Mini Review: Bioshock 2

After suffering the indignity (and inevitability) of the dreaded RROD on my 360 a couple of weeks ago, I have finally got a replacement! Unfortunately, my old machine wasn’t covered by the extended warranty as it was that damn old but on the plus side, I now own a 360 Elite with the only permanent side effect being that I have lost my Mass Effect 2 save, so I need to go back and complete it again when I have the time.

In any case, I was a few chapters into Bioshock 2 when the RROD hit so the first thing I did was return to rapture on finally getting my elite sorted with the necessary cables.
At first, I didn’t know what to make of Bioshock 2. After all, how can one go about making a sequel to one of the best games of 2007 and a contender for one of the best games this console generation? For the most part, 2K went for the “if it ain’t broke…” approach to it and so anyone who has played the first game will be instantly familiar with most of the mechanics as soon as they set foot in rapture again, this time to find a little girl named Eleanor. All the while being hounded by Dr Lamb, the new “ruler” of Rapture. Once again, we are given access to weapons and plasmids to unleash hell on the splicer population of Rapture but this time, the player does it in the guise of a big daddy instead of an outsider like before. Ultimately though, nothing really changes. Defeating the big daddies to get access to the little sisters is made a little easier by the fact that you are also one, but the game tries to balance things out by introducing the big sister into the mix. She’s faster, tougher and more agile than you so she’s meant to be the one to look out for.

So we have an old dog with a few new tricks. How did it fare?

Loved

• Better moral choices: In the first bioshock, the morality system has hyped up as a way to alter the game is played by giving you the chance to get more ADAM (the “currency required to purchase upgrades) at the cost of a little sister. But it ended up being nothing more than a black/white choice with the decision ultimately made out of either convenience or whether or not you wanted that achievement at the end of the game! Bioshock 2 gives things a little twist by allowing you to adopt a little sister and assist her in gathering ADAM. Should you choose to do so, then you will get more than you would by simply harvesting her from the start. The change isn’t that big but it makes you weigh the pros and cons of helping the little sister and defending her while she collects ADAM into your decision instead of lumping it into a single question. There are other choices as well later in the game which have a larger impact on the game as a whole.
  
• Plasmid fun & Improved hacking!: Old plasmids get upgrades and we get some new ones into the mix. Admittedly, I didn’t find the new plasmids all that great but the old ones are still really fun to mess around with. Hacking has also changed to make it less disjointed with the main game. Gone is the old pipe puzzle and in comes a “stop the pointer on a safe zone” timing puzzle. It also rewards you for hitting the smaller areas and PC owners aren’t given a massive advantage over console players anymore!
  
• Beautiful Rapture: The initial sense of awe may now be absent but Rapture is still a beautiful place to explore.
• A more consistent game: The one major flaw in Bioshock 1 was that after a certain event, the game went downhill and the final boss was incredibly anticlimatic. Bioshock 2 isn’t without it’s own faults but the game experience feels a lot more smooth and it doesn’t suddenly jump the shark.
  

Hated

• The plot: Let’s get this out of the way… Bioshock 2 was never going to match the brilliant plot of the first game, nor could it possibly come up with something as awesome as the “…would you kindly?” moment from the first game. (I think it’s called the M.Night Shyamalan syndrome). But even with those facts in mind, the plot in Bioshock 2 is pretty damn poor. Even from the go-get, when you wake up in the ruined Rapture and are told to find Eleanor, the little sister who was formerly in your care, there’s a strong sense of “Why?”  You aren’t really given any incentive to find out what is happening nor is there the desire to simply explore like in the original bioshock. You are a big daddy and you are told to look for your little sister. End of story! Of course, things are fleshed out during the course of the game but there is little motivation for you to keep going other than your gamers desire to see the game through. There are no events to try and make you really feel a part of the story like the part when Atlas’ family is killed in the first game or “would you kindly” (I don’t know about you but I really wanted to fill Fontaine with holes when that happened!)
• Sofia Lamb: Despite basically being made out as the philosophical opposite of Andrew Ryan (He’s a Capitalist and she’s a communist) Sofia Lamb is a really poor substitute for the founder and first ruler of Rapture. The plot in the first game was very much self contained and left no plotholes, just a few questions. As a result, the elevation of Dr Lamb as the new “ruler” of Rapture feels out of place and attempts to integrate her into the history of Rapture fell flat.  Instead of expanding on the setting from the first game, it feels like the developers simply created Dr Lamb from nothing and forcefully inserted her awkwardly into the game. Various recordings in the game made it sound like Andrew Ryan took the threat of Dr Lamb and her communist views very seriously, yet there’s not even a hint of her existence from the first game. The result is that the plot feels incredibly forced in places and doesn’t quite flow as well as it should.
• The big sisters: The big sisters were touted as the games bogeyman! An ever present existence designed to keep you on your toes and which could strike when you least expect it. BULLSHIT!!! The developers could advertise their entrances harder if they tried! Even before the noise that signals when one is about to arrive, you can easily work out that a big sister entrance is due. And with that goes any real feeling of tension when they come for you. In the end, they are nothing more than tougher than usual enemies which you can see coming a mile off. And they give you plenty of time to prepare once they announce their entrance anyway. I just end up twiddling my thumbs waiting for them as I prepped everything long before that.
• The Multiplayer: OK, hated may be a little harsh as the multiplayer element is kinda fun for a little while but it feels like it was tacked on and wasn’t properly integrated into the game like Uncharted 2. It also feels incredibly chaotic a lot of the time and kills/deaths can be just as much about luck as it is about skill, if not more so. It’s an interesting distraction but it doesn’t really have any staying power.

In the end, I have to say that the tag of “unnecessary sequel” is incredibly apt in the case of Bioshock 2. It’s still an enjoyable and entertaining game but it doesn’t quite justify it’s existence as a sequel. Then again, it did have massive shoes to fill.
Without the baggage of it’s predecessor, it holds up a little better. Sure, the plot is still kinda naff but the plasmid mechanics are still fun and fresh and Rapture is still a beautiful location which one can get lost in. I do wish that we could get another “would you kindly…” moment though.