In a direct follow-up to my BioShock review, comes the sequel. BioShock 2 comes to us from 2K Marin in 2010, three years after the release of the first game. It takes place in the same universe as the first game, even the same underwater dystopia of Rapture. The sequel improves on the concepts first dreamt up in BioShock and gives us a fresh story in a world that fans were dying to return to. The pressure is up in BioShock 2.
All the best things from the first game return. The one thing that seems to have been left behind is the sense of survival horror. This is not a bad thing, the action in BioShock 2 is amazing. Rarely are you doing something that isn’t fun. The wrench melee weapon has been scrapped for a massive drill arm as we step into the shoes of the notorious mini-boss: Big Daddy. Our quest, save our Little Sister and escape Rapture.
The action style of BioShock 2 makes sense over the horror adjacent themes of the first game. In the first game, you were totally alien to Rapture. Both as a character and as a player. In the sequel, we are veterans as players and our playable character is one of the meanest things walking around the city. Developers also reached a place where they found how to make gameplay more coherent. It is an all-round more solid structure.
The first-person shooter/role-playing game hybrid is streamlined this go round. Instead of equipping weapons and plasmids, or action skills, separately, you now have plasmids in your left hand always and weapons in your right hand always. This makes you much deadlier, and while I wonder where this feature was in the original, after having just played it I know the first game doesn’t suffer.
The story lacks as the game dredges on in this game, I feel. Whereas in the first game each level felt like it had a theme and a good reason why we were there. The sequel’s story serves as a mechanism for an above average FPS, but the first game’s story left more to be desired. Perhaps the magic of the first game is an unrealistic expectation. And the final levels of this game are indeed thrilling.
The moral choices in the game are more significant in BioShock 2. Choosing the fate of story characters in a way that is meaningful as well as the return of the decision whether to “Harvest,” or “Rescue” Little Sisters. But this time, the rewards of rescuing are clear from the outset and more significant. Once you take down her Big Daddy, you can escort the Little Sister to up to two locations where you must guard her while she performs an action that generates a lot of attention. You can rescue the Little Sister without doing any escort missions, if you choose or are low on resources, but the rewards are heavy and there is fun to be had in doing.
I encountered some bugs while playing this remaster. Disappointing, since I would hope the game had received all kinds of TLC while being remastered. Twice I had the game crash while saving, which wiped the save file I was on and the one I tried to save into. For this reason, I always keep multiple save files stacked in case I need a surprise back-up. You should get in a groove of saving often in this game, you can do it from the pause menu anytime and can have multiple save files. So, there is no reason not to. Especially when resources are scarce, as you will often find.
Rapture looks beautiful in the remaster. The world is deeply immersive, with many familiar assets from the first game. Fans will feel right at home, and actually get to venture out into the ocean this time, as Big Daddies’ armor allows them to exist deep underwater. Environments are well textured with details. Levels feel laid out well and reward exploration with loot, eye candy and fun.
One benefit of success that the BioShock sequel feels is music, which makes me wonder why other sound mixing has such a glaring issue. When performing Little Sister escort missions, if an enemy interacts with the Little Sister, her shriek comes out at a level that will have you jumping for the volume control no matter what stage you had felt comfortable playing. This is such an obvious and easy thing to fix, it really kept me from playing louder and being more immersed.
BioShock 2 was a fantastic experience. I beat it in about fifteen hours, and rarely was there a time during that which I was not enjoying myself. Developers 2K Marin, and remaster developers Blind Squirrel Games deliver a stellar successor to a bold, pivotal FPS. I played on Medium difficulty, out of Easy, Medium and Hard. I felt this was probably the best way to enjoy it. I was very much challenged, but I also got to feel like I explored as many facets of the RPG system as possible. Gunplay was very rewarding, even on Nintendo Switch.
I would recommend BioShock 2 if you played another BioShock, and want more. BioShock 1 is not necessary to playing the sequel, though it resonates heavily. If you like shooters, you must check out BioShock: The Collection. After picking up the BioShock remastered collection on the Switch for $20, it has already been an insanely wise purchase even only two games in. BioShock Infinite is last and takes us to a dystopia city in the clouds. Looking very much forward to rounding out the series.
Credit: BioShock 2. Screenshots by me.
HereticDerek 