Game Name: Bioshock 2
Developer: 2K Marin
Publisher: 2K Games
Release Date: February 8th, 2010
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, XBOX 360, Mac OS X and Nintendo Switch
Introduction
Last year I played the first installment of the series after one of my viewers on Twitch (SwitchyStreams), recommended that I play the series.
I have to admit this was not a bad recommendation. The game was fun, engaging and the story was very good as well.
Since we are stuck indoors for a while, I decided to play the second game in the series. Can it live up to the greatness of the first game? let us see.
Story
This time around you play as a Big Daddy. I know that it sounds dirty but it is not. Big Daddy's are the protectors of the Little Sisters. Think of the Little Sisters as your kids. The game starts, with you being the Big Daddy (Delta) to a LIttle Sister named Eleanor.
Sofia Lamb who uses the mind control plasmid, to get Delta to shoot himself with his gun. It makes it look like suicide. Ten years, pass and you revive with the help of the Little Sisters who are controlled by Eleanor.
You must now try to find Eleanor and save her from Sofia Lamb.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very similar to the first game. The game is played in a first person perspective. You will be fighting a list of enemies, like Splicers and devices such as Turrets, Security Bots and Security Cameras.
There are new characters in this one such as Big Sisters. These are kind of like mini bosses in the game. These are Little Sisters which overdosed on ADAM. This in turn made them go crazy and hence more violent than their Little Sisters counterparts.
Similar to the first game, you will be collecting Gene Tonics and Plasmids. Think of these as upgrades. Throughout the game you will also pick up audio recordings which will either give you insight about the next mission or just more information about the game.
How can you talk about BioShock, without talking about the weapons. In this game you get the following:
Drill: Which is pretty powerful melee weapon that uses Fuel.
Rivet Gun: Which is a semi-automatic weapon.
Machine Gun: As the name suggests this is a machine gun.
Shotgun: This is a double barrel shotgun.
Spear Gun: This is considered a long range weapon. At close range it is hard to target enemies.
Launcher: This is the game's Rocket Launcher.
Hack Tool: This is not really a weapon but it does help you hack unlocked doors and machines.
With all these tools and weapons, you traverse through a pretty linear game. There are 10 fun levels and the game takes about 10 to 15 hours depending if you are a completionist or not. I just played the game and I did not get every item and it took me about 12.5 hours.
Please find below some sample gameplay from my Twitch Channel
BioShock 2 - Sample Gameplay
Bottomline
So was this game as good as its predecessor? The answer is not clear cut on this one. Do not get me wrong, it is not a bad game by any means. However, I do not think that is a great game either. Let us get into the details.
First off, I want to discuss the graphics for the game. They look stunning, even after all these years. Yes, I played the remastered version, but it still looks great on my XBOX One S. There is something about the look and feel of the game that wishes you could explore more. I mentioned this on my stream, in video games, very often we are intrigued by space. Many games take place outside of the world we live in (The Outer Worlds, Doom Eternal or Dead Space). Not many games explore the underwater world. I think that it does a really good job of setting the atmosphere and feel with the colours and the underwater effects.
Another aspect that adds to the feel is the music. I loved the soundtrack to this game. many would say that it is very close to the Fallout series soundtrack, but I love it. It really adds to that 1950's feel and I could listen to the music for hours.
The gameplay is very similar to the previous game. Yes you get new Plasmids and Gene Tonics but you essentially get to use them during the game based on the situation. This part of the game did not change that much.
I love single player stories and I liked this one. However, although this game is either the similar in length to BioShock, I felt like it was short. In fact, I found this game to be a continuation of the first game. Some would say what is wrong with that? There is nothing wrong, but I feel this could have been a DLC for the first BioShock. If I would have paid the full amount for the original game, I would have been more disappointed. However, since I have the trilogy, I think that it is just fine. So in the end, I find the game a little short and the storyline to be average.
You will be happy to learn that there are multiple endings, depending on the choices that you make during the game. I will not go into great detail here as I think that it is best that you discover this on your own, but this is a nice touch.
So, is this game as good as the first? I think that it maintains its course. It is not better or worse. Yes they had the mandatory new weapons and new Gene Tonics, but in the end the gameplay is practically the same and the subject matter is very similar as well. I think that with the BioShock Collection, it is worth playing or even if you buy it on discount. However, if this game was full price like back in the day, I would have said to wait. On the other side of the coin though, I can understand why the developers did this. The first game was great. So if it ain't broke then there was no need to fix it.
What do you think? What parts of the game did you like or dislike. Let us know at the coordinates below.
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