Game: Bioshock 2
Developer: 2K Marin
Genre: First Person Shooter/RPG
Verdict: An intelligent evolution of the first game and every bit its equal.
Pros: Rapture is even more breathtakingly atmospheric than before.
Cons: I grudgingly mention the lack of 360 controller support and widescreen issues.
Acquired: Developer Provided
It’s a difficult thing for me to critically assess Bioshock 2, given that I have a deep love for the original installment and more so for its predecessors, System Shock and System Shock 2. In my humble opinion System Shock was the most atmospheric game ever made and I have a vast amount of fond memories from exploring Citadel Station.
Rapture, in all its steampunk glory, is very much Citadel Station’s spiritual successor and whilst System Shock 2 left Citadel far behind to weave its tale, Bioshock 2 returns to Rapture, continuing the story of the cursed utopia.
Bioshock 2 revisits Andrew Ryan’s submerged utopia 25 years after Fontaine’s coup backfired. The city has rotted away just like the corpse of its murdered creator and has been taken over by the city’s psychiatrist-cum-spiritual leader, Sophia Lamb. Lamb has transformed into a demagogue, and united the splicers into a religion she calls the Family.
The game begins with a short sequence introducing you to the protagonist, Subject Delta, a prototype Big Daddy. Delta’s Little Sister is Lamb’s own adopted daughter Eleanore. You are forced to witness, from Delta’s perspective, being ambushed by Lamb and her henchmen. He is then forced to remove his helmet and put a pistol to his own head. Subject Delta is a bit tougher than that though, and 25 years later returns to find a very different Rapture.
The city has fallen apart and is completely under the control of Lamb and “The Family.” As Subject Delta, you are invited to search for Eleanore and find out exactly what happened at the hands of Rapture’s zealous scientific community.
In a game so heavily built upon narrative, it is difficult to talk about the plot without giving away spoilers. I will attempt to avoid giving away critical snippets of plot, but I make no promises. Bioshock 2, like its predecessors, tries to offer a moral choice to players by putting the lives of the Little Sisters directly in their hands. 2K Marin have taken this idea an ran with it. As the the original Big Daddy not only can you wield Plasmids, but you have the opportunity to kill the other Big Daddies and adopt their Little Sister. At any time, you are able to harvest the Little Sisters, in turn taking all their Adam, but you can also accompany them as they harvest. If you can protect them from Splicers, players will be treated with the reward of more Adam. This is not the only moral choice that will be encountered. You will have the opportunity to interact with several of the more important figures in Rapture and can feel free to deal with them as you see fit.
This is much more freedom than you had with the first game and, apart from a few minor changes, the choice to harvest or save Little Sisters had very little effect on the outcome of the game. In Bioshock 2 your interactions with the other key characters do effect how the game plays out. In a way, it is the kind of morally led gameplay that Bioshock was aiming for originally. You will find yourself thinking about how to play the game through, because the ethics of the are so much deeper than the first dive into Rapture.
Of course morality is not the only reason to play Bioshock 2. There have been interesting changes in the environments as well as the gameplay mechanics, that have really built on the foundation first laid by Ken Levine and the team at Irrational Games. Narrative-wise the new Big Sisters (a newer, more agile and more powerful version of the Big Daddies), who seem to be Lamb’s enforcers in the new Rapture, are a terrifying prospect and leave you breathless at every encounter. The first run-in with a Big Sister is one of the most impressive moments in the game, as she cracks a huge window, causing the glass to shatter and the room to flood. As Subject Delta, you are engulfed by a tidal wave, the room filling with water and, as it settles Delta finds his feet. This leads the player to discover the other new addition in Bioshock 2: The added ability to walk outside Rapture. Later on, this is a key part of the plot as well as facilitating some of the game’s most visually impressive sequences.
It might be quite odd to say but, the Rapture 2K Marin has created does seem like a paradise in some ways; albeit a twisted one.
As well as deep sea diving, Subject Delta can not only wield Plasmids but dual-wield them with weapons. This makes chaining the two types of attack even easier than it was in Bioshock. Being the only Big Daddy with this ability might give you a clear advantage over other Big Daddies, but they are still a heck of a lot tougher than you and require careful hoarding of heavy ammunition. Expect the need to preserve armour piercing rounds for the machine gun and heavy rivets, in order to take them down. The Big Sisters are even tougher and you will need to take a good few of them down to reach Doctor Lamb and Eleanore.
Now to the boiling question that is in the back of everyone’s mind: How does it look on the PC? Compared to the console version, Splicers animations are locked to 30 fps and there is an issue with the lack of widescreen. Granted, I have been playing the game in Windows XP and therefore am chained to DirectX 9, the game kicks the ass out of the console versions at full (not upscaled) 1080p with a healthy measure of full screen anti-aliasing. The widescreen problem was never an issue, as the image never feels manipulated or warped in any way. The game plays very smoothly with no dropped frames or jerkiness, even on my aging Core 2 Duo.
Having spent so much time in Rapture over the last month, I have to say that I am really taken with the game and feel that 2K Marin have produced a very fitting evolution of the series. Rapture is even more hauntingly beautiful the second time round and the characters have been fleshed out very nicely. Incidental characters even react to your actions with typically human responses, especially when you prove them wrong.
Whilst claims that the game is far better than the previous installment are somewhat exaggerated rhetoric, Bioshock 2 is easily the equal of its predecessor. In a year crammed full of big releases, Bioshock 2 can be confident that it will emerge as a front-runner come the inevitable game of the year awards, when the end of the year rolls around.
It might be quite odd to say but, the Rapture 2K Marin has created does seem like a paradise in some ways; albeit a twisted one.
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