BioShock 2′s campaign plays like the original, but is it as good as the first?
I beat BioShock 2 about a week ago, so this review is a litle bit overdue. Of course, if you’ve been following my gaming exploits as of late, you’ll know that I’ve been currently enamored with acquiring a PS3 and have already traded in my copy of BioShock 2 to help fund its purchase. Perhaps me getting rid of the game might be a strong indication of it not being a good game, but that’s not quite true. At the right price, I think anyone is willing to sell anything. If I were offered $25 for it, I would have kept the game, but read on for why I felt BioShock 2 deserved to be sold for $40.
The Campaign – Now That I’ve Completed It
If you’ve already read my initial impressions about the game, you’ll probably aware that I looked at it favorably, but also felt that the game seemed a bit unnecessary due to its storyline. Now that I’ve completed the game, I can fully state that my initial impressions were on target.
The primary positive aspect of the sequel is that it plays just as good as the original. The new development team behind the sequel was very successful in capturing the gameplay mechanics and overall feel of the original game. Fans of the original will enjoy this game and be able to get right into it. The game is also as lengthy as the original – and clocked me in at maybe about 20 hours (there is no Rainbow Six Vegas letdown here with the original campaign going for 20 hours but the sequel going for 6). Of course, part of me can’t help but wonder how many of those 20 hours of “gameplay” was me scrounging around in trashcans and shelves looking for items. This isn’t really any different from the first game, but maybe the BioShock series as a whole can be subtitled “Garbage Sifter” since I feel like I’m doing that for a good amount of time in the game. And of course, the annoying part about it is that often times all of the items you find you’ve already hit the max capacity for ammo or money you can carry, so you can’t even pick it up. But, overall, these quibbles of mine are more minor complaints of the series as a whole rather than the sequel. The bottom line from a pure gameplay standpoint is that the BioShock 2 campaign is enjoyable and plays quite similarly to the first game, which I considered game of the year. For fans of the original that want more BioShock, this game will not disappoint you from a gameplay standpoint.
The main negative of the sequel is that the storyline and environments are just not as interesting as the first. The sequel feels a bit forced, as it’s like “Hey, it’s 10 years later, and many people are coming back to Rapture again and there are Little Sisters running around all over the place!” Even the primary “villain” in the game is bland and boring. So from a pure immersive feel, the campaign seems to lack the soul of the former. In comparison, I felt that the Modern Warfare 2 campaign was excellent and continued the premise set forth by Call of Duty 4′s campaign. Not so much here in BioShock 2. The game is enjoyable since you’re still using plasmids, controlling turrets, finding different ammo types for your various weapons, etc. There just doesn’t seem to be much of a reason for you doing so. It’s certainly not like the first game where you feel this sense of urgency and discovery guiding your actions.
Multiplayer
Considering I sold the game already and jumped back into Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer, that’s probably a nice indication of how I feel about BioShock 2′s multiplayer. While it mimics the Modern Warfare level up and customization system, substituting plasmids for perks, it’s still not that great. I played a couple hours and leveled up to 11, and felt that I wasn’t digging the game.
So why is this game not as good as Modern Warfare 2′s multiplayer? First of all, I believe that BioShock’s game engine in general is not particularly well suited for fast paced multiplayer gameplay. When put into such a frenetic system, the game engine just doesn’t hold up. You feel sluggish in moving, and it takes a lengthy amount of time before you can actually kill someone. Unlike Modern Warfare 2′s design of “who shoots first often wins”, BioShock 2′s mechanics seem to borrow more of Halo 3′s design of “if you’re shooting someone in the back, they can still turn around and kill you before you’ve fully unloaded your clip into them”. Of course, Halo 3 is popular, so there are plenty of fans out there that like this “dance” that two opposing players can get into before someone emerges the victor, but as a more tactical player and less of a twitch player these days, I prefer first strike having the major advantage. Due to weapon damage being reduced, it’s just not possible. I found it frustrating that after unlocking the grenade launcher, I would shoot one and it would only take out half the life of my opponent, and while I was busy reloading the second round so I could make the kill, I would get shot to death. It’s a freaking grenade. Come on!
I did enjoy a couple of the unique multiplayer modes that BioShock 2 offers, since they make use of the Little Sister. In this game, the Little Sister often represents the flag for the various modes, and while many of BioShock 2′s multiplayer modes are already present in Modern Warfare 2, the Capture the Sister mode was pretty innovative and one of the more refreshing and enjoyable modes I spent some time playing. In this mode, the two teams get split into the Attackers side and the Defenders side. The Attackers objective is to get to the Little Sister, pick her up, and take her to an ‘extraction’ point. The Defenders are tasked with preventing it from happening. At the same time, one of the Defenders always randomly spawns as a Big Daddy. Any time a Little Sister is captured, the Attacking team scores a point and the two switch sides for a few rounds before the match is concluded. The mode really requires a lot of teamwork, because not only is distracting/taking down a Big Daddy an immensely difficult task, but the Defenders are all pretty much camping in the room that the Little Sister is in so the Attackers really have their work cut out for them.
Unfortunately, Capture the Sister was not enough for me to want to continue playing BioShock 2′s multiplayer. It’s functional, but like the campaign, it’s lacking something that really draws you into it. What happened for me was that after playing BioShock 2′s multiplayer, I gained a reinvigored interest in playing Modern Warfare 2′s multiplayer and am loving it now. Playing the BioShock 2 multiplayer after Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer is like some MMORPG fan playing World of Warcraft and then trying another MMORPG. They realize it’s just not as good and end up missing WoW, so they return to that. With BioShock 2′s multiplayer driving me back to Modern Warfare 2, that can’t be good for its staying power.
Final Thoughts
My conclusive review on the campaign is that if you enjoyed the gameplay mechanics of the first game and love the idea of jumping into new levels to continue that gameplay, pick up BioShock 2. But if you thought BioShock’s storyline and environmental design played a strong part in what made the first game so good, you may want to hold off on the sequel. For me, the first game’s combination of captivating storyline and enjoyable game mechanics are what made it so good. The sequel falters on the storyline aspect, making it inferior to the first. Of course, overall, the BioShock 2 campaign is still quite good – it’s a 20 hour ride that is more enjoyable than campaigns for many other games. It just fails to be as good as the first. To be fair, it had very lofty expectations to live up to.
The multiplayer in this game did lack a level of polish and innovation that would allow it to successfully compete with Modern Warfare 2 (and even Bad Company 2). I do understand why Take-2 wanted multiplayer in the sequel, as the publisher was hoping that people wouldn’t just turn around and sell the game right after beating the campaign. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I’ve done. The multiplayer is a decent little distraction, but ultimately, it is not much better than that and probably wasn’t worth implementing.
BioShock 2 is a very good game, but its campaign is not as good as the first game and its multiplayer is not better than what’s already out there these days. The game industry’s standards continue to grow! If this game was the first BioShock and came out a few years back during the time of multiplayer with rooms and no customization, it could have flourished. But today, it’s merely just a good game that will most likely be quickly forgotten. Maybe pick this up later down the line if you want some more BioShock lovin’, but it’s not a game you need to go out and buy right away.
Review: B+
