Game Details

Title: Bioshock 2
Developer/Publisher: 2K Games
Website: Official Site
Game Type: FPS
Multi-player: Online only 2-10 Players
Age Rating: 18
Length: Medium (5-10 hours for Single Player Completion)

My Impressions

I was very impressed with the original Bioshock as in what is a rarity for First Person Shooters had an engaging story with a number of surprising twists and combined it with RPG elements with a 50s feel that put me in mind of the Fallout games when I first played the game. While the story was engaging it was also very self contained and so I had mixed feelings when I heard news about a sequel, thankfully though any fears I had were misplaced and while I do not think Bioshock 2 is quite as good as the first game it is still a very good game.

In terms of the plot you are put in the role of one of the first successful Big Daddy prototype who in the intro discover was killed before the events of the original Bioshock, time then moves on 10 years and you are suddenly find yourself awoken and are driven to find and save your now grown up bonded Little Sister. As in the first game further plot details are given through meeting a few characters and radio messages with audio diaries giving extra background details to the story. While the main plot was held quite tightly together, I did not find the secondary plot elements to be quite as strong with there being 2 glaring examples of this, the first being you meet Brigid Tenenbaum early on in the game but then never hear from her again, and the second being your primary travelling companion Augustus Sinclair who you never do discover what he is actually after. Despite this I still found the story highly enjoyable.

The gameplay has not changed significantly from the original Bioshock, save that you are now a Big Daddy for almost all of the game aside from one surprising (in a good way) sequence near the end of the game. If there is a flaw it is that almost all of the more intensive battles are easy to predict as you know you quickly learn what causes a Big Sister to appear and that allowing a Little Sister to harvest will cause a splicer onslaught. The rest of the time is spent wandering around deserted rooms and occasionally running into small groups of splicers that are easy to dispatch or attempting to take down a Big Daddy to get to the Little Sister. The mini games have changed as well with them now being based on making a needle stop in the right place rather than the pipe game which I preferred.

Overall then the single player component of Bioshock 2 is  strong and enjoyable and the story is strong enough to exist in its own right apart from the first Bioshock game though I feel the first game was better.  What truly sets Bioshock 2 apart from its predecessor though is that it contains a multiplayer component. As I primarily bought Bioshock 2 for the single player game I have spent significantly less time in this mode than in single player, but what I have seen has left me wanting to come back for more at some point as the pre-lobby immerses you into the world and having a level system that rewards you for playing more with extra abilities to torment your opponents with. The game modes are fairly standard fare albeit with a Bioshock twist e.g. capture the Little Sister rather than Capture the Flag.

In terms of the difficulty and achievements, Bioshock 2 is a fairly easy game to play and it is relatively simple to get 700+ achievement points through playing through the single player mode ensuring you explore levels thoroughly doing and finding the obvious and play a small amount of multiplayer. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the audio diary collectible achievement does not require you to find all of them but rather just a majority of them. The only issue I had with the achievements is that there are a couple of secret achievements that require you to do things which are either obscure or against what the game seems to be telling you to do.

While I do not feel that Bioshock 2 is quite as good as the original game, it is still more than good enough to make me want to return to Rapture for a third installment in the Bioshock franchise.

My Recommendation

Buy

While inferior to the original game, Bioshock 2 is a more than worthwhile return to Rapture that leaves you wanting more.