Bioshock 2

Pros: Interesting story; strong combat encourages experimentation; excellent setting; new multiplayer options
Cons: Some pacing issues ; lots of powers recycled from first game

Quick preamble: I've purposely left off spoilers from both the first and second games, as Bioshock featured some of the best plot twists of 2007, and knowing those aren't important when explaining Bioshock 2. So the descriptions of the games reflect what you're given at the beginning of the game story wise, not what you know by the end.

 I really don't like period pieces in the least. One of the more painful movie viewing experiences of the year was watching Jim Carrey's The Majestic, although to be fair it was watched after 3 other Jim Carrey movies and I was already exhausted. The setting of Batman: The Animated Series was always a turnoff to me instead of a reason to watch (particularly after the setting created a shitload of continuity errors when they launched Batman Beyond. How can you age 30-40 years and suddenly jump 70 years into the future, Bruce Wayne?). So when I borrowed the original Bioshock from a friend, I did so with a grain of sand, not really looking to love it, but still expecting it to be a good game. It ended up playing alot like Deus Ex or, more accurately, Clive Barker's Undying, and I found myself enjoying the game because of the setting, not in spite of it. For anyone who has ever been to Epcot and gone on the "Future World" ride or simply watched Mad Men, the 1960s were a strange time where idealism seemed to override all else and coat almost every social problem with a glossy finish. This was an absolutely perfect time setting for a game based in a utopian underwater city that seemed lost in time. Bioshock 2 manages build on the setting by offering a unique view on the city that takes place after the first game has concluded.

Bioshock 2 takes a much different path than the first game in that it attempts to tell a much more personal story. Bioshock was great in that the story featured someone that was looking at the underground utopia of Rapture with fresh eyes, and so exploring the city and soaking in the new setting was as exciting as anything else in the game. The sequel faced the challenge of a game with a setting everyone was already familiar with, and hence Bioshock 2 had to do some trailblazing if it was going to be as engaging as the first. It does this with an overall better story that has the player controlling a Big Daddy, one of the lumbering giants from the first game that were effectively minibosses in the first game. Big Daddies are protectors of Little Sisters, the seemingly obligatory creepy children that harvest an energy substance from dead bodies throughout Rapture. In the first game, you were given the option of rescuing them or killing them after defeating a Big Daddy, but in Bioshock 2 defeating a Big Daddy allows you to adopt their Little Sister. You can then go around and have them harvest energy for you before you decide whether you want to rescue them or kill them. The overarching story involves you finding the Little Sister that you were originally created for, and while it may not have the same overall sense of espionage and intrigue that the first game had, it features a mission that is more personal and hence a bit either to sympathize with.

The setting is once again one of the main draws of the game as you go through different sections of Rapture in order to get to your Little Sister. Although some of the sheen from the first game has worn off the second time around, Rapture is still an overall stunning city that contains some great scenery. The game also has several sections where you simply walk underwater outside the city which, while they don't offer any combat whatsoever, are highlights because of the ruins and neon plants that you must push through to get to the next area.

The gameplay is almost identical to that in the first game (a good, if not a bit traditional, first person shooter), with the only differences being a few new weapons and a few new Plasmids, the game's equivalent of special powers. The Plasmids cover all the major elemental bases (fire, lightning, ice) as well as some more unique ways of dealing with enemies (there is a power that allows you to set elemental traps for your enemies to run into as well as one that attacks your enemies with insects). Ideally you'll use Plasmids in combination with the weapons in order to more effectively take down enemies, and the game attempts to reward you for being creative by offering a type of scoring system through a camera that earns you research points on the different enemies. Killing enemies off in different ways nets you more research points, and after accruing a certain number, you can deal more damage to that enemy or even earn new powers. It's a good way to make the combat a bit more interesting given that the game is overall a fairly straightforward first person shooter, especially given that I remember playing through more than half of the first game with just the wrench because it was so overpowered.

One nice touch that might be off putting to some is the way that the difficulty scales in the game. I played the game on Hard mode and ended up having a tough time at the beginning of the game that got progressively easier until I was pretty much walking through the end of the game without much fear of dying. The Big Daddy and Big Sister fights at the beginning of the game seem like Herculean tasks that you may be apprehensive to start, but are easily managed by the game's end. I found it nice that the game actually made you feel like you were getting much more powerful as the game continued, much like X-Men Legends, but those looking for a challenging game throughout may be disappointed.

The one area where Bioshock 2 falls short of its predecessor is pacing. Rescuing Little Sisters is an overall optional process, and because of this you'll spend about as much time fighting Big Daddies and harvesting energy as you will playing through the game since doing so will net you more energy to spend on Plasmids. Spending an hour pushing the story forward and then taking an hour off may sound fine to some, but as someone who played it for 3+ hour stretches, it felt pretty uneven overall to spend so much time doing an optional task that didn't push the story forward at all.

The game's length feels about right given the story in the game, and Bioshock 2 includes a pretty robust multiplayer mode for those interesting in continued play. Additionally, the game features 100 audio diaries to collect that flesh out the story, and chances are that most people won't find all of them on their first playthrough. Bioshock 2 feels unique enough from the original Bioshock that it doesn't feel like an unnecessary sequel, although its newest gameplay mechanic, that of the Little Sisters, is both a blessing and a curse because of what it does to the overall pacing of the game. While it comes up just short of the original Bioshock in terms of single-player experience, its multiplayer suite may make it the better game overall for those interested in competitive play.

Overall Score: 9.2

Recommended Price: $20