Bioshock 2 Review

Piggybacks are fine, Little Sister, just don't ask for a helicopter

The 2010 sequel season (sequelganza!) continues it’s unstoppable march with the release of 2K Games’ BioShock 2.  The highly-anticipated “Deco ‘n Daddy” shooter has been a long time in the making, suffering delays in 2009 and requiring no less than five game studios to bring to fruition.  Has the result proved to be worth the wait?  Or does the sequel fall prey to the high expectations carried over from the original?

It’s been almost three years since we last descended into Andrew Ryan’s Rapture, and from the moment you stumble to your feet in BioShock 2, you’ll feel like you never left.  In-game, however, it’s been ten years since the events of Jack Ryan’s return and Fontaine’s fall, events for which our new protagonist was, for all intensive purposes, stone dead.  Subject Delta is an early model “Protector” Big Daddy, who’s line was genetically bonded to a single Little Sister to increase the effectiveness of the pairing.  Delta’s Little Sister is Eleanor Lamb, daughter of Rapture’s new leader Sofia Lamb.  In the game’s prologue Sofia gains control over Delta and forces him to commit suicide, reclaiming Eleanor in the process.  Ten years later, Delta falls out of a Vita-Chamber and discovers that he’s regained his free will.

From here Delta must make his way back to a now teenage Eleanor and effect an escape from Rapture’s grasp.  Along they way you’ll meet both new and familiar faces, and discover a whole new side of Rapture in the process.

Now remember how I said you’ll feel like you’ve never left?  I meant it, and it’s perhaps the only aspect of the game that I really didn’t enjoy.  As anyone who played the original will know, Big Daddies are hulking, armour-plated powerhouses that don’t go down without a difficult fight.  In BioShock 2, you could almost argue that apart from the giant drill on his right arm (which conveniently disappears when you need it to) Subject Delta plays and feels almost identical to the original, flesh and blood protagonist Jack Ryan.  It’s all there, from the scrambling blur after your first taste of plasmid to the ability to either harvest or heal Rapture’s Little Sisters.  And while most people would expect that a Big Daddy could take almost any amount of punishment dealt to him and walk away whistling, Subject Delta also manages to share Jack’s vulnerability to the many varied splicer residents.

"Shock him then clock him" then maybe "Zap him then smack him"

The game attempts to explain this away by telling you that splicers have had many years to evolve to even greater heights of physical prowess, but even on Normal difficulty, something just seems wrong about watching a Leadhead Splicer decimate your health with just one clip when you know from the first installment the amount of heavy artillery and careful planning required to send a Daddy down.

So really, with the exception of some loud thuds upon landing a jump and the ability to dual-wield guns and plasmids, we’re playing the same game all over again.  I guess it isn’t such a bad thing in itself, there are far less competent shooters than BioShock, but people looking forward to stomping all over the competition in the new Rapture will be sorely disappointed.

Also gone for me, and sorely missed, was the sense of awe and discovery from the original BioShock.  This is something that the sequel was always going to have a hard time with, considering the foundations laid in the previous game, but for all the beautiful design involved in producing BioShock 2 I couldn’t help but feel that I’d already seen it all.  The only real moment of awe I felt throughout the entire story was in the second half of the game where you discover how Little Sisters percieve the halls of Rapture.  Sure there were some real standout areas, Ryan’s museum to himself and horror-ride “Journey To The Surface!” being among the highlights, but even as I wandered the ocean floor safe in my suit I couldn’t shake the feeling that nothing much had changed.

Newer, upgraded plasmids add stopping power to newer, upgraded splicers

Plotwise BioShock 2 delivers nicely.  It’s not exactly as well scripted as the original, but it works hard to show Rapture in a different light from the original.  Andrew Ryan’s philosophy of personal gain and development has been replaced with Sofia Lamb’s concept of the “greater good”, something which manages to be even more sinister despite it’s benign message.  After accepting Lamb’s word as their new gospel, Rapture’s inhabitants have begun to work together as part of The Family, and have come to worship Eleanor as their own personal salvation.  Most of the specifics of Ryan’s downfall and Lamb’s rise come in the form of audio-diaries, which all Rapturians great and small seem to share the compulsion to record then immediately discard.  While definitely the key to getting into the meat of the story, players of the original will once again feel a little odd when it comes to these sections, as it’s quite difficult to imagine how Lamb could have caused such a stir in Rapture before Jack’s arrival, and yet not mentioned a single mention from anyone the first time around.

Also to be found through audio-diaries is the fate of Mark Meltzer, who’s search for Rapture and quest to save his daughter was the subject of BioShock 2′s viral site Something In The Sea.  Mark represents a somewhat odd side-story to Delta’s experiences, as anyone who followed his progress week to week like I did will probably end up caring a lot more about his story than anything Delta gets up to.  Meltzer’s audio-diaries begin from some weeks past and become more and more recent until you can hear his voice in the areas up ahead.  To me, these represented the moments where I really felt immersed in Rapture again, but to someone who didn’t follow the site they are most likely nothing more than an interesting (maybe a little sad) side-note.

OK, prepare traps before harvesting, we get the point

Anyhow, unexpected vulnerability aside, being a Big Daddy has it advantages.  You now wield both your weapon and plasmids side-by-side, which can lead to some very destructive combinations.  Delta utilises a heavier loadout than Jack ever could, which makes for some very satisfying damage dishing, and also key is the new ability to lay traps.  To increase the amount of ADAM available, players have to assist each level’s Little Sisters while they harvest corpses.  However, while a Little Sister is out in the open, splicers will automatically flood the area looking to take the ADAM for themselves.  This leads to some rather elaborate preparations on the players behalf to avoid the bum’s rush.  You can cover almost any surface in motion-sensing trap rivets, electrified trip-wires and touch activated tornado plasmid traps.  For added effect you can also combine other plasmids to your tornado traps, each with it’s own subtle twist.  My favourite was a telekenisis tornado trap, which simply flings the victim into the air and leaves them helplessly flailing.

Traps also become paramount when facing off against the new major Rapture threat, the Big Sister.  Big Sisters became a natural (well, as natural as anything gets in underwater crazy-genetic-land anyway) evolution as Little Sisters grew older.  They are deadly fast, extremely powerful and completely under the control of Sofia Lamb.  There are a few scripted Big Sister battles, but for the most part they’ll seek you out after taking care of any level’s final Little Sister.  In these encounters, you can hear the Big Sister screech as she grows nearer, and the game prompts you to make yourself ready.  At first you’ll dread these battles, but as Delta progresses his weapons become more and more effective and the Sisters grow to be less of a threat and more of an amusing challenge.

Hush little sister don't you cry ...

Visually the game is as impressive as it’s predecessor, even if the sense of discovery has died away.  Rapture still drips with art-deco delight, now quite frequently covered in unchecked coral or seaweed.  The ocean itself plays a much greater role in BioShock 2, as Delta is safe to wander it’s floor inside his watertight suit.  Walking the ocean floor is very impressive, but for the most part it’s a guided experience without a lot of chance for exploration.  Looking into Rapture from the outside provided a wonderful new experience for me, as I imagined an observer looking out and seeing a lone Big Daddy simply gazing back.

I’m aware that I’m rambling on a little more than I usually would, but there is one last element of the game that needs to be mentioned, and that’s BioShock 2‘s multiplayer aspect.  As I put it to a friend, it’s “unexpectedly brilliant”.  When 2K first announced that they were going to add multiplayer to BioShock 2, I was cynical at best.  BioShock has always been a title that could be held up to non-believers as proof that not every game needs multiplayer.  But Rapture actually manages to provide the ideal setting for some of the most enjoyable and exciting multiplayer I’ve experienced in a long time.  The multiplayer aspect is actually set up as a prequel to BioShock, and takes place as the “civil war” between Ryan and Atlas begins.  Players take the role of a willing participant in Sinclair Solutions plasmid testing labs.  The multiplayer sounds fairly vanilla, offering deathmatch, last-man-standing and capture the flag (or Little Sister in this case), but everything just clicks so nicely when you start playing.  Players gain ranks as they gain more ADAM from their efforts, allowing them to splice bigger and better plasmids, and upgrade their armoury.  Not only that, but you also unlock audio diaries that tell the story behind each of the test subjects.  It’s truly an unexpected masterpiece of guns and genetic destruction.

The Verdict:

Pros: Good story, and a decent attempt to revitalise Rapture with a fresh new angle.  Simple, addictive and immersive multiplayer will have players sticking around after they complete the core plot.  Visuals easily live up to the standard set by the original game.

Cons: The feeling that you’ve done it all before will dog some gamers.  There isn’t a whole heap of variety when it comes to settings, and even when the concerted effort is made Rapture still feels a little repetitive.  Moral choices seem to have lost their impact a little too, as the game spells out the fact that players saving Little Sisters will eventually be paid off for their efforts.

Overall: For all my griping, I did enjoy my return to Rapture.  Really the game’s only real problem is that it has some very big shoes to fill, which turn out to be bigger than even a Big Daddy feet.  Luckily, any disappointments you feel with the game’s story mode will be alleviated by the superb multiplayer.  I’ll settle on a 4 out of 5.  It’s a fitting addition to the series, and while it may not live up to some very high expectations, even coming close is an accomplishment in itself.