Bioshock 2, the second instalment in the BioShock series and second game in Bioshock: The Collection. Like with the last game, it is available on the same platforms and contains all of the content from the second game in the series including the DLC.
Bioshock 2 starts off with you taking the perspective of a big daddy walking with his little sister while rapture is still semi-sane. You remember, one of those divers suited monstrosities with the big drill that you are used to not pissing off. As you are walking with your little sister you are attacked by a bunch of splicers which you quickly dismember until you are hit with one of those big daddy plasmids which are then used by a mysteries woman to make you shoot yourself. But, after ten years has passed you suddenly come back to life with one goal in mind. Get back your little sister Eleanor. The games narrative gives you a greater understanding of how the big daddies and little sisters work in rapture. This is done mainly with the audio logs which also gives the player a lot more information on how the society degraded so much and what parts both Lamb and Fountaine played. The game also comes with Bioshock 2’s DLC Minerva’s Den where instead of playing as daddy Delta you play as Big Daddy Sigma who has been sent to raptures the main computer by one of its original creators to get it to the surface for whatever reason. Both of these stories will fill plenty of your time with interesting turns and twists and a lot of new facets of Rapture like the Big sisters and Raptures central computer.
Bioshock 2’s gameplay has not changed a great deal from the original except maybe with a few new gizmos and sleeker feeling interfaces. The game is still a first person shooter with RPG aspects but, back to these new gadgets. One gadget which will certainly make life easier is the remote hack gun. This gun allows you to shoot darts to remotely hack turrets and cameras and also includes a type of dart which will do it automatically. This is not all too as you can also use the hacker gun to deploying turrets which will be super useful when protecting the little sisters you adopt while they gather Adam. Yes, protect them. The way you gather Adam to do useful things such as upgrade your plasmids or buy new ones has changed. When picking up a sister you can go and harvest Adam with said sister by protecting them while they take it off a specific dead splicer on the map. This forces you into horde like conflicts giving a very great experience in using your weapons and plasmids to their utmost and makes you feel like a big daddy. This is enhanced with the included DLC protector trials included within the game which are missions dedicated to this facet of the game.
But, not only has how you obtain Adam been improved but also the hacking mini-game. Instead of trying to connect pipes you are shown a needle that moves across a meter like a speedometer with the segments coloured differently. To hack correctly you need to hit the green coloured segments with the needle and if you hit the blue segments you get bonuses such as more money from safes or tougher bots from hacking a security bot. But, if you hit the normal beige coloured or red segments you will fail either getting shocked or summoning security bots to hassle you. The nicest (or most annoying) aspect of this is the fact that it does not put you into a separate menu meaning that it does not pause the game for you. Making it harder however still feel attune with the combat. There are a bunch more new weapons like the handy drill which have replaced that good old wrench you used in the first Bioshock and other big daddy weapons like the rivet gun. There are also a couple new additions to the enemies you will be facing in rapture like the Big sisters (female big daddies who are much more of a pain), Boomer big daddies (who were in the museum of orphaned concepts) which will barrage you with deployable turrets and bombs and berserk splicers because what the splicers really needed was another bigger one who is harder to kill added to their ranks. Minerva’s Den also adds a few more variants such as flaming berserk splicers and lancer big daddies and new equipment like the laser gun. All of this adds more to Bioshock great FPS gameplay meaning even as a big daddy you will be tested.
Like with Bioshock, the graphics have been amped up for the next generation consoles and PC platform. It also like Bioshock, definitely adds to the experience. But, unlike with the previous instalment of the series, the audio logs can be heard very clearly even in the midst of battle allowing you not to miss those vital little nuggets of information. The soundtrack also does a brilliant job of making you feel empathy for the little sisters and some of the other more doomed residents of Rapture.
Overall the game takes the first entry in the series and refines it and really shows how the series has evolved. With raptures narrative through the development of the world through a more detailed look at the big daddies and little sisters in their relationship within themselves and the world of Rapture in the games story and allowing to play through the perspective of one of the raptures most iconic creations. Also, with how the gameplay has evolved adding concepts that were not so refined in the original version and improving on the mechanics already in the series. This being said I do have a slight issue with the inability to backtrack meaning if you missed one of those power to the people machines then hard luck. But, it is a great game on its own with all that DLC bundled into it regardless of the fact that it is included in the collection. Fair good rapture, it was fun trying not to die in a mad man’s world not like we will be seeing you again. Right?
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