Review #269: Bioshock 2

 Once you see Bomberman on the cover, you can't unsee him.

 Even though I hadn't played Bioshock at the time of its heyday, I had heard and read about it, and when news came about a sequel in which you would play as a Big Daddy I felt a bit dumbstruck. Play as a big daddy, really? Regardless of my prejudice, Bioshock 2 was fairly divisive, some considered a way superior sequel, and others a terrible follow-up. Not me.

 The game has you playing as a prototype Big Daddy, subject Delta, awakened after being left for dead 10 years ago, which places this game 8 years after the original Bioshock. Not that it really matters. There's a few audio logs that might give some spoilers away, a single returning character(Who quickly goes away) and the fact that the world of Rapture is under a new rule, but otherwise, you don't really need to play the first one to understand this one. The new cast of characters is alright, and there's a few really great, poignant moments, but that's all they amount to: moments. Y'see, the story, as a whole, is rather weak and uninteresting, with the occasional great moment that piques your interest and keeps you going.

 The game plays almost exactly the same as the previous game, you go from place to place, scavenging for ammo and money, while battling dozens upon dozens of baddies. There's no real penalties to dying this time around either, but the game does feel a teeny tiny bit more challenging. You'll fight the same enemies from the previous game, with the addition of the Big Sisters, Strong Splicers  and the Rosie-type Big Daddy got replaced with a new Big Daddy that drops turrets. Most, but not all, Plasmids from the previous game return, with the addition of a couple new ones, like 'Scout', which I didn't care for at all. Delta's basic weaponry is analogous to Jack's, but they differ in the alternate ammo, suffice to say that Delta has much more options under his belt.

 As you can probably tell by now, the game recycles and reuses a ton of stuff from the previous game, but it does offer some changes. For instance, Bioshock 1 had certain few horror elements, but Bioshock 2 has none, it's an action-adventure game all the way through. Areas are bigger, larger and more colorful, which lend themselves to bigger shoot-outs with none of the build-up Bioshock 1 had. I remember that Take 2 made a big deal out of the new underwater sections... they are nothing but a gimmick, every now and then you'll have to venture outside Rapture, but these sections are very linear and short, nothing but gimmicks. The way Little Sisters works has also change a bit, you can still harvest them, but either before choosing to save or harvest them, you can take them to certain particular dead bodies and protect them while they gather extra Adam, you can do this up to two times with each Little Sister. Initially, it was fun, but it became tedious after a while. Sure, you don't have to do it, you can simply take them to a vent in order to save them, but why wouldn't you? Extra Adam means extra upgrades!

 Being a Big Daddy has its perks, namely dual wielding a Plasmid on the left hand and a weapon on the right hand, not having to switch between armaments makes for a much smoother and fun experience while fighting. For as lame as the story is, compared to the previous game's, the combat is so much better this time around. It's true that most of the Plasmids are from the first game, but while upgrading them only upped their damage, in Bioshock 1, this time around they get extra perks, like harming multiple enemies at once or bestowing stronger attacks by charging them. And as previously mentioned, while the basic weaponry basically emulates Jack's, the alternate ammunition gives you many more choices. You can place landmine-like bombs with the basic gun or deploy mini-sentries with the hacking tool, for instance, and this kind of trap-weaponry works well for setting a perimeter, something that you'll do more often in this game's shoot-outs, or while defending a little sister.

 And seeing how I got Ultimate Rapture Edition means I get access to the DLC, and let me tell ya, 'Minerva's Den' is Borderlands-Quality DLC(Which means, REALLY Good). It has a completely new story that runs parallel to the main game, playing as another Big Daddy, Sigma, you get a few new enemies(A new Big Daddy and a Big Splicer variation), new weapons and a new Plasmid. It's mad up of two large different sections. It's really good, offering a better, and self contained, story than the main game, and lasts about 4 hours(Though I've heard of people spending more time on it than that!). Then there's the Protector Trial DLC, basically, survival mode. It's a drag, at least after finishing the entire game and having had to protect little sisters dozens of times, I just didn't find them any fun. There's also a Multiplayer Mode, for whatever reason, but I couldn't find any players to try it out with. Suffice to say, the game stands just fine on its own.

 Bioshock 2, as a game, is great, but as a sequel, it's a bit disappointing. It plays it safe, doing a little tweaking here and there, for an overall more polished game, at least as far as gameplay is concerned, It's also hard not to feel deja vu, seeing just how many assets are recycled from the last game. At the end of the day, I still feel that Bioshock 2 needn't exist, but I'm not gonna complain about it.
 8.0 out of 10