Ahh…I finally managed to finish Bioshock 2. It didn’t disappoint at all. Truth being told, I didn’t expect it too, as I know these were greatly appreciated games when they were released.
I haven’t tried the Multiplayer yet and I will probably never will. Or who knows? Just for the achievements I could give it a few tries. Speaking of the achievements, when I installed it I had a few problems with getting the Windows Live to work. Something with updating, I can’t quite remember. The point is, silly me tried to play the game without being logged into Win Live, and spent about an hour playing. When I realised I won’t be able to save (multiple tries at saving gave me the idea I can’t save YET) because I wasn’t logged in and not because the game doesn’t allow it, I just quit. So my first encounter with Bioshock 2 was a bit frustrating. I couldn’t just re-do everything I just played. I’m a saving maniac – the quick save and quick load were spammed (especially quick save, I used the load only when I was trying to hack a safe and got the annoying little robots coming down to get me).
Assuming that you haven’t played this game (but you should) bear in mind that this will contain spoilers. If you have, I can only hope you’ll keep on reading.
Bioshock 2 takes place 8 years after the first game. This time around, you play as a Big Daddy trying to reconnect to his lost Little Sister – Eleanor Lamb, daughter of Sofia Lamb – who was brought to Rapture in an attempt to help the people cope with the absence of sun and basically leaving in an underwater city. When Sofia is imprisoned, Andrew Ryan’s spy kidnaps Eleanor and takes her to Alexander Gilbert, a doctor. Unaware of who is Eleanor, he transforms her into a Little Sister and links her to you, Subject Delta.
Okay, now we got the intro out of the way. Brace yourself, the game will begin with you dying and end the same way. Ahh, but the journey is what counts, right?
Because Eleanor is psychologically attached to her Big Daddy (which is you, in case you weren’t following) she manages to save you using other Little Sisters. Once alive again, you begin to search for your long-lost daughter, who tries to help and lives messages and help whenever she can.
The gameplay is very similar to the first. There plasmids are familiar, but the thing I enjoyed the most is guarding the Little Sisters while they gathered Adam. As you probably know already from the first Bioshock, the moment the Little Sister plugs her syringe into an “Angel”, splicers go locco and come to attack you and her. Your role here is to protect the Little Sister while she gathers enough ADAM. You can do so using a number of methods, from the Trap plasmid, which proved very very useful, don’t underestimate it!, to traps, mini-turrets (I loved those) and Proximity Mines. If you’re in a place which has cameras or turrets, hack them and use them in your own advantage. Having a specific Gene Tonic will make this go a bit faster, if you can’t handle it. Or a bit slower, which will result in more ADAM being harvested.
Another interesting concept was the Big Sisters, which were, of course, aged Little Sisters. These Sisters will be a bit hard to get at the beginning, so using some traps to kill her – mini-turrets etc will prove extremely useful. The Big Sister are pretty hard to kill even on Normal Difficulty, I can’t imagine how they are on the hardest one. Looting the dead Big Sisters will result in a bit of harvested ADAM, so enjoy every kill!
The Hacking tool and hacking mini-game were a great improvement from the first game, along with the Auto-Hack darts which I loved and used happily 😀
The gameplay of Bioshock is awesome because it gives you infinite possibilities to play with. Combining plasmids and weapons, going long-ranged and meelee and so forth. I wasn’t able to experience every single one of them of course. For example, although I had it equiped, I never used the Scout plasmid. Sounded cool, but I always forgot about it. It would’ve probably been a good idea to use the hypnotize plasmid when defending the Little Sisters, but I somehow always forgot to do that too.
The designers seemed to want to help you, poor Delta, get to Eleanor, so you won’t be short of First Aids, Eve Tonics, ammo or money unless you shoot at walls and burn yourself.
But the thing that Bioshock excels at is the story. Although you don’t get so many cinematics, or talk to many NPC’s, the story behind Rapture is what got me. An Utopian dream turned horribly wrong. The proof that the purpose does not excuse the means to get to it. Sofia Lamb wanted a Rapture Family. Instead, she lost her daughter and continued to use little girls to perform the gruesome task of gathering ADAM. She tries to indoctrinate the lost population of Rapture – the Splicers – through messages like “Every “I” for the “WE” ” and uses them to attack you and prevent you from getting to Eleanor. At the end, when Eleanor is freed from her induced-coma and transformed into a Big Sister with incredible power (which will prove extremely useful) Sofia Lamb will tell you that “to be self-aware is a curse” – as a response to Eleanor being given back her free will.
The little things make all the difference. Like the Doctor, also a Splicer, trying to save other people from dying in the infirmary. Where, by the way, you encounter many splicers actually crying. They won’t attack you unless you attack them, proving that some may still have a bit of conscience left.
My favorite scene was when I took control of a Little Sister and saw Rapture through her eyes. It was damn beautiful. It contrasted with what Rapture really was, the same as Lamb’s vision contrasted with what she created. (What I didn’t understand is why the Splicers didn’t attack me when I was gathering ADAM. )
Again, I got the good ending, because who would kill those poor girls? Along the way, you can choose if you kill or save several NPCs. There’s an achievement to be gained here, so don’t treat this lightly :).
Poor subject Delta though. He still died in the end :(.
Games ramblings 