Bioshock 2 Review

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Sup fellas,

 

So I figured this forum could use a bit more awesomeness. With that, here is my review for Bioshock 2.

 

Bioshock 2 Review

 

Presentation: Welcome back to Rapture, a city full of spliced up jar-heads and little girls desperate to steal ADAM right from your lifeless corpse. The days of human splicing are out the doors, as you are now in command of a deadly Big Daddy.

 

Even though this installment was developed by 2K this time around, you really would have never guessed it. They added interesting new pieces to the Rapture puzzle, as well as a character that can shoot bullets and plasmids at the same time. Trust me, it's a lot of power that you will feel so oh giddy to use.

 

Rapture returns in it's entirety, with leaking walls and tons of rooms to explore and loot. Despite the games more open and less linear feel in comparison to the first installment, it still feels like something we're too familiar with. 2K even added in some levels that involve walking outside in the water, but this aspect of the game feels more like a space filler than anything that we should be thrilled about.

 

However, the devs did a fantastic job of decaying Rapture further than in the first game. The first Rapture we encountered was still a fairly clean environment, but the one we see in Bioshock 2 is ten years older than the last time we were there. Everything is much trashier as well as decayed, giving us the feel of a city that has really been through hell.

 

Score: 8

 

Graphics: There really isn't much more we can say about the Unreal 2.5 engine used in the creation of Bioshock 2. While it was truly fascinating in Bioshock, it made Bioshock 2 feel eerily similar.

 

I loved the detail of Rapture itself, as well as the detail we are shown in our underwater treking adventures. That said, nothing else really wowed me. My plasmid uses felt and looked the same, and 2K didn't really add something new and spectaculr to the equation that could wow us all over again.

 

Score: 8.5

Gameplay: Just as captivating as the first, but with added twists. Instead of playing as your generic human with the capability of having to shoot and use plasmids separately, you now have the ability to use both simultaneously as a Big Daddy. Did you run out of grenades for your launcher? No problem. Electrocute your foe as you reload.

 

The storyline itself is utterly amazing. As a Big Daddy, you must fight your way through rapture to the Little Sister you were genetically bonded too over ten years ago. However, the main antagonist, Sophia Lamb, is utterly opposed to you two reuniting. As to why, well, I won't spoil it yet! She will do everything and anything to cause your death and or destruction.

 

One disappointment is that the game seems to take a long time in getting to the brunt of the story. The first half of the game feels like the player is simply going through the motions, yet not learning anything about themselves or their overall objective.

 

My other issue with the game is repetitiveness. Each level represents the same things: rescue/harvest all the little sisters, survive splicer onslaughts, kill a few other key antagonists, and then complete your main objective. I would have liked to see a little more variety in the level formats. I felt like I was accomplishing the same goal in 8 different environments come end of the game.

 

The recordings you pick up along the way do a great job of adding to the show. You get to here from former game characters (like Ryan and Fontaine) but also get to listen to new recordings from new characters. They add chilling details to the tragedy that is rapture.

 

Overall, I feel they kind of hit a rut in some areas, but came out on top in others.

 

Score: 9

Replayability(not factored into final score): Overall, this is the place I would score the game the worst. Picking whether to save or harvest the little sisters was intriguing in the first game, but it wasn't enough to provoke me into playing the game a second time to see the other endings.

 

Why? Because of the overall feel of the game. Nothing about the actual story will change regardless of my choices, because a video game simply doesn't have the capability to throw in two separate games while still maintaining all of the other aspects involved.

 

Each level consists of multiple Big Daddy's, a new antagonist called the Big Sister, and then Little Sister that you use to harvest ADAM. This game could be beat in 3 hours time, but everything involving ADAM protection and harvesting adds another 6 hours onto the game. I hated spending half of my time just getting ADAM.

 

My suggestion: if you really wanna see the other endings, just youtube them.

Overall Score: 8.5