These past couple of months have been one of the best times in gaming that I’ve seen for quite a long time. This is surprising, and I’m a tad miffed as to why devs didn’t release these HUGE titles right before Christmas, but alas, the wait was well worth it. Here again, we have a very big-name title that meets or exceeds it’s expectations. Surprising, given recent year’s efforts.
Bioshock 2 takes place 10 years after the events in Bioshock. You play as “Subject Delta”, an early prototype of the Big Daddies you saw in Bioshock 1. Your assigned little sister is the daughter of a cultist revolutionist, Sophia Lamb. Upon her discovery of your assignment, she convinces you to kill yourself, relinquishing your control over her daughter, Eleanor. You are resurrected a few years later to find yourself in search of your little sister. If you don’t find her, you die a slow and agonizing death in the tunnels of Rapture. This story is quite good, and has enough twists and turns to keep the player interested. I wasn’t quite as enthralled as I was with Mass Effect 2, but I think this may be due more to my personality more than poor writing.
Gameplay is solid and builds on some of the (minor) mistakes that the first game made. I really enjoyed the new mechanics involved with the drill you are given as part of your suit. Some of the most satisfying moments from this game come merely from sneaking up on an unsuspecting splicer and ramming him or her into oblivion against a wall and twisting their innerds into a fine soup. Other fun dynamics involve the ability to adopt little sisters and take them hunting for adam. Your job is essentially to defend the sister while she harvests, which can be quite daunting and requires a lot of prior planning before you drop her on the ground. Setting traps and hacking security machines is absolutely necessary for success.
As the game progresses you are given more and more powerful plasmids and weapon upgrades. One complaint I did have, however; Is that the game became almost too easy when I acquired the tier III freeze plasmid and the drill specialist ability. Combat eventually devolved into a quick tap of the freeze plasmid and then plugging away with the drill until the enemy shattered. I RARELY had to use even a single health pack for a big daddy or even some big sisters.
This game is quite beautiful and I really enjoyed the scenery. Like Mass Effect 2, the Unreal III Engine powers this game. My favourite scenes here were the underwater parts, where coral, plane debris from Bioshock 1, and other props adorned the city scape. Immersion is superbly executed, and I had no problems with believability in the slightest. Sound quality is just as good as the first game, if not better. The crowning achievement of the immersion factor of this game likely goes to the score. Shrieking strings and rumbling kettle drums added so much suspense to some parts of this game that, at times, I could barely stand it. Rounding corners became a terrifying prospect, and walking into a large arena made you think twice about ignoring your options for decent cover. If there’s one thing that Take 2 hit spot-on, it’s immersion.
Overall, I think this game is a solid title. It’s definitely worth a week’s rental, if not a purchase. There is little here that I have to complain about, and even then there’s nothing here that I would consider a “deal breaker”. I had the opportunity to play both the PC and console version, and would recommend both equally. After you beat Mass Effect 2, definitely try this. If you haven’t bought Mass Effect 2 yet, then fuck you.
