Bioshock 2 Review

[Samus-Fan]

I know I am no game reviewer, but I felt like I had to review this game, because it was so amazing.
Yes I beat it in 5 days, but don't let that fool you- I played way too long on each day.

Lets start...


The Plot

In the first Bioshock, Rapture is in bad condition.
When you return to Rapture 10 years later, you discover that the city has been ruined, there has been no recoveries of any sort. In fact, the city has become worse!
No, you aren't noticing this as Jack, the main character in the first. You're discovering this as Subject Delta, the first working Alpha Series Big Daddy.
What's the difference between modern Big Daddies and the Alpha Series?
You find out later.
When Andrew Ryan lost his power, who decides to take it over?
Frank!
Just kidding, he's dead.
One of Ryans officers, Sofia Lamb, takes control of the city to try to improve it, but quite the opposite happens when she craves power. The fight for ADAM increases, having stronger Splicers appear and weaker ones disappear.
In the first couple minutes of the game, you watch a cutscene showing you commiting suicide when forced to by Lamb. She didn't like you being close to her daughter, your little sister Eleanor Lamb, so she solves it by making you kill yourself.
10 years later, you awake in front of a Vita-Chamber, revived by unknown ways.
Your goal?
Find Eleanor and get the heck out of Rapture.
There is no Atlas in this game, he has been replaced by a new acomplice: Augustus Sinclair. The owner of Sinclair Solutions, which you might or might not of heard of.
He helps and guides you through the game just as Atlas did, not a big difference there.
Since you're a Big Daddy, you hardest enemy is not the Big Daddy himself, but the Big Sisters. These guys (girls) I won't talk about, I'll leave that up to you to find out.
The plot is mainly more of the same, although slight differences. Instead of Revenge, you're going for Revenge AND your little sister. Nice save, 2K.



The Game-Play

You know, it's nearly the exact same as the original. It flows very nicely, though. Not being able to use a EVE Hypo with a button kinda bugs me, but it's less delay than the last game.
One major difference though is that you have your weapon out, AND your left plasmid-filled hand! This means you can show and shoot quickly. That was a great improvement.
B has been replaced with Melee, and Health Kit use has been put on Right on the D-Pad. X has been put on Reload weapon. While every else flows nicely, I was unhappy about EVE Hypo usage not being a button.
The game is it's easy-to-learn self, with a learning curve of about 5 minutes.




The Graphics

The graphics run on the same engine the original did, Unreal Engine, so they're basically the same.
Some say they are worse, I say they're better, it's all a person opinion. I still say that the graphics are just as good as any game out there, possibly even better, the blood is realistic, the sound is great, the town is it's oh-so-creepy self, full of the creepy-looking splicers, who look almost too creepy when up close.
Graphics are basically the same, nothing has changed pretty much. Just seems like a couple updates here and there.



The Playability

The campaign was great, I'll end up playing it again, the game has its multiple endings, each for harvesting or saving little sisters, but also for sparing peoples lives or murdering them.
Achievements on 360 are what are keeping me playing again, making me want to find all those stupid Audio-Diaries, and finding all those Power to the People stalls, and all that jazz.
The game also has something new, something I thought was a great idea:
Online.
The online was very addicting to me, when I wanted to play 1 hour, I ended up playing 3 hours. It's humans shooting each other, AND firing ice, electric, fire, throwing objects, running, whatever you want, at each other. And there are Big Daddy suits that you can find, which power you up and pretty much own-it-up unless there are a ton of enemies at one time. The ranking system seems to take a while though, so reaching the top level 40 will be quite a task.
The online-community seems great, maybe a little slow, but hopefully that will pick up.



The Recap

Bioshock was an amazing game, no doubt, and it seems hard to top it.
But Bioshock 2 topped it for me.
You might not agree with me, but 2K took the game from the previous creator (Epic? Not sure) and in my opinion, made it better. The new enemies, the new changes, but the familiar Rapture, and the continueous creepiness made it a very enjoyable game. For me, the game was better than the original.
No the story wasn't.
It was kinda the same.
But everything else was great, and I gave this game a double-thumbs up and made it into my top 3 shooters of all time.

Ratings

Plot: 7/10 - Still good, but pretty much the same

Game-Play: 9/10 - Would have gotten a 10 if it wasn't for the EVE Hypo thing

Graphics: 10/10 - Nothing to complain about here

Playability: 8/10 - I'll end up playing through again, getting those achievements, and also playing online

Overall: 9/10 - A great game, and a must-buy for shooter and Bioshock lovers

Oh, by the way, the main weapon:
The Drill.

[HamadaLFC8]

Great review man, and as well all expected... it sounds like a really great game!

[jango]

cool review Samus, thanks mate +rep

[Muffincat]

Ooooooh this really makes me want to play it now. After I beat the first one that is.

[Iceskater101]

god I want this game so bad!!! you have no idea
I loved the first one it was awesome
I need some money.

[3AM00R]

Im stuck on that last part when lamb wants me to find her and the dauaghter
Please help?