Bioshock 2 Review

Overall-8/10

Gasp...shock...

Gameplay-9/10
Win
-deep lore of the city rapture
-interesting storyline
-moral choices affecting the ending
-lots of combat options with plasmids,tonics and ammo type
-weapons and plasmids can now be upgraded with various interesting abilities
-encourage exploration
-streamlined gameplay mechanics
-multiplayer added with tight integration with story line
Fail
-rapture has lost some of its mysterious atmosphere

Visuals-8/10
Win
-visually unique city
-excellent water shaders
-atmospheric and detailed
Fail
-aging engine

I didnt manage to complete the first bioshock for various reasons i couldnt recall. Even then i m familiar monstrosity lurking in the underwater city called rapture, and some of the ideals behind this failed utopia.
Unlike the first bioshock where you play a unlucky guy that survived a plane crash in the middle of the ocean, and went to activate some suspicious looking lift into rapture. You get to play as a big daddy, those massive metal hulks preventing you from getting your ADAM easily. ADAM are something that can be used like research points to get new plasmids and tonics, which are the supernatural power in rapture that eventually destroy it. Rather than exploring and marvel at the underwater city, you have a very specific objective from the very start, find your little sister. On the way, you can take out other big daddies, and claim their little sister as your own. You are now present with choices to harvest ADAM from them immediately, or adopt them to help you extract ADAM from corpses. This would start a short defense sequence where you have to protect your little sisters from harm during the extraction after which , you can choose to extract EVEN MORE ADAM from them again or release them. Similar to the first bioshock, whatever you do with these cute abominations will have an impact on the game's ending.
The game feels very familiar to its predecessor, but as you spend more time into the game, you will find numerous welcoming changes. Firstly, the water tube hacking is replaced by a real time hacking. Next is the ability to use both weapon and plasmid on each hand, rather than switching to and fro. As you proceed deeper into rapture, you will get access to higher level plasmids where you hold the plasmid button longer to unleash a different type of attack. You will also come across weapon upgrade stations where you first increase generic stats like attack or clip size, but later on you will have ability to add cool add on like tesla coils. This changes streamlined gameplay and allow different variety of approach in combat, which i guess is one of the reasons i couldnt get myself to complete the first game. The world is big and have many blind spots where additional items and story details are hidden, therefore making exploration a rewarding experience.
Unlike the first bioshock where only singleplayer component is present, bioshock 2 has a full fledge multiplayer. Although it only has 2 generic mode, its set before the fall of rupture where a civil war is going on. There are weapons not available in singleplayer, big daddy and plasmids thrown into this chaotic arena. It also allows you to experience bioshock in a different light and actually has story cutscenes woven into it.
Visually, nothing have changed from the previous bioshock. This is where the heavily modified unreal 2 engine starts to show its age. It lacks accurate shadow, high polygon count nor high res texture. The impressive water shader is still great to behold but this game shines in terms of the distinctive art style and atmosphere. The best thing is short few years, current hardware have catch up so drastically that this game runs with silky smooth frame rate.

Even utopia have nail guns!


Get me some ADAM bitch!



Impressive water