Bioshock 2 is the sequel to one of the most popular first person shooters in 2007 and has had a lot of criticism by gamers before the games release but the question is; should you take the plunge?
It is hard not to make a lot of comparisons to the first Bioshock when thinking about the sequel. Bioshock had a great story and the unexplored world of Rapture has left its mark on the industry and it will for years to come, but the game suffers from some game play issues. Bioshock 2 feels the opposite because of better game play mechanics and weapons, but the story suffers as a part and has lost the mystery of Rapture.
Bioshock 2 follows the story of a Subject Delta. He is a big daddy, a being who has had their skin and organs directly placed into diving suits Delta was the first big daddy and your little sister, Eleanor Lamb. was the first little sister and was bonded to Delta. Little sisters are little girls that harvest a substance called ADAM from corpses, the substance that everyone wants in rapture. Eleanor is the daughter of Sophia Lamb, Rapture's antagonist. Sophia has taken Eleanor from you and you will need to get her back because in time, you will die from being apart for too long You will also be able to either rescue or harvest other little sisters,to upgrade your plasmids and abilities if you harvest them, you will get more ADAM than rescuing them but if you same a lot of little sisters you will be rewarded by them. The single player will take between 7 – 8 hours to finish and the story is good but not as great as the first and requires you to have played the first game to gain a complete understanding of the story.
The main thing that made Bioshock so popular was the world, it had a mystery surrounding it from the first few minutes after entering the bathysphere and witnessing the underwater utopia, Rapture. The unexplored world compelled you to continue and find out what truly was going on in Rapture. The second game loses a lot of this mainly because despite the fact that Rapture is great, it feels that much of the art assets have been recycled from the first game and everything feels too familiar.
The game play has improved vastly since the first game with the main improvement being the weapons and plasmids. You can now duel wield, plasmids in your left hand and weapons in your right, and there are a ton off new plasmids including the favourites: electricity, fire, ice and a swam of killer bees. They can now upgraded two times so you can charge your attacks, for instance Winter Blast can be upgraded so it can be charged to unleash ice that will completely freeze enemies so you can finish them off easier. The weapons can also be upgraded including the rivet gun that has a chance to set enemies on fire. Subject Delta is a Big Daddy so you also have a drill; while this may be cool it requires fuel. Fuel is found in the world but unless you upgrade the tank it will not take much time for it too run out of fuel. You can combine the plasmids and weapons together for very effective attacks, for instance shocking the enemies then using the drill for close combat. The game has a refined research system, that allows you to use the video camera to gather evidence about the enemies you face and you can gain advantages in combat, adding even more power to your weapons and abilities
After finishing the game you can either play the game again, or you can play the multiplayer. The multiplayer has a range of game play modes including free for all, team death match and capture the flag. In all the majority of the modes a Big Daddy suit will spawn at a random location in the level. If someone can find the suit, they will become Big Daddy, which will give the player greater strength and endurance, but you cant use plasmids. Once the Big Daddy is defeated, the suit disappears and is moved to another location on the map. While they are not the most innovative game modes they work well including ADAM grab were you have to capture the little sister and hold it for as long as possible receiving points for as long as you hold it. The game has a progression system similar too Modern Warfare 2 including the “Trails” system similar too the challenge system in Modern Warfare 2, when you level up you unlock more guns and plasmids.
Bioshock 2 has flipped the franchise on its head with better game play and weapons. The inclusion of a multiplayer mode is great, but the story suffers and has lost the mystery of Rapture. Despite this it is still a solid game and if you are a die hard fan of the first game you will enjoy this just as much.
