Bioshock 2: You can feel it in your mind, oh you can do it all the time, plug it in and change the world

From the depths of a gloriously visual rich landscape known as Rapture, Bioshock 2 from 2kgames (2k Marin and Irrational Games) is a first person horror/shooter plain and simple.  Yet plain and simple is quite the opposite for this and its predecessor.  With a strong focus on art and creativity, Bioshock 2 is not only a solid game but a full experience placing the player in a big set of metal boots to fill.  Baring that the player doesn’t already have a fear of water, Bioshock 2 will gently send shivers down the spine, the kind of shivers that come with a healthy amount of urination. 

Set eight years after the first you are thrown back into the imaginary underwater city known as Rapture.  Bioshock 2 jams the player in the boots of an older model of the Mega Men of the sea, the Big Daddy.  Not the weak Adam Sandler’s Scuba Steve type of diver that first comes to mind, the Delta model in B2 is about on par with say Jacques Cousteau.  It’s a decent middle ground versus the fear inducing deep divers from the first just like their Yu-Gi-Oh card says.  As you awake in your Big Daddy suit you begin to unravel a mystery surrounding the Little Sisters and the first generation of Little Sisters from the first game who have now become the Big Sisters.  Many of the characters from the first are mentioned and the story in this sequel is good even if it does peter out after a bit of time, picking up fast to end full swing.

The controls are pretty simple to master as is typical of most FPSers, and the difficulty scales well.  The true difficulty is the play style that is pushed onto the player by balancing a slower pace (minimizing the “kick the door down, run and gun with almost limitless ammo”) and starving the player of resources by having small ammo and item caps.  Doing so yields a stylistic game that plays farther on the horror side since survival becomes harder.  And by style I’m not referring to the deep emotional connection anyone gets by watching America’s Next Top Model but instead an artistic style that compliments the gameplay.  This was in the original and is still very prevalent in the second making quite the statement if and when Irrational Games or 2Kgames has been involved with games of the past or will be involved with future games.

Fueling this style is the art direction.  With vibrant visuals as well as rich ambient sounds and music, the player becomes one with the game.  Even the backdrop of the undersea world of Rapture becomes a vital part of the game much like the Nakatomi Plaza was a character in Die Hard.  And now that you know what a TV dinner feels like you can focus on some visual differences from the first to the second game such as a more colorful world with sound and lights, sharper images and a bigger depth of detail.  The Big Sisters alone give a new feel for apprehension during pursuits by giving them a screech resembling a rabbit being caught by a snake(link may be disturbing).  The world of Rapture looks more polished with added aqua flora and fauna such as coral, sea slugs, and the typical leafy plants found in nine out of ten fish tanks.  

The length of time to complete the game is about ten hours if you scrounge around for everything which felt slightly less than the first.  A few different endings are available based on a couple choices during the game.  Overall the game was a solid followup and an amazing addition to the FPS genre by having what felt like a load of amazing talent bases in its creation and a style that isn’t found very often in the genre.  The ride is worth it at least once but replayability and multiplayer is nothing like the first time so I’d wait for the greatest hits or a rental.  A nice bonus to go along with Bioshock is a few podcasts available from Irrational Games either on iTunes or their website as they discuss many aspects of their games as well as decisions made while creating their games. 

Rating: 8.0 {out of a –10 to 10 scale}

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