The sequel to Ken Levine's blockbuster hit BioShock feels like a checklist of sequel gameplay features for a game where the gameplay wasn't the primary reason it was great. BioShock 2 was made to cash in on the popular franchise and it shows in everything from the game's scope, atmosphere and storyline.
Here's how I picture the pitch for BioShock 2: "Okay, this time YOU are the Big Daddy but you can use plasmids and guns AT THE SAME TIME! Oh and also there're big SISTERS but they're fast and quick like ninjas, and there'll be scenes where the room totally floods and you're walking OUTSIDE Rapture. Oh and also we're gonna add MULTIPLAYER! Plus new plasmids, new enemies oh and constant escort missions!"
Sounds awful doesn't it? Looking at the laundry list of features in BioShock 2 feels like a game executive's marketing wet dream with dollar signs all over it, and it really feels like it while you're playing the game. There are countless beats in the game where you know something was added was so that it would be like the original, but different.
Like I said, in BioShock 2 you play as a Big Daddy. Actually, you're the prototypical Big Daddy and you're in search of your original Little Sister Eleanor who is now all grown up. Meanwhile, in Rapture now that Andrew Ryan is gone the new force vying for power is psychologist Sophia Lamb.
The game does its best to expand the world of Rapture and also tell more of the story, but because the game feels the need to review ideas from the first game it almost feels like a bad remake at times. Plasmids have to be re-introduced and also the ethos of the city of Rapture is retold in sections like the amusement park with animatronic characters depicting the world outside of Rapture. This storytelling device along with the copious propaganda posters tell me that they're trying to show me the story instead of tell it. It's disappointing that the environments and set dressing have such a "...BUT MORE!" feel to them.
It wasn't until the final hours of the game that the narrative really hooked me and the pacing really picked up. The ending was quite satisfying and there were some interesting devices used. Even still, at its best, the story felt like okay fan fiction but nothing as intriguing as in the original. Most of the time I was blindly following the arrow going from point to point with very little regard for the story being told to me via audio logs. Whenever I ended up fighting a boss character I scarcely knew why I was and cared just as little. One thing I do commend the game for is making the moral decisions carry more weight and having a more satisfying ending than the original.
Even though you're a Big Daddy, you'll find you're just as frail as your original character. Sure, there's a metal sound when splicers melee you, but there's little to make you feel like you're any more powerful. By default your HUD looks like you're inside a Big Daddy suit but it can be turned off in the menu. On your left you see your gloved hand and on the right is your tool arm which can alternate between drill, rivet gun, machine gun and several more. Occasionally there's a big metal thump appropriate of a heavy Big Daddy when you jump down from a higher platform.
This time instead of simply killing Big Daddys and harvesting the ADAM you will adopt Little sisters and protect them. When you adopt a Little Sister you have to find a body for it to harvest ADAM from, and during that process you have to protect her from the incoming horde of splicers drawn to the scene. Just picture the latter part of the original game where you had to protect a Little Sister. Now repeat that at 4-6 times per level. Yeah. The best method is to surround the Little Sister in trap rivets which activate automatically when splicers come near, kill the rest yourself, repeat. Then repeat for every other Little Sister. One nice touch is you can pick up any unactivated trap rivets that were poorly placed.
A weird thing about the Little SIsters though is their apparent abundance. It took longer to find them in the original game. When I played BioShock 2, there were TWO separate occasions where I had already adopted a Little Sister and while harvesting ADAM I accidentally killed another Big Daddy with a Little SIster. I wasn't yet done harvesting ADAM from bodies with my current, so until I finished, that other Little SIster stayed at that exact spot crying over the body until I returned to adopt her as my own. I appreciate having to wait less time, but it did strike me as ridiculous.
Some other changes to the game are the hacking has been simplified to a moving needle that you have to press when it crosses the appropriate region (while avoiding the parts that will damage you or sound the alarm). Good luck playing this hacking game if you're colorblind. The hacking tool this time is a gun which can be fired remotely at hackable things like turrets. Autohack tools instantly hack the machines hit by its dart. This method of hacking is certainly faster, but I'm probably one of the few who enjoyed the pipe dream game from the original.
There are a number of things that I dislike about BioShock 2, some of which I'm very surprised are issues at all. Most of it comes down to the presentation. Starting with the audio, I found it incredibly lacking in just about every regard. I don't have a good sound system at home (TV speakers only) but playing BioShock 2 felt like someone took my surround system and gave me a 13 inch TV.
The original game was rich with the ambience of Rapture and also had really solid, hard hitting gunshots, clicks and clanks. The basic revolver, the distinct click when equipping the machine gun, the cock of the shotgun and firing of electric buck were great. You'd think with those assets already available they'd be easily implemented. While many of the sounds of the original are still present it feels like they were dialed down in volume and don't play as well. Also the new weapons like the drill, rivet gun and machine gun attachment sound so weak I feel like I'm shooting splicers with BBs. The sound really makes me wish I was playing the original every time I fire a gun.
The atmosphere so well done in the original game is also quite lacking in BioShock 2. Listening to the splicers with their anger and vitriol was really disturbing in BioShock, but here their voices don't carry, the things they say don't bother me and at worst it's as if I gunned them down during their afternoon stroll. Something else curiously missing is the sound quality of the audio logs. For some reason they've done away with the sounds that make it sound like old recordings, and instead you hear crisp digital voice recordings unbefitting of the time period.
I think that whomever was in charge of BioShock 2 had a lot of things that they just said "God I just HATED this in BioShock, I'm taking this out." On that list I think is also the sound of the vending machines saying stuff like "Welcome to the Circus of Values!" In my opinion these things added texture and it's a shame that they took them out.
Graphically this game is bright. Not used to hearing that said about a game are you? Well, when you compare the original to this game you'll find that most areas are pretty brightly lit with very little contrast of light and shadows. There are some visual motifs from the original that are reused such as big silhouettes of horrifying things going on, but for the most part the lighting feels very functional instead of artistic. The set decoration and level design also kind of blends together and there are few areas that really stand out as unique.
The weapons in the game I did find I was more often using every single weapon that I had in my arsenal usually due to lack of ammunition. I was constantly buying ammo in this game and during certain frustrating moments was nearly completely out of ammo. This is especially frustrating when your best melee weapon requires fuel. Plasmids this time have different levels which make them more powerful. So fire and ice can be used to fire constant streams that you can use to paint multiple targets. Despite all this I would've much preferred the wrench from the original to this game's drill.
The still camera from the original is gone and replaced with a research film camera. Once again, something like the original but different. An okay idea, and in the menu it shows your research progress which is nice, but I kind of liked the still camera. Also while Big Daddies are still enemies, they're far from the most threatening thing in the game. That new title belongs to the Big Sister. The steampunk, ninja, gothy, covered in belts looking cosplay trap of BioShock 2. Seriously, this thing does not fit in this universe and screams fan fiction.
They're reasonably difficult to fight, but I wasn't ever afraid of them like I was the Big Daddies in the original. In the original they were big hulking monsters that later on were surprisingly fast which made them even scarier. If you find a Big Daddy in BioShock 2 it will be a common occurrence to finish the encounter completely unscathed. There's an achievement for surviving three Big Daddy encounters with no damage. I didn't feel like I had achieved much when I got this because it was so easy. Especially late in the game Big Daddies become almost like splicers in the frequency of their encounters.
I played some of the multiplayer which was pretty fun. There's a nice upgrade system and using plasmids in multiplayer is a lot of fun. I think the multiplayer level designs are actually darker than the single player game. I didn't play every single mode, but it seemed like a nice twist on first person multiplayer. There are some nice touches like hacking turrets and researching bodies of other players to gain damage bonuses.
So after completely tearing this game apart is BioShock 2 worth playing? Right now its price is $20 on Amazon, but it might be even cheaper with a discount. This is a good price for what you get, but BioShock 2 feels like a very skippable game. If you really really liked Rapture and the universe, you might want to consider it but I would still put it as a very low priority. It won't ruin the original because the original will always be there, but it seems like it'd be difficult to play this game without being disappointed in a number of ways.