Bioshock 2 (PS3, PC, 360)

( 1 Vote ) Bioshock 2 is the sequel to the blockbuster game of the year of the same name, but how does it add up to its Big Daddy? Read on to find out.

When I first popped in Bioshock 2 I’ll be honest, I really wasn’t expecting much other than it would be a good place-holder until games like Heavy Rain and Bad Company 2 dropped. With five studios working simultaneously on the project I feared the worst for this sequel. Throw in the fact that it would feature a multiplayer addition and you’ve got the workings of one of the biggest flops on our hands. Now, I’m not implying that a game with multiplayer isn’t fun, in fact I enjoy multiplayer as much as the next guy does, but I feared that by adding multiplayer the campaign would receive less attention than what it deserved.( because people this is Bioshock after all)

Thankfully all my worrying was unfounded. This is the game we’ve all been waiting for. Bioshock 2 is without a doubt a worthy predecessor in every way possible. It surprised me in ways I didn’t think it could. The game starts with a bang, literally, everything that happens after the opening pertains to the opening leaching off of it right up to the end.

The music is once again fantastic and the period music is right at home in Rapture’s underwater utopia. I actually found myself not wanting the game to start at the loading of each level just so I could hear the full songs that were playing. That’s how good it is. The music is still when it should be and intense when it needs to be. In fact, I’d say that most of the player’s feelings are drawn by the music more so than the settings.

The atmosphere is thick with a sense of wonder and horror, this is still the place that you know and love, for better or worse. Being able to play with a plasmid and a weapon equipped at the same time make fire fights a little easier to deal with, but I wouldn’t get to comfortable as waves of splicer’s, Big Daddy’s, Brute splicer’s, and Big Sisters will challenge you at every corner testing your skills and your nerves. That being said there is one flaw that I must point out. The Unreal engine that Bioshock 2, and almost every other multiplatform game runs on is really starting to lose its wow factor. It doesn’t look bad in fact it looks good, but it has nothing to do with the graphics and more to do with how well the design and flow of rapture was created. 2K games did a great job even without Ken Levine the series creator.

The gameplay is tweaked here and there, but this is still all very familiar and that’s not such a bad thing, other journalists may give it low marks for its inability to innovate as much as the first one did, but then why do other sequels get off so easy(Modern Warfare 2 anyone?) If you’ve got a good thing going I see no problem with keeping things simple and approachable for the fans of the series.

And it comes to this. The ending, without any spoilers is much better than the first in quality and it does a fine job of wrapping up this stellar sequel, both endings in fact are equally as impressive. Am I the only one who teared up during the good ending?

Then there’s the multiplayer that I knew from before this game launched would suck, but dang they proved me wrong again. Call me crazy but I actually enjoy playing Bioshock 2 multiplayer than anything that has released this year. I don’t have to worry about campers, hackers, or glitchers. I still get Call of Duty style progression without all the headaches of the latest Modern Warfare. You’ll buy the game for the great campaign but you’ll stick with it for the multiplayer. Granted, it’s probably not going to appeal to everyone but this gamer and many others it’s a 2 for 2. You get a fitting sequel and some stellar online play. Seriously what more do you guy’s want?

In this gamers opinion yes Bioshock 2 is as good as its predecessor. It actually does many things better and like a Big Sister can take on a room full of (well anyone) splicer’s this sequel trumps the original in every way possible.

10/10

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