Single Player Mode

While I agree that the gameplay hasn't changed much, the ability to dual wield a weapon and plasmid has made single player mode a lot better than the first. Obviously if you still haven't beaten the first one, and you aren't intereted in multiplayer, save yourself $40 and buy the original.

Multi-player Mode

Like most people, I was a bit skeptical of this new addition. In this mode you play as one of 8-10 stock characters (depending on if you got the pre-order bonus at gamestop). There are also many different games to choose from: capture the little sister (capture the flag), Adam Harvest - team mode or free-for-all(hold the little sister for 3 minutes), Civil War (get 50 kills as a team), Last Man Standing (can't remember its actual name, but it is what it sounds like), and a few others. Your character doesn't mean much, it just changes your catch phrases (which do get a bit annoying after a few hours of gameplay).

Like the single player mode, there is a story behind these modes. Atlas and Ryan (from the first game) have provided you with the tools for "home protection." You must choose sides in the war that led to Bioshock 1.

The leveling up system keeps the game pretty even, at each new level you get new plasmids, weapons, or bonuses. So you always are getting something new to try out. You gain experience from kills, assists, time holding the little sister, Adam vials you pick up (randomly placed on the map), taking a picture of your enemies (also gives you an attack boost on them until they kill you), and everytime you hack a machine.

The gameplay itself is a lot of fun, because the levels are made the perfect size for the number of players. If you get into a battle it is a true war, because you are usually in a confined room. However,you can leave tight spaces in order to heal and grab EVE before getting back into the fray of things.

Weapons include: pistol, machine gun, bazooka, grenades, shotgun, and more as you level up. Plasmids include: Incinerate, Electric Shock, Aero Dash, Freeze, Gysers, and a few more that are new as well as some from the first game. Bonuses include: faster health regeneration, evade enemy turrets easily,use less EVE, take faster pictures.

Overall the single player is just an expansion of the first game, but the multi-player mode more than makes up for it. However, this is definitely one of those games that people will stop playing multiplayer once they get the achievements, so enjoy it now while everyone is online!

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As I write this, I'm at the tail end of the game almost near finishing it. The major thing that sticks out is how incredbly short this game is compared to the first one. You have a real good sense of progression in the first one unlike the sequel here. Which brings me to the fact it would've been nice to go back to an area where you think you missed something, can't do that here. Also, the U-Invent machines could've returned in this one, personally I enjoyed going around collecting stuff and somehow cobble it together to make ammo. Also, I never realized how much I missed the "Circus of Values!" clip when visiting/hacking one of them.

However the game does have its upsides. The dual wield makes things quite nice and easy when battling opponents. The new researching mechanic is quite interesting. And multiplayer is definitely intriguing to the point that you should give it a whirl. (Though that too could use a couple of tweaks.)If you liked the first one, chances are Bioshock 2 will be just as familiar to you as the original one was. If you're new to it, give the first one a whirl and then give this a try.

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For some absurd reason or other, it appears to be impossible to play this game without logging in to Windows Live to do so. This is a particularly obnoxious requirement if, like me, you only care about single-player mode. Caveat emptor.

The game itself seems decent so far; basically more of the same from the original. If you liked that, you'll probably like this.

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i bought this game used and was happy with the condition and speed of delivery it came with everything in the case the game was grwat it was differant from the first in the ease of gameplay but it is still a good game it had the element of spooky abandondment as the first

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Unlike the first, this game will not remain in your memory for very long. It feels more like a prelude to another, not an end in itself. And instead of being unique in its gameplay it steals from other games (the voice of a loved one interrupting the game - seen in Dead Space and countless others) and from itself (basically the entire game, ie constantly fighting Big Daddy's).

The main antagonist starts out with a bang but quickly becomes just a nuisance of a voice. I found myself hoping to find more snippets of Andrew Ryan along the course or hearing again from the woman who was an actress? or a singer? (don't recall), versus hearing from Dr Lamb. The game also provides way too many opportunities for help (especially through the "Hypnotize" plasma) and I found myself with too much ammo, money, and health.

Doing the math, Bioshock 2 is a vanilla cookie. It's there, but if it wasn't, you wouldn't care. The story in this attempt is fine. The enemies are fine, though there are no real "bosses" and the majority of the game is finding a little sister and protecting her (which gets very boring and was stolen from the first, as, if I remember right, you did once). The new foe, "The Big Sister" has a frightening shriek, but when you figure out she's just a quicker Big Daddy, you don't care anymore. And the end? It just ended, which is frustrating, especially given how poor the finish of Bioshock was.

Bottom line, if you played the first you will likely play the second, regardless of the review. I just hope that you rent it through a free gamefly trial instead of spending much money on it.

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So when a game does something "original" lightning rarely strikes twice. The sequel will not be able to be quite as awe inspiring as its' forebear on account our minds have been conditioned to know what to expect.

Frankly Bio Shock 2 is "more of the same" in most regards though it does mix it up nicely. To me the story here is more personal. As the first Big Daddy "Delta" your little sister Eleanor is stolen to be made into an altruistic martyr by Sophia Lamb who was a person constantly in conflict with Andrew Ryan. Aka instead of seeing the evils of selfishness and capitalism you're having to deal with a mind bending psychologist and her cult of splicers called "The Family" who want to change the world by creating an ultimate saint with godly powers. Of course Eleanor is being forced into all this against her own will which is why she awakens you to help her.

Later you bump into Sinclair, a greedy opportunist swindling his way into an unlikely partnership with you. However there is more to him than that and honestly it surprised me how much he changes throughout the game. For me this had the same impact as "would you kindly" though it was delivered from an entirely different angle. Aka Sinclair is not simply another Atlas so don't fret over it!

Improvements are you have the awesome Big Daddy Drill and you can dual wield your weapons with your plasmids. In case this is your first deep sea dive into Rapture "plasmids" are genetic alterations that give you super powers. The essence of plasmids were harvested from sea slugs. Rapture's citizens indulged in these upgrades to make themselves "perfect" within their own delusional Utopia. However an addiction to "Adam" the very essence that allows people to use an ever increasing array of supernatural abilities caused fights to break out everywhere. In addition plasmid users became increasingly less human until they were nothing more than the violent splicers which you're forced to contend with throughout your journey.

As if plasmids did not make you formable enough you can also upgrade fire arms, improve your drill, and hack both bots and gun turrets. Bioshock 2 is as simplistic or as strategic as you want it to be thus continues the spirit of its' predecessor.

Personally I'm happy the "hacking" segments are easier this time around. There is no more making an elaborate pipe from point A to point B. Now all you have to do is tap a button when the giger needle going back and forth passes over the right colors.

In the tradition of action and consequences you can save or murder the little sisters. The best addition is having a little sister on your shoulder sniff out Adam for you. As she kneels over a cadaver to gather the good stuff you must set up a protective parameter and defend her from impeding enemies. This added yet another tactical wrinkle to the game which I was appreciative of!

To elaborate on the above you will of course get a different ending fringing upon whether or not you play through the game as a benign savior or a blood thirsty tyrant. More complexity comes into play on account choices made with a few other residents you meet along the way are taken into consideration. At least one encounter presents a difficult decision not so easily categorized as being right or wrong. I commend BS2 for making us contemplate our actions. Most FPSES do not bother to make their audience "think" which is a bar Bio Shock as a series has raised in a positive fashion.

Plasmid variety is still decent. You can electrocute foes in water, freeze them, hypnotize them to open fire on each other, set them aflame, or toss grenades back at the baddies with telekinesis. In addition my favorite new power is the "cyclone trap". When splicers run atop these marked areas they are thrown into the air and take damage when they fall. Only complaint I have is the "Bee swarm plasmid" from the previous BS is either absent or very hard to find. C'mon guys! That ability was priceless!

Bottom line

Bio Shock 2 does a lot right. It is a serviceable sequel and retains having a strong emotional story line. While it may not be better than Bioshock 1 in every way it does add a few new nuances to the gameplay. It is another under-water pulse pumping adventure you cannot put down until the credits roll!

Overall for every fault Bioshock stumbled with it presented more improvements to overcompensate thus it still gets a perfect score out of me.

Pros

+ Ability to finally use the Big Daddy Drill.

+ You can dual wield plasmids with other weapons.

+Great plot so long as you don't try to instantly over analyze it with the expectation it should be exactly like the previous story line.

+Some people have already complained BS 2 doesn't make you feel as if you're a Big Daddy. However even by the synopsis given you are the first one off the assembly line so of course you're not going to be quite as versatile as later models. Rest assured after you've spent time upgrading yourself accordingly you WILL achieve the satisfaction of being a mauling death machine!

+ Good voice acting, ambient sounds, and nice music. The audio atmosphere is top notch as always.

+New tactical element of defending the little sisters as they harvest Adam.

+Big sisters are rightfully terrifying the first time you're forced to contend with them.

+Nostalgic tributes to the first Bio shock including an animatronic Andrew Ryan in the Rapture museum.

+Stakes seem more personal in BS 2 because you're trying to rescue someone you deeply care about whom communicates with you via telepathic visions through the whole game.

+The good ending I got pleased me in every way.

+Death match multi-player if you want it. (I'm not big on it though.)

Cons

-Remember those promised under water segments? Yeah, they're here but are little more than a linear path leading from one part of Rapture to the next.

-The train doesn't allow you to go back to previous areas.

-Not as many splicer boss encounters. Show downs such as the one with the homicidal plastic surgeon Dr. Steinmen and the nut job art appreciator gave the first Bio Shock a lot more personality.

_Graphics have not upped the ante but what was there was great eye candy to begin with anyway.

-As with the first BS if you play this non stop you can beat it in a relatively short peroid of time.

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If I could give this game negative stars, I would. It's disgraceful to release a game with so many bugs and charge people for it. Bioshock 2 has problems in lagging and sound that 2k is fully aware of but doing next to nothing to address. Why should they? You already bought the game, tough luck; they have their money and you have a flawed product.

The story is weak, a crummy sequel to a game that needed none. At best, the stuff in BS2 (how apt) is worth little more than a dlc feature. Nothing unique is brought to the game and the theme is muddled. The charm of the first game--namely the music--has been relegated to loading times only, and the soundtrack (when it works) is pretty tedious material. Weapons are pretty boring and the plasmids are less than sensational. Little sisters are more of a pain than interesting little changelings (perhaps the loss of Juliet Landau's voice contributes to this). Big daddies are ubiquitous, relentless, and worthless opponents; you get very little for dispatching them. And the big sisters? Shrieking annoying pests. Splicers are in the category of been-there-done-that, including the big steroid dudes whose sole attribute is the F word. Big yawn.

Worse, you are stuck with a guiding character who sounds like Huckleberry Hound and who has none of the laid back coolness of Atlas or the vicious sardonic anger of Fontaine.

And all this might be forgivable for the fact that the game is glitchy and stuttering. Lags murder the game play and frustrate the player. This is something reported in multiplayer and well known, but a good number of single players are experiencing the same. Not much is more horrible than reaching the cut scenes and have them stop and start and stop like some poor movie in a grade school class. Your reward for finishing the game is survival--not from the foes or the elements but from a game that moves like a car with four flat tires on a washboard road.

Save your money and play Bioshock I again.

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I waited with rapped anticipation for this new game and was disappointed from the start. This game seems to have been made by someone with "daddy issues" The story was god awful and whiney. I guess that this game was made to pander to all the lonely kids that feel torn between their fighting and/or divorced parents.

If it was just the weak story line I might have been able to give it a "3" But they dumbed the whole game down. They removed one of the most challenging and interesting parts, which was hacking the various security devices and machines. They reduced it to how fast you could mash a button. They also made it easier to remember the door codes which means you don't need to pay too close attention to the tape recordings, which is good because it is just more whining about mommy and daddy.

They removed the quaint language and the complex interactions between the characters on the tapes. The back ground chatter was weak with no original chatter. There was no going back and forth between levels because travel between levels was a very lame train ride where you could not even look around at the scenery as the train moved. Another very weak aspect was your trips outside into the ocean. It was even more boring then the train ride. You had to walk a strict path of uninspired weak scenery basically a lame Easter egg hunt. Where was the attack by the giant adam worms or something. You could not even use your weapons. They took great pains to dumbed down this game and to ruin the series.

One of the main complaints I had from the original game was the point of view of the camera. It makes the player appear to be a midget or a child. You could not hide behind anything. In the new game it seems even worse. It was difficult to even look up. One of the good parts of the first game was the look of the little sisters you got depending on if you rescued them or harvested them. This game was just lame. The ending of the first game was so good that it made you feel good, the end of this game was weak and made you wish you could kill the big sister.

The person who wrote this game was just lazy, come on, the magical way of calling the big sister. Really dude, Really? Where is your creative imagination?. I could have written a better script after a lobotomy. Do not buy this game, rent it, borrow it from the sucker that got stuck paying for it, Better yet, if you liked the first game, DON'T PLAY IT.

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