Review: BIOSHOCK 2 (2010)

Strength from Unity

BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter video game with horror and role-playing elements. It was developed by 2K Martin and published by 2K Games. Set eight years after the events of its predecessor, BioShock 2 follows an Alpha series Big Daddy as he searches for the Little Sister he was paired with.

Is It Worth?

Why wouldn’t you want to revisit Rapture?

A little about the Gameplay

BioShock 2 opens with a cutscene set in 1958 which introduces Sofia Lamb. Sofia Lamb is a prominent figure in Rapture. She was brought in to Rapture by Andrew Ryan to help the civilians cope with psychological stresses (like the lack of sunlight in the city). But we learn all that later. What the cutscene shows is how one of the first Big Daddies ever created is made to commit suicide by Sofia Lamb using a mind controlling plasmid because his Little Sister is actually Lamb’s daughter, Eleanor.

Cut to 1968 when Eleanor, now a teenager, has gained control over many of the Little Sisters. Through their help, she revives the player controlled protagonist, Subject Delta, and sets him to the task of finding her because her mother wants to shape her into her own twisted ideals.

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Lamb hopes to place all the genius of Rapture’s citizens into her daughter through the transfer of memories stored in ADAM.

Just like its precursor, BioShock 2 provides the player with a number of primary and secondary weapons. Secondary weapons are plasmids. Most of the plasmids are the same as in BioShock, except Scout. This new plasmid allows the player to project a “ghost” from their body which they can control. (There is one more plasmid, that we get later in the game. To reveal it here would be to spoil the fun for you). The primary weapons are the weapons of the Big Daddy: the drill and the rivet gun.

The Good

1: BioShock 2 is a lot more challenging than its predecessor. If you (choose to fight and) defeat a Big Daddy, you have the choice to either adopt or harvest his Little Sister. If you adopt her, you must defend her from Splicers while she collects ADAM from corpses and then escort her to an escape vent. Now, this in itself is quite a task. But we are not done here. Rescue or harvest every Little Sister in a level and you’ll be attacked by a Big Sister. Defeating her will not be easy, my friends.

Subject Delta vs Big Sister. Go!

2: To match the increased difficulty, the gameplay has been refined appropriately. This is apparent from the polished combat mechanisms and the changes in minigames like Hacking etc. It’s the little things.

3: The game has multiple endings corresponding to whether you rescue or harvest Little Sisters on your journey through Rapture. This gives the game a good replay value. Again, by giving you choices throughout, the game infuses elements of RPGs.

4: Visuals and graphics are all top notch. The water animation in this game is perhaps the best I have ever experienced. BioShock 2 not only does a good job in maintaining the atmosphere of its predecessor, it may have done it better.

5: The story driven multiplayer is a fun new addition. It follows the player as we take the role of splicers during Rapture’s civil war. Sponsored by the plasmid manufacturing company Sinclair Solutions, we test out their weapons, plasmids and Tonics in a consumer reward program. The modes are divided into single player and team modes. Some of the modes allow the player turn into a Big Daddy, albeit they find the Big Daddy suit in the level before someone else.

The Bad

1: BioShock 2 lacks the quality of narrative of its precursor. I agree BioShock was something special in itself and had set quite the standard for subsequent games in the series, but I was hoping for something better — which is not to say, I did not like the story or the story was bad, it just didn’t do it for me. I was left underwhelmed. The sense of familiarity didn’t make it any better.

2: Towards the end of the game, my saves got corrupted. I thought it had something to do with my antique of a computer but then many on the Internet complained about the same problem so I guess it’s worth a mention here.

Conclusion

BioShock 2 lacks the quality narrative of its predecessor and Rapture has indeed lost its mystery and sense of awe, but with its improved gameplay, increased difficulty and multiplayer BioShock 2 should keep you engaged for hours.