While releasing a Triple-A title such as BioShock 2 in the immediate wake of the massive gaming event that was Mass Effect 2 may seem like a dangerous idea, it can’t be any worse for 2K Games than it has been for the number of movies released since “Avatar” came out. Was Mel Gibson in something recently? BioShock 2 is as different from Mass Effect 2 as any two shooters can be, and both games appeal to a certain kind of gamer aesthete who respects the originality and story-telling devices employed by both franchises. It still doesn’t make it any easier to play the one right after the other.
I would like to think that my view of and experience with BioShock 2 is unaffected by any other games I've played recently, so I have to assume the small letdown I felt playing it came from the game and the game alone. This second installment of what is one of the most original and intelligent games ever tries and succeeds at improving many aspects of the game, from elements of the action to the graphics and much more. But at the same time, it fails in being a better overall experience and advancing the universe in a way that should have us drooling for the next one. Not to unnecessarily compare them again, but that’s exactly what Mass Effect 2 did: leave me excited for the next one.
The concept behind the sequel, and where the gamermakers took the story after the twist ending of the first one, feels like a natural progression. The story of plane-crash survivor Jack wrapped up neatly in the first game, so following him again would have taken some plot-warping gymnastics or, even worse, a prequel. Switching the protagonist to a Big Daddy was a smart one, and it opens up the action to being something much more high-octane. It also gave the game’s developers an opportunity to explore a central theme of the game: the relationship between Big Daddies and Little Sisters. It’s mostly done well, though not with the same clever deftness of the first one. There is no huge twist at the end of BioShock 2, though there are plenty of unexpected moments peppered throughout. On its own, it’s a great game, and only thought of lesser when compared to the original.
Some elements are definitely not lesser. The shooter action that, like the first one, employs a combination of traditional(ish) firearms mixed with the spellcasting-like plasmid system is still great, and improved over the first one. Quickly transporting between different powers, different weapons and different ammo types is mostly easy, though the extremely scarce amounts of individual ammunition and the Eve-draining nature of the plasmids make sure you’ll have to switch frequently, especially during big fights. It would be nice to be able to set your weapons to automatically change ammo when you were out of a particular kind or even set your health hypos to automatically engage when your health gets low, but I’ll just put those on my wish list for the next game in the series.
That ammo scarcity can be a bigger pain when you realize just how important scavenging loot is from dead bodies, random cabinets and foot lockers. That collection system could also use some vast improvement, considering how muc time you’ll waste just cleaning out rooms for the basic necessities. The vending machines are plentiful, and the hacking system you use this time around is a lot better, giving you the opportunity to unlock something, reduce prices or even get a bonus item for free if you go for the harder hacks. That hacking element of the game, especially when it comes to turning security systems in your favor, is one of the best layers of BioShock 2’s action experience.
The biggest difference to the overall experience of fighting the crazed gene splicers comes from the fact that you are a Big Daddy in this game. Like in the first, getting control of the Little Sisters and thereby their Adam (the good way, by healing them, or the evil way, by harvesting them) is key to upgrading your powers and abilities. But since you are a Big Daddy, once you have a Little Sister, you can take her around on her Adam harvesting rounds, gaining even more of the precious gene juice. Once you do have the Sister start harvesting an “angel,” you’ll be charged with defending her while she completes her task. This plays out almost like a minigame, where you must defend the location from rampaging enemies—and you’ll need to take advantage of all of your weapons and plasmids, but especially traps and other defensive friends. You can drop traps, such as proximity mines and mini-turrets, and even string up electrical wires with your spear gun. The options are endless, and that’s one of the best things about the BioShock games in general: the endless flexibility.
As you play, you’ll discover all kinds of interesting combinations of plasmids and weapons to use in different situations. But I found myself gravitating to a few specific things over and over, somewhat to the detriment of other possibilities in the game. Anything that freezes an enemy, such as the Winter Blast plasmid or the Freezing Drill gene tonic, will be of a huge help, since frozen enemies take more damage and often end up shattering before their health is completely out. As well, anything electrical, such as the Electro Bolt plasmid, will do a lot of damage to enemies, as well as stun them. Considering all the standing water, too, it can be a great area attack as well.
All that wetness is a key element to the setting this time around. The underwater city of Rapture isn’t much different than in the first game, although you’ll be traveling through much different areas, including outside of the city on the ocean floor. You’re a Big Daddy…it’s what you are meant to do. But the trademark art-deco style is still on display, punctuated with the scratchy old music from some lost phonograph, though the whole thing now seems to be well on its way to being completely swallowed up by the ocean itself. There are barnacles and coral and seaweed growing almost everywhere. You can practically smell the rot.
The makeover that the game has received in this sequel works in some places and not others. The multiplayer mode feels anything but tacked on, and offers up some pretty exciting action, thanks to its adherence to the plasmid/guns/melee fundamentals of the single-player game. It plays a bit differently, mostly because you’re not dealing with the issues of resources like you are when you’re in the Big Daddy suit in single player, but the core gameplay really comes out. It’s fun, and different, but I fear that it will hardly attract the kind of online community that Modern Warfare 2 or any of the other shooters that trail far behind it in number of online players will. It’s a hard thing to break into, Xbox Live popularity. I hope for the best for BioShock 2’s multiplayer, but I think it’s going to need to do something really different to break through.
Despite not liking it as much as in the first game, the story in BioShock 2 is nonetheless compelling. Exploring the bond between Big Daddies and Little Sisters is something the series needed to do, since it’s one of the most fascinating components of the universe. The addition of the Big Sisters only adds to the complexity, as well as the difficulty of the action, and I can only imagine what they could continue to do with them in the rest of the series. There is no twist in this game on the same scale as the first one’s, but you will still be shocked at the game’s climax, and the ensuing couple of levels will be of great interest to you if you’re invested in the world of Rapture. In fact, the last hour or two of this game are among the most exciting and compelling game finishes I’ve played in a while.
The original BioShock is a hard game to top, and BioShock 2 doesn’t quite do it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t one of the best games of this still early year, or that it won’t still be considered to be one of the best come year’s end. Where the series goes from now is hard to tell, but there are some elements of the game that will need to significantly change to avoid going stale. But BioShock 2 remains one of the most original, exciting, subversive and intriguing shooters out there for you to play, and you shouldn’t miss the experience of doing that.
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