Bioshock 2 – A Fanboy’s Review

Written by Knight Carver Monday, 22 February 2010 09:40

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And here it is, the final piece of our 3 part series on the recently released Bioshock 2! Huge thanks to our resident Bioshock fanboy Knight Carver for this epic review. Would you kindly enjoy this amazing wrap up to our week with Bioshock 2.

Almost two and a half years on, Bioshock 2 has finally arrived. The sp is set 10 years after the events of the first, while the mp occurs in a pre-Civil War Rapture. So the big question we all want to know, is whether it has lived up to expectations and managed to trump the amazing original. Before we even begin, I will mention that the following will be spoiler-free.

By this stage, everyone should be aware that you are now playing a prototype Big Daddy – aptly named Subject Delta. In Rapture's evolution you preclude the Big Daddy's we know so well already (though how much you find about this background depends on the investment you make in the game). In a similar manner to the first, a large number of audio diaries are scattered about, and though you do get the basic story through voice-overs as you progress, the history of Rapture transcends this and for a purists experience I highly recommend finding, listening and yes, even coveting each audio diary. Without exception, each is superbly voiced and provides you with background on prominent Rapture citizens and a unique take on what has been going on since the last game.

Quite honestly I was surprised by the lack of obvious referencing to the original. It is there and to be fair, developer's were likely conscious of not wanting to alienate newcomers to the franchise. That said, many audio diaries provide more insight into the minds of Ryan and Fontaine. Also, if you keep out a keen eye, you will spot nods to the first game, like the tail end of Jack's aeroplane and a large swimming squid (also seen in the first segment of the original game). The fact that few of the now main characters in this story were not mentioned in the original is a slight issue though it should be noted that a lot of thought has been put into ensuring that the story is cohesively joined to the original.

Let’s just get this out of the way; I started this review wanting to compare the new Bioshock with the old. I’m happy to say as I progressed through the sequel, I found that I was doing this less and less as I began to become interested in the story at hand, what I was doing and the impact my actions would have on others. As such, Bioshock 2 is an excellent game. Better than the first? Probably not if you ask me, but it’s still an experience to savor. Let’s just get into the nitty gritty shall we?

There are more in-game options this time around, including the now standard ability to alter the speed across the x and y axes. Strangely though, this does not translate into zoomed mode. Though this seems like nit-picking, it’s an odd sense to direct toward an enemy quickly, and then find your motion noticeably slowed as you move in to a more accurate zoomed mode. Another small criticism is that, although you have the option to map buttons in mp, you cannot do this in sp. The issue here, as you may expect, is that you get used to one control scheme, then find yourself having to re-adapt to the presets of sp.

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