We're buying our way to victory, Mr. Bubbles!

One of several things I was impressed with on my initial playthrough of BioShock 2 was that 2K hadn’t lined up any release day downloadable content.  DLC has become somewhat of a necessary evil for developers, but nothing irks me more than seeing “bonus” gameplay packs available before you’ve even managed to wrestle the shrink wrap off a brand new title.  That’s not bonus content, that’s active customer gouging, and far too many games are guilty of it.

Well 2K have tipped their hand today to announce their first DLC package for the new BioShock installment.  What’s on the way?  Here’s some press release for you:

The single and multiplayer experiences of BioShock 2 will be enhanced with downloadable content that will add more glimpses into the award-winning world of Rapture. Downloadable content will be made available soon, beginning with the Sinclair Solutions Test Pack, available this March on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and Games for Windows–LIVE for 400 Microsoft Points and from the PlayStation Network for $4.99. Future expansions into the world of BioShock 2 are slated to arrive over the coming months and will continue to expand on the stories of the denizens of Rapture.

Sinclair Solutions Test Pack contains a number of customization features that will allow players to further their character’s development in BioShock 2’s multiplayer modes and provide a deeper multiplayer experience. The pack includes:

- Rank increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards
- New playable characters Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca
- 20 new trials*
- A third weapon upgrade for each weapon
- Five additional masks*
*Some items are only available after a player achieves a rank of 41 or higher.

In the coming months, 2K Games will also be publishing downloadable extensions of the single player experience, providing new insight into the world of Rapture. These packages will include more narrative, new tools and new challenges that extend the lore and fiction of the failed Utopia under the sea.

So while the $5 price tag ain’t so bad, I really have to wonder: I’ve been playing the BioShock 2 multiplayer fairly constantly since I purchased it, and I’m only now tipping the edge of the currently capped level 40.  I mean the majority of us (excluding boosters of course, bless their hearts) have only just reached the level cap, is there really so much demand that it go higher already?  I haven’t even had time to feel superior to all those lowly level 36′ers yet.

What does concern me is that this, in theory, means that people who buy themselves the DLC will have a completely unfair advantage over all the vanilla retail players.  We won’t know exactly how the Sinclair Solutions Test Pack will effect the game’s balance until we find out the specifics of the upgrades, but this all seems a little stupid to me.  While they’re at it, they may as well package and sell the “BioShock 2 Multiplayer Anti-Freezing Patch” that allows you to play through more than two rounds without a console freeze.

Now there’s an unfair advantage I’d like to see.

Head on over to the 2K International site to check out the official PR.

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.

The minature windshield prevents Splicer splatter

The fine folk from the Cult of Rapture have posted up a rather extensive article today that details the Big Daddy’s spear gun.  Why should you care?  Because it sounds so damn boss, that’s why.  Here’s just a little cut:

Finally, we’ve got an entirely new alternate ammo for BioShock 2: Rocket Spears. These are exactly what they sound like, except more awesome. They’re rocket-propelled spears, and when they attach to Splicers a short fuse ticks down before they explode for massive damage. Splicers of course freak out when they’ve got a Rocket Spear embedded in their bodies; they run around like their hair’s on fire, which it sort of is. The nice thing about this reaction is that they’ll run toward other Splicers for help, so the explosion will often set other Splicers on fire as well. This is, of course, awesome.

That, of course, is awesome.  So not only can you look forward to Delta harpooning enemy splicers to walls, but in the best of Australian vernacular you can also literally “get a rocket up ‘em”.  Now if only there were a Dog Spears.

Head on over to the Cult Of Rapture to check out the full article, including the concept art.  Oh, and how long has it been since you checked in with Mark Meltzer?  He misses you.

Remember kids, splice responsibly!

Getting a little bit depressed with the number of games pushed back to “Q1 2010″?  Well good news everyone, you can cross one ambiguous date off your list, as it was announced today that BioShock 2 has finally confirmed it’s release.

The big day? February 9, 2010.

Here’s a cut from the press release:

Set approximately 10 years after the events of the original BioShock, the halls of Rapture once again echo with sins of the past. Along the Atlantic coastline, a monster has been snatching little girls and bringing them back to the undersea city of Rapture. Players step into the boots of the most iconic denizen of Rapture, the Big Daddy, as they travel through the decrepit and beautiful fallen city, chasing an unseen foe in search of answers and their own survival.

Multiplayer in BioShock 2 will provide a rich prequel experience that expands the origins of the BioShock fiction. Set during the fall of Rapture, players assume the role of a Plasmid test subject for Sinclair Solutions, a premier provider of Plasmids and Tonics in the underwater city of Rapture that was first explored in the original BioShock. Players will need to use all the elements of the BioShock toolset to survive, as the full depth of the BioShock experience is refined and transformed into a unique multiplayer experience that can only be found in Rapture.

BioShock 2 is currently in development at 2K Marin in collaboration with 2K Australia, Digital Extremes and 2K China for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows® LIVE. BioShock 2 will be available worldwide on February 9, 2010. This title is not yet rated by the ESRB.

So in other words, Mark Meltzer has about five months to figure out where his daughter disappeared to.

While the big date is still a little ways off, we can only assume that (barring a major accident) there won’t be any further delays in the game’s release.  So now all we’ve got to do is wait out the time, and if you live where I live, hope that Australia isn’t banning it for being too aggressively underwater.

In the meantime, the Cult of Rapture has posted up the first in a series of articles showing off the game’s multiplayer characters.  The first is a welder by the name of Jacob Norris.  Take a look, and start counting the weeks!

Thanks to Spider Splicer from the BioShock boards for the photo evidence!

Early rising Sydney-side Something In The Sea fans received a nice little surprise today.  Encouraged on by the writings of Mark Meltzer to get themselves to Bondi Beach at 6.41AM, people on the scene were greeted by a huge collections of bottles buried in the sand.  The bottles, washed up (or so it would seem) from the underwater city of Rapture, contained messages and plasmid advertisements.

Bondi Beach is simply the first in a series of beaches around the world that will have Rapture flotsam wash up on their shores.  There are beaches in Italy, Germany, New York, Canada, France and more that can expect the same bounty.  So be sure to check the list pinned to Meltzer’s wall to see if you can make your way to a wash up point this morning!  It’s only going to be happening today, the 8th of August!

And remember to smile for all the people around the world, watching over you through every webcam they can possibly find in range!

You can read over the findings of the Sydney drop, and the progression of the remaining sunrise events in the BioShock 2 forums.  There are plenty of nice folk, all of who are happy to supply and share info on the mysterious beach events.

And dear lord, 2K Games, you’re not doing things by halves, are you?

EDIT: You can also find more photos of the Sydney bounty at forum user AJMartin’s Photobucket.

Booth on top, site on the bottom

You know what’s neat?  Something In The Sea.  You know what even neater?  2K recreating the entire room from the site at Comic-Con.

Apparently the booth (pictured right) is chock full of the real-life source material for the site, allowing you to sift through Meltzer’s notes, filing cabinet and peruse his book collection.  It even recreate’s the distinctive three-pane window in Meltzer’s door, with blue exterior lights.

So.  Damn.  Cool.  Full points for making something different out of your booth.  All it needs is a Big Sister booth babe to scare everyone away, and it’d be the complete experience!

Thanks Joystiq for posting up this gallery!

The latest updates, back on the actual site have added a great many more support letters for Meltzer on his wall, and you can try your hand at a considerably difficult memory game to unlock a clue box.

The inked artwork

Apparently the only interesting stuff rambling around the web this weekend is all about BioShock 2!

The Cult of Rapture has posted up the first of their Artist Series.  The piece, called “The Sisters”, was created by Jhonen Vasquez, the brilliantly skewed mind behind Johnny the Homocidal Maniac, I Feel Sick, and Invader Zim.

Looks.  Fucking.  Sweet.

2K has asked “several uniquely different artists” to come up with artwork for the new BioShock game, and Jhonen’s is the first to be released.  The rest in the series will be released over the following months.

You can check out the finished work, along with a very amusing post, written by Vasquez in his typical wandering style, over at The Cult of Rapture.

Now HERE'S incentive to buy a game!

Bravo, 2K, bravo.  If what everyone else does is viral marketing, I’d say that this was pandemic marketing.

A while ago, those keeping watch on the events of There’s Something In The Sea brought up the idea of writing in their support for the site’s character, Mark Meltzer.  His address is stamped on every piece of correspondence through-out the site, why not write in and find out if it’s a real address?

They were rewarded for their ingenuity.  Letters of support began to pile up on Melzter’s wall in-site, and writers would be sent back pieces of “evidence” which they could assist Meltzer by looking over.

I wrote in a while back, and my reply came today in the form of a record.  It plays the operatic “Rise, Rapture, Rise” song that can be heard on site (although the B-side suffers from a little, shall we say, distortion?). I’ll be framing this little baby!

It’s brilliant marketing like this that can really increase the anticipation for a game.  We heard recently of the unfortunate delays to BioShock 2‘s release date, but with clever plans like these behind their promotion, I’m sure the hype will stay high until the game’s eventual release!

If you haven’t looked over BioShock 2‘s viral site yet, be sure to check it out.

The decision to shift a release date is never an easy one, especially with a product as highly anticipated as BioShock 2. We felt that it was essential to invest the additional time to ensure that this title will deliver what its fans expect and deserve. As a result, we will now be launching sequels to several of our strongest franchises – including BioShock 2, Mafia 2, Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption – during the next fiscal year.

-Take-Two’s CEO, Ben Feder

Tell the truth, people have been speculating this for a while now given that the title has been split up over three studios, all working on the same game.  It’s disappointing, to be certain, but not completely unexpected.  It’s also good to hear that the delay is being made for the right reasons, and not rushed through just to make a deadline (a la KoToR 2).

It’s sad news, but players who are looking forward to the game should be understanding.  Rapture wasn’t built in a day!

I wonder if this is going to cause a two to five month delay in Mark Meltzer’s investigations?