Price: $59.99 | System: PS3,PC,360 | Release Date: Feburay 14, 2010 | ESRB: M (mature)

3 Stars - Passable, a decent game (rent before buying)

BioShock was kind of a fluke -- a first person shooter with a deep story, a moral system where you chose to kill or save little girls, and taking place in an alternate 1960's art deco underwater city. The game was to be the spiritual successor to System Shock 2, which Irrational games did not have the rights to. System Shock 2 merged RPG elements with an FPS: you would pick your class and then upgrade your powers via stations. You also could pick up anything from wine to rocks and use them or throw them as you wanted. BioShock took what System Shock 2 was and streamlined it for a mainstream audience, but still kept some of the RPG elements. But even doing that BioShock was still a kind of gamble -- it wasn't a Sci-Fi shooter (the space marine ala Doom) and it wasn't a military simulator (ala Rainbow Six). Even the game's creator Ken Levine was shocked when he found out BioShock was a hit. 2K quickly green-lit a sequel to a game that no one originally thought would appeal to a mass audience. The only problem was that the original team wasn't interested in making a sequel to the game, and so only a couple of original members worked on BioShock 2.

The thing about BioShock was that it was fresh to the console world: they had never made a first person game like this before. Rapture was interesting and mysterious, the Big Daddies were scary and the concept of little girls harvesting powers from dead bodies is pretty creepy. A lot of people were unhappy with the ending, but to me it seemed to wrap up the story pretty well. Andrew Ryan was dead, Fontain was foiled and you escaped the hellish depths of Rapture. So how do you top this? How do you improve something that wasn't all that broken? Well, the team decided not to stray from what worked, and to streamline the game in order to appeal to an even larger audience. I wrote an article about this recently (see here); I call it The Streamline Effect. Basically, instead of improving something that was kind of broken in the last game the developers opt to either cut or simplify it to the point it's kind of pointless to be in the game it's so easy.

The first hugely streamlined feature is hacking. In BioShock there were rooms with gun turrets, rocket turrets and security cameras. So as you were fighting these crazy mutant freak splicers you turn a corner only to get a rocket shot at you. Or be caught by a security camera which sends flying gun turrets at you. You would either have to destroy these cameras and turrets or find a way to sneak around and hack them, which turned them to your side. The big problem was that every time you hacked you had to play this repeating "build-the-pipes-to-the-other-side-before-the-water-gets-through" mini-game. The first couple times it was fun but on the 502nd time you kinda wish that they had opted for a faster method.

Well Bioshock 2 decided not to fix this mini-game but to basically get rid of any danger from security cameras and turrets. How is this achieved? They give you a hacking gun ... and no, I'm not kidding. Now, instead of you having to navigate a room full of security cameras you can simply stand in the doorway and shoot them one by one from across the room. Same goes for the turrets: forget them being anything dangerous now it's just another alley for you. This would be fine if the game wasn't already making you 10x more powerful.

Yes BioShock 2 is freakin' easy. Now in this gaming generation I normally play on Hard, and not because I'm amazing at games, it's just that Normal feels like yesterday's Easy. It's not a secret that since gaming caught the casual crowd, developers have been making their main experience a little easier. Why build a 20+ hour game if only 5% of the population will beat it? So instead, they opt to make Normal an experience that appeals to someone that has never played a fist person game before. It even says that when you select it!

Since Normal is the default difficulty most people play on, the experience most people will have, I opted to play on Normal. I played the original BioShock on Normal and I died a lot, but BioShock features the controversial vita-chambers (you can turn them off via options) which re-spawn you instantly. This kind of takes away from the negative feeling of dying in the first place, with the result that you start to not care if you die, because you can just keep dying and running right back into the battle. Still, I did die lots in the original game, but BioShock 2 on Normal I only died twice. In other words, I only spawned back in the vita-chamber twice. This is because you play as a Big Daddy prototype who can wield any power and gun at the same time. Not only can you now upgrade all your guns, but you can upgrade all your powers, so you have more Ppwer slots and you also have twice as many gene tonics.

These give you different powers, such as every time you're hit you send out a bolt of electricity. Combining that with mini turrets, normal turrets and security cameras which pose no threat and you are basically invincible. The game starts at a decent difficulty but they start throwing guns and powers at you so fast that soon you'll just be running through Rapture as the ultimate bad ass. BioShock on Normal had limited money and ammo too: you could search but most of the game I was low on supplies. In BioShock 2, however, you never find yourself out of money or ammo (as long as you search) because they over-stuff the environments with loot. Again, this is the Normal difficulty, and I plan to replay the game on Hard to see if they change the amount of loot, but I doubt it. So even though I played on Normal the game is extremely easy when compared to the first game.

Another aspect of the game that suffered The Streamline Effect is the areas. BioShock 1 you would get to travel from one level to another and these levels/areas were pretty big. In each of these areas you would follow your quest, and optionally kill a few Big Daddies to get at their Little Sisters and their Adam (which was used to gain or upgrade powers). In Bioshock 2, levels are a lot smaller, like Mass Effect 2 they are more detailed and smaller in scope. This isn't a bad thing because for the most part the art design is still spot on. The new weapons and new characters look good and Rapture feels like Rapture.

The problem is that only in a few areas does it feel any different to the original. One cool feature of BioShock 2 that I really enjoyed was the ability to explore a couple of areas outside of Rapture. Meaning you are underwater, because your Big Daddy suit works as a scuba suit you can walk outside of the underwater city. Check out the sea life and see a side of the city you haven't seen before. These areas also provide a nice break from watching your back or combat since there are no enemies here. Another really cool area was the Disney Land-like theme park, except instead of Mickey Mouse it's used as Andrew Ryan propaganda. Sadly there are really only a couple of areas that have such unique ideas; the rest feels like déjà-vu ... I've been to Rapture and seen all this before.

The original plan for Bioshock 2 was to have this Big Sister follow you, like the Nemesis from Resident Evil 3. In other words, the ultimate bad ass fight. In the beginning of the game you see her wreck entire rooms and it seems like you'll never be able to beat her. Unfortunately, all tension and dread quickly disappears as you fight her within the first hour and then at the end of every level. Adding to the disappointment is the fact that she's extremely easy -- I thought the Big Sister would be like the Big Daddies in the first game: a tough boss and a real challange. Unfortunately not though, because when you can manipulate the elements, fire rockets and instantly retaliate with lightning, and all she can do is throw rocks and charge, you pretty much know who will be coming out on top.

The multiplayer, which was quite a late addition to the game, isn't as bad as most people thought it was going to be. It's just nothing that is going to keep people coming back for more -- the Modern Warfare crowd won't be leaving their games to go do battle in Rapture. That being said, it's a nice distraction for a bit but that's all; it's neither deep nor balanced enough to have any lasting appeal other then having fun with your friends in Rapture for a bit.

So from all this talk about Streamlining it may sound like I'm being really negative or that I hated BioShock 2. This is not true -- in fact I had a lot of fun. I loved BioShock and BioShock 2 is more BioShock. It gets rid of annoying mini-games and has better combat. This isn't a sequel that failed, it's just one that stayed too close to the source material and was afraid to venture into new territory. If you liked BioShock then you'll enjoy BioShock 2 it's just not a real sequel, it feels more like an add-on or expansion pack. I mean the story's not bad (though its strange we never heard of Sophia Lamb from the first game, probably because they hadn't invented her yet). The story is interesting and works but the twist and characters aren't as interesting as the first game's.

The Verdict: If you've been craving a re-visit to Rapture, BioShock 2 will fill your needs. It's just disappointing that they didn't push it further instead of sticking so close to the first.