[DogofWar]

When playing through Bioshock 2 the most prominent phrase that came to mind was "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." That pretty much sums up the gameplay mechanics for 2k Marin and Irrational Games' sequel to the much loved original. Much of what you loved about the original's combat system is untouched. Plasmids operate in effectively the same way that they did in Bioshock 1, in that they give you special powers that you can shoot out of your hands (and sometimes other actions, like one plasmid that allows you to literally have an out of body experience) and use against your enemies. Guns also work effectively the same way, 3 kinds of ammo for most, and they can be used in combination with plasmids for some great fun. Tonics are back too, providing you with passive abilities that enhance your character (run faster, snacks give you more health, etc.) The gameplay in Bioshock 2 is great, assuming you liked Bioshock 1. My only qualm, which I also had in the first game, is that once you've found a plasmid/weapon combo that works (with tonics backing you up), you can pretty much run with it the entire game. For example, Winter Blast freezes splicers and headshots will generally result in that enemy shattering (tougher splicers require a few shots). Seeing how around 90% of enemies are splicers, you can fairly easily write off a fair number of guys. Even against Big Daddies and Big Sisters, you can still freeze them, and while you can't shatter them, you can still fire away while they are frozen. Not game breaking, and still fun, but the combination made me less inclined to buy other plasmids and use them. (Pro-tip: if you go the freezing route, refrain from buying Winter Blast 3. It freezes enemies in a big block of ice, which is harder to head shot into) Still, the gameplay is excellent, and once you find your play style, even though you'll be nigh unstoppable, you'll still have fun.

The story is another interesting aspect of the game. Whether you consider the game's story strong or weak depends entirely on how much you get into the philosophical debate between Andrew Ryan, the libertarian antagonist of the last game, and Sophia Lamb, the "communist" antagonist of this one. In a nutshell, 10 years have passed since Jack, the protagonist of the first game, escaped Rapture. You play as Delta, one of the first big daddies, and a prototype for the bigger guys you see all around Rapture helping the little girls. You were/ are attached to a little sister named Eleanor, and if you do not rescue her you will slip into a coma and die, as that was how the prototypes were made to stay near and protect their little sisters. Eleanor, however, is also the daughter of Sofia Lamb, and she has her own designs for Eleanor.

Much of the game is similar to the first in terms of objectives. You mainly travel from train station to train station, attempting to reach the final stop, where Eleanor is. Generally, something is holding up the train at each station (a wall of ice blocks one, and you have to find a plasmid to melt it, at another a man has locked himself in the control booth and will only allow you to go along if you do him some favors). In the journey to go from station to station you will learn more and more about Sofia Lamb and her "Family," A major part of the game here is finding little sisters and making them harvest Adam while you defend them. While not all of them are necessary, you will obviously gain more benefits from dealing with little sisters than ignoring them. Again, you can save them or harvest them, it's entirely up to you, and it affects the ending you receive. Defending little sisters, if you choose to let them harvest Adam, is an interesting time. You have plenty of tools at your disposal to defend the girls beyond your normal plasmids and weapons, for example, you can get trap rivets to place in walls, proximity mines to lay, electrified tripwires on spears, and mini-turrets. All of these combined enable you to make some very fun defense combos, and there are even more I won't elaborate on here, you'll have to find them yourself.

The biggest change to the gameplay is probably the way hacking is handled. In the previous game, you played some pipe-mini game. In Bioshock 2 when you hack a device (by walking up to it and initiating a hack, or by using the new hacking gun to fire hacking darts), a meter appears on screen. A needle moves back and forth on it, and it is up to you to stop it on a green or blue section, and avoid red and white sections. Red sections initiate alarms, green sections move hacks forward, and blue sections will yield bonuses once the hack is complete. White sections simply stop the hack, but there are no repercussions otherwise. Hacking everything, from machines, to turrets and bots, to doors, is vital. The new system is better I feel. It doesn't slow down the game drastically like the original hacking game, and in tense situations, while it may seem stressful to hack something in real time, it is a decent setup that melds with the gameplay well.

Splicers are much the same as the first game, with the Leadhead, Spider, and Houdini splicers. Big Daddies are also similar, though there are ranged and melee variants now. The melee variants operate very much similar to the first game, while the ranged ones shoot rockets and throw mini-turrets at you.
There are two fairly important additions to the bestiary in the game, the Brute Splicer, and the Big Sister. Brute Splicers are tanks with a lot of health and a strong melee attack. The Big Sisters, on the other hand are a huge handful. As resistant to damage as Big Daddies, and faster than Spider Splicers, they also pack a variety of attacks with a lot of punch. I won't lie, they are easily the toughest enemies in the game, and worst of all, they generally come out after big battles when you're depleted of supplies, and they'll periodically be flanked by roving splicers.

If there are any problems I could cite about the game, it is that, at certain points, the game seems almost patently unfair, mainly during the Big Sister sections. As I said above, they usually show up after big events, like returning little sisters to their vents, or certain plot points, when you are fairly drained and looking to restock. In many ways, they remind me of Gary Oak from the old Pokemon games. Right after you clear a tough section, they show up to fight you. And not only are there not really any great combinations to fighting Big Sisters, you'll sometimes not be allowed the luxury of facing them one on one. Periodically splicers might meander into the area you are fighting in, and will fight you as well. During my play through, there was a Big Sister I faced where I literally was out of First Aid Kits and Eve Hypos, and had no choice but to throw myself at the Big Sister time and time again, only to die and be revived to slowly chip away at her health hit by hit. You don't begin the level all over again when you die, but rather revive as though nothing really changed. When I finally killed the Big Sister, I didn't feel accomplishment, or relief, but rather, like the developers had built the game to be obscenely hard in those sections, harder than they should have been at least.

The last thing about Bioshock 2 is the multi-player aspect. I'll be honest, I haven't played it as much as I would have liked in order to review it, but I'll say that it is a well done system all things considered. Similar to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, you have a leveling system, which works very nicely. Having lots of plasmids is fun and enables battles to be very interesting, or in some cases devolve into who shocks/freezes who first. Ultimately, the craftier players generally prevail, as should be the case in a multi-player system where finesse is all.

All told, Bioshock 2 is still a great game and worthy of your love, unless you were one of the 5 people who disliked the first game. However, if you liked the first game, or just well built games in general, you'll like Bioshock 2. 9.0

Quick Score Report:
Presentation: While not quite as incredible as the first game, mainly because we've already been to Rapture once, the game still gives a sense of awe that is tough to overcome, and makes other, above average games, look weak by comparison. How much you get into the story depends on how much you dig the philosophical battles, but it is still strong overall, even if all you take it as is a dad searching for his daughter. 9.0
Graphics: Unfortunately not much has changed since 2007, so while the game still looks good, it looks like it did in 2007. So while it's certainly above average, it won't blow you away like the original's graphics did. 8.0
Gameplay: If it ain't broke don't fix it. Bioshock 2's developers took that idea and ran with it, and it was probably a good decision. Where they changed things, like in hacking, they improved the game. The only problem is it suffers from the same thing Bioshock 1 did wrong, which was you could periodically find a combo that worked and just run with it the entire game. 9.0
Sound: Hearing enemies walking around before seeing them isn't as scary or groundbreaking as it used to be, but the score overall is excellent, and the denizens of Rapture sound great too. Try hearing a Big Sister scream before you see her when you know you're low on supplies, and not have a chill run down your spine. 9.0
Lasting Appeal: The multi-player is not bad, so that might get you some mileage out of the game. The story itself is maybe 15 hours through on the first play through. The ability to change your play style based on changing plasmids in the campaign does add some replay-value. 8.5

[Warma]

Nice review!

I haven't played Bioshock 2 yet, but the biggest problem for me in the first one was the fact that it wasn't that good as a shooter. In my opinion they should have made it more like survival horror thing. And in the beginning it almost was that, because you didn't really have any ammo and you jumped from your seat when you heard a big daddy was around. Unfortunately when you played a bit more and got better weapons and plasmids it wasn't that scary anymore.

Anyway, for me it is a shame that they kind of waste this nice setting and made "just" a shooter when it could have been so much more. That's just my opinion though and I'm sure many people like Bioshocks just the way they are. I still need to try out Bioshock 2 and give this series a second chance.