Frank Sinatra or Bobby Darin this time.
Music Samples:
"Hush, Hush, Hush, Here Comes the Bogeyman" Henry Hall & His Orchestra (1932)
"You Always Hurt the One You Love" Mills Brothers (1944)
"Pennies From Heaven" Bing Crosby (1936)
"(How Much Is) That Doggie In The Window" Patti Page (1953)
"Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out" Bessie Smith (1929)
"Daddy Won't You Please Come Home?" Anette Hanshaw (1929)
Control-9
+ About the same as the first game so very easy to get into. There are a few new moves added.
Gameplay-9
+ Plasmids like Lightning, Telekinesis, Incinerate, and so forth return. There are lots of tonics that you can find and equip to customize your advantages and gameplay experience.
+ Hacking security bots, vending machines, cameras, etc. have returned but instead of the long pipe-puzzle minigame, you stop a quick-moving needle one or more times in the correctly-colored areas of a gauge. Stopping it within a green area progresses the sequence or potentially ends it, stopping in a blue area may grant a bonus, landing in a white area shocks you (gives you a small amount of damage), and landing in red-colored areas causes a security alert. This is a lot faster and an improvement over the first game. You can also hack things remotely by shooting a tool onto the mechanism out of harms way. Unlike the first game, hacking things does not pause the action and you are vulnerable.
+ Some of the weapons from the first game return but some are new in this game. As a Big Daddy you can wield a melee drill weapon that impales enemies and later, can dash into them.
+ Even though you play as a Big Daddy, you can again attempt to defeat other Big Daddies who still escort Little Sisters like in the original BioShock. Defeating one, you can then choose to either harvest or adopt the Little Sister (you can't immediately rescue her this time). Harvesting once again gives you more ADAM but kills the Little Sister. If you adopted, the Little Sister can lead you to corpses where she can extract some extra ADAM. While she does this, you must defend her from splicer attacks. Once the Little Sister has collected enough ADAM after the second corpse, you can then return her to an escape vent, where you must choose to either rescue or harvest the Little Sister. Rescuing her gives you not as much ADAM but after rescuing a number of them, they will compensate with gifts later; harvesting her gives a large ADAM boost but again, will kill her. ADAM can then be spent at Gatherer's Garden machines throughout Rapture for buying new plasmids, gene tonics, slots or health/eve upgrades.
+ After dealing with all Little Sisters in a level, you will be attacked by a new enemy: the Big Sister. It's very agile and powerful but you must defeat it to continue the game.
+ The camera returns though this time, it is a video camera. Once you begin recording an enemy, you have a short time to damage that enemy in creative ways (plasmids, weapons, etc.) in order to score a number of points, which are then added towards the total research of that enemy type. At various levels of research, you are rewarded with new abilities and tonics.
- You spend a lot of time searching things and backtracking.
- You only get a limited amount of money and ammo to horde around that it adds to backtracking and searching all over again.
Fun/Story/Misc-9
+ While the story of the first BioShock is more interesting, this was a great continuation into the city of Rapture. Andrew Ryan is the better antagonist and follows the philosophy of Ayn Rand's Objectivism though Sophia Lamb is also cold, taunting, and manipulating.
+ The game is a lot of fun though just like the previous game, you spend a little too much time searching things.
+ The new Brute splicer is one of my favourite enemies (shown above in the concept art and screenshot). Besides being bearish (body-wise) they are fun to fight against. I even bought the action figure a couple weeks ago!
+ The DLC "Minerva's Den" was a lot of fun and worth the price of downloading! You play as Subject "Sigma" in Minerva's Den, home to Rapture's Central Computing in a separate plot point in the game. The campaign adds three new levels and provides deeper insight into Rapture's inner workings. Charles Milton Porter guides Sigma (with Brigid Tenenbaum) through Minerva's Den but insane antagonist Reed Wahl gets in the way. You get an great ending at the end of the campaign. There is also a brand new Plasmid called "Gravity Well" that sucks enemies into a vortex-vacuum, damaging them. Fun!
Total: 45/50 (Grade level: A)
You can watch some more gameplay videos here here (PC version), here here, and here.
The official BioShock 2 website is here plus the "Cult of Rapture" is here. Both contain media, downloads, etc. The Wikipedia article is here and the Gametrailers.com video review is here.
Next Game: Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)
Currently playing: Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
