BioShock Review Page 2

08 Feb 2010 at 17:01:00 by Tim McDonald
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

Wait! Come back! It's not an escort mission! Little Sisters are, as in the first game, pretty much unkillable. The only consequence for Splicers getting near to her is that she stops harvesting, meaning that the segment lasts longer, and with continual waves of Splicers trying to kill you this is a bad thing. With a combination of Security Command, Cyclone Traps (which can now be charged up with other Plasmids for a variety of horrifying effects), and trap-based ammunition, though, you can essentially cordon off areas and pretty much create an impregnable fortress of death. If you really detest the idea of these sections then you can happily ignore them, however, and either Rescue or Harvest the Sister as you wish, but at the expense of the Adam you could've gained.

Plenty of other things have also been reworked, including the camera and hacking. Time is no longer frozen while you hack, and hacking is now a case of stopping a moving needle over a certain area rather than playing Pipe Mania, meaning hacking mid-Splicer assault is a lot more risky. The research camera, on the other hand, is now a video camera. Targeting an enemy with it starts the camera rolling, and attacking that enemy in different ways raises your research bar. Killing an enemy with twenty rounds of your machine gun will net you far less research points than shocking them with Electro Bolt, smacking them with the drill, and then finishing them with a Winter Blast. As before, these net you damage boosts, new abilities, and exclusive tonics that help further customise your character.

These are nice and welcome tweaks, and in gameplay terms there's nothing to complain about. As I said, though, the problem with the game is that this is a sequel to BioShock. Much as it pains me to say it, we've seen Rapture before, and this time we're not investigating what the city is, how it came to be, and how it fell into ruins; we're exploring a story that takes place within its walls, rather than a story about those walls. The fact that we've been to Rapture before reduces the sense of wonder you have when exploring, and the fact that you're a prototype Big Daddy, even if it's purely psychological, removes a lot of the vulnerability that you felt in the first game. Things feel less tense. The ability to actually turn off the insta-resurrect Vita-Chambers helps ramp it back up again, thankfully, if you feel like playing in what's essentially the game's hardcore mode.

Still, the game design makes up for most of the issues. Characters are great, with a truly detestable villain, although considering the philosophies of the character in question their actions are understandable, if not agreeable, and it's testament to the writing that it was one of the audio logs that really chilled my spine. While there's no return to Fort Frolic, there is at least one level that matches it. The recurring Big Sister battles are fun match-ups against a powerful opponent, and knowing that she's closing in on you nicely ramps up the tension before she makes her appearance and lunges for your face. Honestly, other than the fact that it's damned by being a faithful sequel, the only major issue is that in the game's closing levels, the sheer number of strong enemies and strong allies (if you hack everything you find and summon a few bots with Security Command) make things altogether too chaotic to be enjoyable. This is a shame not just because it makes the gameplay less enjoyable, but because the majority of the plot exposition and the real twists in the story are in these levels, and it's the switch from great gameplay to great plot makes the game feel a tad uneven.

The multiplayer, thankfully, isn't too chaotic. Even with ten players running around there's normally some breathing space, and combat plays out much as it does in the single-player game itself, albeit with multiplayer-exclusive Plasmids like Aero Dash and Teleport. It follows a Modern Warfare-style mechanic, with ADAM awarded for a variety of actions (including killing other players) which levels you up, granting access to new weapons, Plasmids, and modifications. Happily, single-player devotees will likely want to at least check this out, as the multiplayer takes place during the war over Rapture and has a few plot points within that lore-devouring gamers will want to seek out. It's fun enough, and there are some abilities that spark a gleefully malicious twinge – like booby-trapping vending machines – although at this early stage I do wonder a little about balance for players at the lower end of the level spectrum. Still, it's an enjoyable addition, and it's likely to pick up a devoted fanbase of its own.

When taken as a whole, with single-player and multiplayer combined, BioShock 2 is a worthy sequel and a fine game which newcomers to Rapture will adore. For old hands, the fact that it's so similar to the first game will prove a blessing and a curse: it's a welcome return to Rapture, but with a lot of the initial surprise and wonder dulled. The great characters and tactical combat are more than enough to pull players past any such problems, however, and BioShock 2 is a deeply enjoyable romp, even if Rapture isn't as fresh as it was the first time around.

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