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Complete review

Before the review an apology. I love Bioshock. Forgive my reminiscences but I feel compelled to tell you that when descending into rapture for the first time in Bioshock 1 I was completely unprepared for what I was to find. I expected gore, I expected fear, however to be met by the scene of a splicer being brutally drilled through the stomach left me feeling three distinct emotions. Firstly fear at the thought that at some time in the future that drill was probably meant for me, secondly disgust at the sheer brutality of it all and more prominently an overwhelming compulsion to delve deeply into the twisted, brutal word that was Rapture. I suppose I would say that in a disturbing way it was love at first sight and ever since then that twisted little post disaster utopia under the sea has both haunted and thrilled me. Imagine then if you will, my delight when Bioshock 2 was announced. Another voyage into the depths Rapture? The chance to be a Big Daddy. Duel wielding the classic BD drill with the plasmids. As you can see I got just a little excited…

Why then am I apologizing? Well in short, I intended to bring you this review sooner. The truth is that whilst my heart, head and fingers screamed ‘Buy!’ my bank balance had different Ideas. So a little later than expected here is my full review of Bioshock 2. I hope you enjoy it.

The story

Set around ten years after the original Bioshock game it is not surprising that in Bioshock 2 the underwater world of Rapture has fallen even further into a state of moral and physical disrepair. In the time since Jack and the little sisters departed the city has fallen under the control of Dr Sophia Lamb, who has done all in her power to re-build Rapture under her own cruel design. Not only has Lamb recruited a new army of Little Sisters, she has also managed to turn the now much older remaining Little Sisters into Big Sisters who act as all powerful guardians over her new society. Unlike Bioshock 1 you play through the game as ‘Subject Delta’ the original prototype Big daddy who has been awoken in the midst of the chaos. As with all Big Daddies your primary objective is simple, to protect the Little Sisters. However being a prototype Big daddy (and the main protagonist) it is of course not that simple. Unlike the other Big Daddies you are bound to only one Little Sister, who ten years ago was stolen from you and taken into the depths of the city by Professor Lamb. Bound by your genetic urge to protect, and guided by plasmid expert Augustus Sinclair you embark on Rapture with the soul purpose of finding and reclaiming Elanor, your only true little sister.

Spoilers

As far as the story goes I have merely given a taste of what is waiting for you in Bioshock 2, however I do feel that this is enough. As with Bioshock 1 to tell the whole story would most likely ruin this game, and so instead I have devised a cunning plan. Instead of telling the story and spoiling your fun I will describe for you my top 3 moments in Bioshock 2 and why I love them. If you have already played the game please feel free to reminisce along with me. If you want it all to be a surprise please look away now.

1-Top moment number 1 comes for Siren Alley. You are sent to Siren alley when your path through Rapture is cut off by flooding in Dionysus park. In order to drain Dionysis park and continue on your journey to find Elanor you must go to Siren Alley where you can access a pumping station to clear the flooding. When you reach the pumping station however you are confronted by the calm yet insane Voice of Sophia Lamb, who in a bid to cleanse rapture decides to flood the Alley drowning all. Now I have never before feared drowning, but hats off the the Bioshock 2 team because this flood was excited perfectly. During the flood scene you are forced to run through almost the entire length of the level. Water pours through the ceiling and walls, pipes burst around you and once functional staircases become deadly waterfalls blinding you with a torrent of icy water. Amongst all of the visual chaos you are also being bombarded with messages from Sinclair telling you to run, whilst simultaneously being heckled by an extremely self righteous Lamb. The flood is exactitude with such precision, detail and urgency that I found myself forgetting all tactic and logic and simply running for my life. This scene is made even more effective by the calm that follows. The water eventually claims the entire level, submerging Siren Alley. This leaves you free to wonder amongst the floating dead bodies and sea-life in eerie silence looking out over a landscape both strikingly familiar and at the same time completely different. A dramatic end to a level I will not be forgetting in a while.

2-Top moment 2 is slightly less dramatic, but in its own way quite brilliant. Skipping ahead in the story your ongoing search for Eleanor soon takes you to new, even stranger areas of Rapture. One of these areas is Fontane Futuristics, where plasmids were originally created, trailed and showcased. As expected things do not go smoothly here either. In this level you are lead into a large darkened room, and in classic computer game style the doors snap shut behind you, leaving no opportunity for escape. As you move forward into the room it all becomes horribly clear. You are in fact standing on a flooded stage, originally meant for showcasing new plasmid technology and surrounded by an audience of dead splicers. As you walk further forward towards centre stage (or try to run, take your pick) the whole grizzly show begins. In true circus style the dead audience is invited to roll up and participate in the ‘show’ and soon it becomes apparent that the presumed dead audience actually consists of a lot of Houdini splicers who are quite happy to ‘participate’ in the effort to kill you. Now though this battle was far from epic, something about the whole theatre/circus set-up really tickled me. It was as if approaching a battle in this twisted, childlike scenario somehow captured the true essence of the Bioshock story. To me the decent of rapture has always been strongest when centered around the idea of innocence corrupted, and this scene embodies that essence perfectly.

3-Top moment 3 comes nearer to the end of the game, and is perhaps my favorite moment of all. I will not say how you get there as it will spoil the game, but I could not review without mentioning the horrific beauty of this scene. In the final level Persephone you are actually able to take control of a Little Sister, seeing the world through her eyes. Seeing Rapture through the eyes of a Little Sister for the first time is both incredibly beautiful and completely unnerving at the same time. Whereas everyone else sees Rapture as a place of fear and decay, the Little Sisters see only beauty and light. It is as if the Little Sisters see Rapture as it was before it became corrupted, with golden sunlight bursting through every window and beauty in the place of decay. The twisted metal in the walls is seen as magnificent drapes, the floor is littered with flowers and candles. It is all so beautiful, and yet knowing what was being masked by all of that beauty did make me feel quite uneasy. Even the splicers which to us have always appeared to us as deformed monsters are now kindly handsome men in dinner suits offering a friendly hand of guidance, a hand which we all know in reality would almost certainly have only offered only a gruesome death. It soon becomes apparent why the Little Sisters refer to the Adam infused bodies as ‘Angels’ as if the worse something is, the more beautiful it appears to them. I couldn’t help but wonder weather this scene was simply a play on the innocence of a child’s eyes, or a hint at how intensely the Little Sisters had been brainwashed by Lamb in order to fulfill their purpose. Somehow I think it was both, but either way it added a whole new dimension to the way I had previously viewed the game.

Morality

As with Bioshock 1 on your journey you are faced with several moral dilemmas as well as the classic choice of harvesting or saving the Little Sisters. These acts in turn vary the ending of the game, adding a sense of greater meaning to your otherwise insignificant actions. Once key levels have been completed you are presented with a situation where your enemies are cornered leaving you with classic choice of mercy versus revenge. Feeling that the theme of fatherhood is key in this game (Big daddy etc…) I chose to be a good role modal and show mercy to my enemies. By doing this I was granted not a happy but at least a peaceful end to the game, however if you chose revenge there are once again multiple, more grizzly endings to be found. I don’t really think it is that important which ending you get, however I think that it is great that once again in Rapture your actions will always have unforeseen consequences.

Weaponry

Now for the fun stuff. Weapons. I must be honest it was the new weaponry which really made this game for me. Unlike Bioshock 1 where you are forced to switch between melee weapons, guns and plasmids the duel wielding abilities in this game make it truly exciting. As a Big Daddy your primary weapon is a large drill which you can use to smash through walls, splicers and well pretty much anything you want. Its only a slight upgrade from the classic melee weapon the wrench… oh who am I kidding its awesome! Not only is the drill powerful, but it can be upgraded via gene tonics to incorporate plasmids making it my weapon of choice when facing larger foes. In addition to this your right arm also carries your guns. As you progress through Rapture you gain access to all types of guns including a shotgun, machine gun, hack tool, rivet gun, spear gun and most fun of all a rocket launcher with heat seeking missiles. Nice. In addition to having the armory in your pocket we once again see the return of the classic plasmids from Bioshock 1. Plasmids let you genetically alter yourself allowing you the harness the power of such forces as fire, ice and electricity as well as gaining new skills such as telekinesis. These abilities have not changed much from Bioshock 1 and if I am honest it would have been nice to have a couple of new plasmids. In fact in the whole game there is only one new plasmid to be found and I told you what this plasmid was was I would spoil the ending. Despite the lack of new plasmids with a massive drill on one arm and the ability to burn all in sight on the other I defy anyone playing this game not to feel powerful. I certainly did.

Foes

Let talk enemies. Now with the added physical advantages of being a Big Daddy it is not surprising that the other inhabitants of Rapture have also upped their game. As with Bioshock 1 the first enemies you encounter are the splicers. Splicers are the original human inhabitants of Rapture, who as a result of all the genetic enhancements have gone mad and started killing each other in a bid to gain Adam, the life-blood of Rapture. As well as the familiar Thuggish, Leadhead, Spider and Houdini splicers Bioshock 2 has a new addition to the splicer family, the Brute splicer. Built like a human tank on acid, the bruits are stronger, faster and more lethal than any other splicer you will find in Rapture. These splicers are resistant to most weapons, and I found the only ways to dispose of them swiftly was either with a rocket launcher or to once again run at them with the drill and shred them. I warn its not pretty, but its effective. In addition to tackling the splicers in order to progress through the game you will at times be required to battle your fellow Big Daddies in order to steal their Little Sisters. Once you have a little sister you can use her to gather vital adam from certain glowing corpses (or angels as the Little Sisters call them) which in turn will allow you to upgrade your abilities and become stronger. The Big Daddies have changed very little from Bioshock 1, and though they are still challenging I found them much easier to defeat with your new heavy duty weapon set. Cue Big Sister. Now the Big Sisters may look like stretched Big Daddies but don’t be fooled, they mean business. Armor plated with unlimited plasmid power and a giant needle (used both for gathering Adam and impaling enemies) once a Big Sister has your scent they will hunt you relentlessly. Their pure power and impressive speed combined with their teleport ability makes them all but impossible to outrun leaving you with no choice but to stay and fight them. Scary as the Big Sisters are I do have advice. Electrobolt to stun, ice drill to the face. Works like a charm.

Up to this point I have spoken only of the good in Bioshock 2 however as always there were some disappointments. Writing this article as a Bioshock fan I am blessed with a lot of additional information which someone new to the games may not necessarily know. For example, most of my information about the initial story line came mainly from the trailers and most of my understanding of Rapture came from Bioshock 1. When I first viewed the online trailers for Bioshock 2 I was truly enthralled, however somehow this excitement and horror seemed to be missing in the start of the game. Once you get into it the story of the game is actually very good, so why it was decided to make the opening explanatory cut scenes so short is a little beyond me. If I am honest I wanted more. In addition to this I felt that someone playing this game who had not played the original Bioshock may be quite lost with the concept of Rapture. Though a lengthy explanation of what had gone before may have bored diehard Bioshock fans, a short catchup wouldn’t have hurt and would probably have made this game accessible to many more gamers.

Lastly the thing which upset me the most, something so shocking I urge you to sit down. The circus of values machines no longer say ‘Welcome to the circus of Values’ in the creepy voice we all know and love. Its a travesty. I may never get over it.

Summery

With the original Bioshock game being named ‘Game of the year’ in 2007 it is undeniable that Bioshock 2 had a big reputation to live up too. The success of its predecessor combined with a change in developing house had left many Bioshock fans doubting weather the game would be a worthy sequel to the celebrated future classic. My advice on this matter is simple. Bioshock 1 created and first encouraged you to explore the world of Rapture. It not only created scenery in the form of the art deco underwater city, but a vast classic array of enemies, a unique story-line and a few moral dilemmas to boot. Though Bioshock 2 could never replicate this achievement it does successfully build on the foundations of Rapture expanding and embellishing a great concept. Bioshock 2 takes advantage of the fact that most gamers already know the history of Rapture, and almost immediately offers tasty upgrades such as new and improved weaponry, the ability to duel wield and more challenging enemies such as the Big Sisters. Though I was first disappointed with the slow start to the story I promise that it does pick up, and by the end of the game I was truly hooked. If your thinking about buying this game I encourage you to do so, after-all the ability of duel wield the traditional Big daddy drill with the plasmid of your choice is not one to be missed. Trust me.

I loved Bioshock 1. I love Bioshock 2. Please play Bioshock 1. If you do not own Bioshock 1 please buy Bioshock 1. Then please play Bioshock 1. After you have played Bioshock 1 and only then please play Bioshock 2. This will make you happy. I promise.

Until next time

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