PixlBit

 

Bioshock 2 was a game that many deemed unnecessary when it was announced.  I would have had to agree.  Bioshock had a wonderful tale to tell, and it wrapped it up... fairly nicely within one game.  Why did we need to return to Rapture?  In reality, we did not need to return.  The city was falling apart, practically destroyed by a war between businessmen.  With that in mind, where would we even go in Rapture?  In our quest to reach Andrew Ryan we seemed to have traveled across a vast majority thankfully, I was wrong.  We all were wrong.

Bioshock 2 takes place eight years after the original.  There should not have been much of a city left, but there was.  What we had seen in 2007 was the land of the aristocrats.  2k Marin took us deeper into the city, into the slums and the red light districts.  They showed us where the men and women who toiled away building Rapture lived.  They showed us everything that we didn't know that we wanted to see.

We step into the shoes of Subject Delta, one of the first big daddies.  In fact, he was the first successful big daddy.  He had been out of commission for 10 years.  A lot can happen in 10 years; a war was fought, and the citizens of rapture evolved and grew more powerful.  I believe that this is why Delta has some difficulties in the beginning.  Those difficulties quickly fade away as he acquires a rather powerful arsenal of plasmids and weapons.

We find out from the beginning that Delta is dying, he needs to reunite with is little sister in order to survive.  It is a love story between a father and his daughter.  Subject Delta will stop at nothing to get to his daughter.  In the end, it is more than his life that is in jeopardy.  He has to save Eleanor, his "daughter," from her mother, Sofia Lamb.  Sofia is the current ruler of Rapture.  She took over sometime after Andrew Ryan... She has big plans that involve her daughter for Rapture. 

As I look back at reviews of Bioshock 2, I noticed one common thread, deja vu.  The opening hour or so does give off a sense of "been there, done that."  The game is fairly straightforward and a little linear, until you reach Ryan Amusements.  At Ryan Amusements you are given a fair sized map with plenty of nooks and crannies to explore.  This area of the game probably gives you the best sense of what the rest of the game is going to be like.  Ryan Amusements is where any sense of deja vu was washed away from my mind.

There is one other complaint that always seems to pop up when people talk about Bioshock 2, the story.  Bioshock had an amazing story that had twists, turns and plenty of surprises.  There is little that could possibly compare.  2k Marin must have realized this, and crafted a fairly basic story by comparison.  It could have failed miserably, but I think that it works brilliantly.  This also allowed them to focus on other aspects of the game.  They worked on the combat and other aspects of gameplay.  Everything feels more fluid, and natural.  I feel confident in my ability to pull off a headshot in Bioshock 2.  In Bioshock, I had to make sure that I stunned the enemies beforehand. 

Unless I am mistaken, there once was a time when gameplay trumped any sort of story.  There were fantastic games saddled with the lousiest stories.  Nowadays you see plenty of games focusing on story.  Bioshock 2's gameplay definitely makes the game worthwhile.  I enjoyed the story, but it was not the reason why I was playing.  I played Bioshock 2 because the game is fantastic.  Bioshock 2 was not a game that we needed, but I sure am glad that we got it. 

2k Marin has been working on the XCOM shooter the past few years, and I am excited that it is finally coming out.  Sadly, it has evolved from the FPS that was originally announced.  I have faith that it will be a good game.  A small part of me does have a wild dream... i think that it would be exciting if 2k Marin worked on a game that brought us back to Columbia.  Yes, some sort of a sequel or spin-off of Bioshock Infinite.  I would definitely be excited for that.