Set after the events of the first game, Bioshock 2 sees you playing the part of a Big Daddy as you look for your Little Sister buddy Eleanor who’s taken away from you at the start of the game. So once again you explore the retro watery world of Rapture battling the Splicers as you go about your mission.
The game’s very familiar if you’ve played the first one. Apart from lumbering about a little slower this time around thanks to your big heavy suit and helmet, things are very similar. Your melee attack this time uses the drill which you can upgrade along with other weapons and abilities at stations dotted around the city. You also get extra upgrades by pointing a camera at enemies and filming them just before you fight. New things to fight include big Brute Splicers and Big Sisters – shrieking, nimble female Big Daddies that also use Plasmids. Believe me when I say they’re tough to beat, especially during the beginning of the game.
In fact, once again, you feel a bit too underpowered at the start and will frequently run out of ammo, respawn at a Vita-Chamber and then end up hitting things over and over again to finish them off. Later on you become a bit too powerful and the opposite is true.
You can also now nick Little Sisters from other Big Daddies and get them to collect Adam for you or just harvest them there and then. The first option is the toughest as when she’s leaning over corpses, along come loads of Splicers you need to fend off until she’s finished.
Hacking is still a big part of the game too but fortunately they’ve got rid of the Pipemania style mini games and have opted for a quick skill-based mini game where you have to stop an arrow in one of many green zones.
Although the game’s got a great atmosphere and is slick and quick when everything’s kicking off, there won’t be any big revelations to make you go “oooh” or “aaaah” this time around. The game also feels rather short so it’s good there’s a multiplayer mode in there too if you fancy using your Plasmids against others in deathmatches etc. Bioshock 2 gets an excellent 8 out of 10.
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Related: Bioshock review, Bioshock the Movie , Bioshock 2 review on Youtube
