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It was previously announced that BioShock 2 would act as a prequel as well as a sequel to the first game. However, apart from the impressive opening cutscene, the majority of the single player game is set ten years after the events of BioShock. The underwater city of Rapture still lays in ruins with most of its inhabitants being crazed junkies aka. splicers. The lumbering Big Daddies and creepy Little Sisters still prowl around looking for corpses to harvest for the miracle substance called Adam. However, the fall of Rapture’s founder Andrew Ryan results in a new authoritarian figure taking up control of most of Rapture in the form of Sophia Lamb, a former psychiatrist, Andrew Ryan’s rival, and the game’s primary antagonist. Without spoiling much, all I can say is Lamb has her own agenda for Rapture and its future and it’s not good.
You play as Subject Delta, the very first Big Daddy, who, after a tragic death, is somehow awakened by Dr. Tenenbaum (from the first game). You are then guided on a mission to find your original Little Sister named Eleanor, who may or may not be what she seems. Unlike other Big Daddies, however, Delta can actually think for himself. This leads to many moral choices in addition to saving or harvesting the many Little Sisters you’ll find along the way. As expected, your actions determine how the ending plays out, and somehow, it feels far more logical this time. And though the final resolution comes off as a bit predictable, most of the game still manages to hold your attention all the way through, especially during the last few hours. There is also a strong emotional element to the story this time around, with the Big Daddy-Little Sister relationship being the focus.
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The core gameplay largely remains unchanged, but 2K Marin has introduced a few tweaks of its own to make it flow better. For starters, you can now simultaneously use your weapons and plasmids, the game’s special magic-like abilities. Being a Big Daddy means you can wield all weapons with one hand, leaving the other free for using plasmids. Most of the plasmids from the first game are back. You can freeze enemies, burn them, electrocute them, in addition to some unconventional methods like hypnotizing an enemy to fight for you, turning invisible for some stealthy attacks or deploying a doppelganger that soaks up damage for you. Add to that some fun-to-use weapons with diverse ammo types and you can see that there is a great amount of variety in the combat. You can even enhance your character further by finding (or buying) various passive boosts known as gene tonics throughout the game.
You’ll rarely want to stick with one type of weapon and plasmid for too long though. Part of the fun in BioShock’s combat lies in experimenting with different plasmid and weapon combos. Much like the first game, your default melee weapon remains the best in your arsenal. However this time, the wrench is replaced by an equally awesome drill. You can perform deadly melee attacks at close range which can greatly be enhanced by certain gene tonics. There’s also a devastating “drill charge” move which lets you quickly dash to an opponent while impaling them with the spinning drill. These moves are very satisfying to perform and give the combat a visceral kick.
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Most of the enemies you’ll face are the same splicer types and Big Daddies from the first game. The extremely fast spider splicers and teleporting Houdini splicers still remain a pain in the butt, but yet always offer a decent amount of challenge. The game also throws in a couple of new enemies, the most distinctive of which is the Big Sister. Depending on your choices, you’ll encounter these female Big Daddy counterparts many times throughout the game. Big Sisters are far more agile and can use plasmids in addition to deadly melee attacks. However, taking them down isn’t too different from fighting Big Daddies. Just throw all your best stuff at them and they’ll usually go down in no time. Also, like the first game, you cannot die. Death usually means exiting the conveniently placed vita chambers, finding the enemy who killed you and finishing it off.
Despite the lenient death system, it’s worth mentioning that BioShock 2 feels more challenging than its predecessor, especially in the early levels. Some encounters feel flat out frustrating, requiring some persistence, which is made worse by the fact that the first couple of levels aren’t as good as the later ones. However, by getting enough upgrades, plasmids and gene tonics, you’ll be pretty much unstoppable by the end of the game. BioShock 2 is one of the few games that actually get easier as you progress thanks to a great RPG-like customisation system that will constantly have you tweaking your character setup. Most plasmids and tonics can be found by actively exploring the levels. However, some have to be purchased at the Gatherer’s Garden vending machines using Adam, which is found mostly by dealing with little sisters found in every level.
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Unlike the first game, you can now choose to adopt a Little Sister every time you kill her Big Daddy. After adopting her, you get an option to harvest corpses for some extra Adam before you choose to either rescue or harvest the Little Sister herself. Harvesting corpses is no easy task though. Splicers will attack from all directions and you’ll have to defend the little sister until she finishes harvesting. To aid you in this, the game gives you a variety of options. You can set up traps by using special ammo and hack turrets, sentry bots or cameras to help you defend the area while you keep the splicers from getting too close to the Little Sister using conventional means. There are numerous ways to deal with these encounters limited only by your own imagination and availability of resources. These sections are quite tense and get progressively harder as the game throws tougher enemies into the mix later on. They do tend to get repetitive, but are not mandatory. You can choose to ignore them and still get enough Adam to get by.
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One of the more interesting gameplay elements is the new and improved research camera. Unlike the camera from the earlier game, this one can record video. All you need to do is select a target and finish it off using different combinations of plasmids and weapons, the more varied the better. Once you’ve scored enough points you’ll be given more info on the enemy’s weakness along with some special rewards. This new mechanic works better than the earlier one where you had to close in to get a perfect shot. The hacking mini-game has also been replaced by a new one which relies on timed button presses and can be done in real time instead of a separate screen. This keeps the action flowing instead of cutting to a static screen every time you hack.
Another new addition to Bioshock 2 is a multiplayer mode. Before you write it off completely, let me say there’s a fair bit of fun to be had with it. It surely can’t compete with other online heavyweights, but has a certain charm of its own, especially if you love the world of Rapture. The multiplayer plays as an offshoot of the main story set before the events of the first game. There’s even a short narrative before you jump online for your first game. The gameplay feels more like old-school multiplayer games like Quake or Unreal Tournament. Running and gunning is the order of the day here. So if you like your online play slow and tactical then better steer clear of it.
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The game types are standard fare – deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, last man standing etc. each with a BioShock twist. For example, the capture the flag mode involves a Little Sister instead of an actual flag. You can unlock various weapons and plasmids the more you play and level up. Almost each game lets you pick up a Big Daddy suit and wreak havoc on other players. While the multiplayer game can be fairly entertaining for a while, it’s certainly not something most players will stick with for a long time. Matches are hard to find even now and you can expect it to get worse as the game ages. It’s a fun little add-on, but 2K Marin should have just stuck to the making the single player experience better by adding a couple of more levels to the campaign instead.
BioShock 2 is a much shorter game than the first. It should take you around 10 hours to complete the main story; maybe a couple of hours more if you take your time to explore every level thoroughly. Also, unlike the first game, you cannot go back to earlier levels once you clear them, so if you miss an upgrade or a special item, it’s gone for good. As result, Bioshock 2 feels far more linear compared to the first. Linearity is not a problem, but for a game that’s built around exploration and has tons of hidden stuff, it comes off as a bit restrictive. The environments themselves are also somewhat redundant. Almost every level looks just about the same. The 1950s art deco design looks cool but there’s hardly anything that sets levels apart from each other, so don’t go into this one expecting environments like the lush Arcadia or the twisted Fort Frolic from the first game. Some high points are the sequences where you have to traverse underwater areas outside of Rapture’s controlled environments, but these are very brief.
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It’s also a bit of a downer that BioShock 2 looks almost exactly like its predecessor. BioShock looked great three years ago, but the visuals look dated now. It looks decent from an aesthetic point of view, but closer inspection reveals some ugly low resolution textures and uneven character models. It’s not really the fault of the game engine; it just seems like 2K Marin took the easy way out by utilising the same in-game resources. There is also a fair amount of texture pop-in on the console version of the game and the framerates can get jittery when there’s too much happening on-screen. The game excels in the sound department though. Most of the sound effects are recycled from the first game and the moody music adds a lot to the game’s setting. The voice acting is great across the board, although some of the accents do come off as a bit forced.
Conclusion
BioShock 2 is a sufficiently good sequel to one of the most memorable games of recent times. It may lack the charm of the original due to the been-there-done-that feel that it cannot shake off, but it still manages to be an engaging game that gets better as you play thanks to a decent story and varied gameplay. The multiplayer offers a few hours of fun, but it’s ultimately forgettable. If you loved the first, give this one a chance, even if, like me, you thought a sequel was a bad idea. It takes a while to grow on you, but once it has you hooked, you’ll be glad you did.
(+) Decent story with some memorable sequences
(+) Lots of different ways to approach combat
(+) Upgrading your character is fun and quite addictive
(+) Good voice acting and soundtrack
(-) Lacks the charm of the original
(-) Visuals look dated, not much variety in the environments
(-) Doesn’t allow backtracking
Title: BioShock 2
Developer/Publisher: 2K Marin/2K Games
Genre: First-person shooter
Rating: 18
Platforms: Xbox 360 (Rs 2,499), PS3 (Rs 2,499), PC (Rs 699)
Reviewed on: Xbox 360
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