Bioshock 2?

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

In all honesty it's completely fine. In some ways it's even BETTER than the original, such as the Plasmids being expanded on, being able to dual-wield weapons and Plasmids at the same time, the environments being just and creative and interesting as before, and new enemy types such as the Brute and the Big Sister. However, it is a bit annoying doing "Horde Fight" when you're getting Adam from Little Sister escorts and the story doesn't really have a bit twist like the original did. It's a great game that unfortunately has to be compared to Bioshock.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

I'll echo that it's fun, but not better than the first one. I don't feel that it's unnecessary, because it's a completely separate story. I say go for it, but keep in mind that the end sucks.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

It's okay, I guess.

I came to love the Delta/Eleanor pairing, but I initially loathed the idea of playing as a Big Daddy. To me, this felt like a boardroom type at 2K took one look at BioShock and assumed that because Big Daddies and Rosies are badass, we naturally are going to want to play as one. This is 2K forgetting the fact that one of the intiial game's few lows, based on myself and my friends' enjoyment of it, was the Big Daddy escort segment.

It's interesting enough narratively, but it doesn't feel terribly needed or essential to the whole of the BioShock diegetic universe.

That and, well - the multiplayer sucks. It was one of those games where the publisher mistakenly assumed that tacking on a multiplayer component was a viable approach. It would be, if the game modes on offer were interesting. They're not.

 

[Netrigan]

Better game mechanics, the dual-wielding of guns/plasmids was nicked for Infinite and the hacking mini-game doesn't wear out its welcome like the freakin' pipe one.

More emotional story where your actions influence another character. As hard as the first game attempted to tug at my heart-strings, I can't say I ever cared overly much for the Little Sisters.

And I think a better paced story in general. The first game was awesome... right up the Big Reveal. After that, it didn't feel like they knew what to do so you end up with that over-long escort mission which everyone seems to hate and a lame boss fight.

But the bid drawback is the game is struggling to attach itself to the first game, so you end up listening to Communist rhetoric for much the game and large chunks of the story don't make terribly much sense. And the only time the game escapes a feeling of deja vu is when you see the world through the eyes of a Little Sister.

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

I absolutely loved 2 more than 1. I found the story was better (though the amount of retcons they had to squeeze in was rather...impressive, I have to say), Sofia Lamb was a far more unlikeable and active villain compared to Ryan. Plus, Lamb's ideas are a hell of a lot scarier than Ryan's. While there was no big twist, I felt that the twist from 1 made the final act a bit tacked on.

On the gameplay side, I think it improved on 1 in every way. More weapons, more plasmids, more tonics, better research system, better hacking minigame (didn't get as tedious by the end), and it's fun as hell to adopt Little Sisters and have them narrate your fights as you gather ADAM.

I think the ending and morality system was a lot better, in that you didn't get a ten second finale. There was weight and meaning behind your decisions, and it was nice that your allies and the main antagonists all had their own character models and didn't just use Splicers but always kept them behind glass or in the dark.

As for multiplayer...bleh. I hate online only multiplayer, but it's not bad. Not great, but not awful. It's there if you like it. And for the love of God, play the Minerva's Den DLC. In my opinion, it's the perfect end to the whole saga of Rapture, and the Subject Sigma is one of my favorite characters in the series.

 

[Stainlesssteele4]

Bioshock 2 is boring. Horrible pacing leads you from one short set piece to another, with long slogs of nothingness between events. Levels are so linear that exploration is non existent.
Some of the mechanics were touched upon, making them feel better, namely hacking and dual wielding.
Rapture felt slightly alive in the first game, with splicers moving about in areas, instead of standing around grouped up waiting for the player to arrive, which 2 seems to think makes for good encounter design.
The levels feel more cramped then the first game, which is an amazing feat, considering it all takes place indoors. Bioshock 1 felt like a city, while being just a small chunk of one, one could believe that people actually lived or worked here. Bioshock 2 however, feels like a series of well decorated corridors.

Is it a bad game? No; just not as good as it could have been.

Probably due to the game's development cycle. I think any game with 5 developers behind it is bound to have some issues (*cough* A:CM *cough*).

 

[V8 Ninja]

As I've said about a dozen times;

Enhanced gameplay, unnecessary story. You be the judge.

 

[Smeggs]

Eh...
Play it if you REALLY want to but don't go into it thinking it's better than the first one, IT IS NOT.
But that's not to say it isn't a good game. It's NOT as good as the first one but it's not as bad as some people say.
But don't play the multiplayer.

I felt the second was better than the original.

More personal story, for sure, since we had a character with an actual established history rather than Faceless-Clone-Guy Whose name I can't remember.

I love to spam the drill charge. It makes me feel like a rampaging elephant.

I also felt the gunplay in two was more polished, and found the new mechanic for little sisters quite fun and cool.

Bioshock Infinite, however, has the worst gameplay in my opinion. Also the least engaging story. I was really bored until the last few minutes, but that may just be due in part to my mind blanking out half of the idiotic racial and religious drivel that was the majority of the Voxophone messages, other than the ones that you NEED TO LISTEN TO to really understand everything.

Seriously, I think some of the devs got slap-happy with those things. I wasn't offended by it, but after the fifteenth Voxophone of Comstock's idiotic bigoted tripe talking about how the "Negros" aren't people, and how everyone should kneel before him and praise his mighty gonads, I got quite bored. The defining message had to be when he was bitching about his time in the military.

"IN FRONT OF ALL THE MEN, THE SERGEANT TURNED TO ME AND SAID, 'YOUR FAMILY TREE SHELTERS A TEEPEE OR TWO, DOESN'T IT, BOY?' THIS LIE! THIS CALUMNEY HAD FOLLOWED ME ALL MY LIFE! From that day, no man ever truly called me 'Comrade'. It was only when I burned the teepees with the Squaws inside that they FINALLY took me as one of their own...only blood can redeem blood."

That's when I finally realized that literally none of the Voxophone messages Comstock had left so far had said anything else. Nothing useful, nothing interesting. Just racism and moronic religious banter.

I should have known when I first saw that little video where the populace of Columbia were freaking out because he predicted it would stop raining and the sun would shine. Idiots.

 

[Vykrel]

i havent played it, but based on what ive heard, and how the game was recieved, i assume Bioshock 2 is like Knights of the Old Republic 2. a great game, and a worthy successor to the original, but is still inferior to the original in pretty much every way.

 

[Joccaren]

Honestly I find it as the second best of the Bioshock games, with Infinite being the best.

And really, that speaks wonders for what I think about the Bioshock series as Bioshock the original, whilst my least favourite of the games, is one of my favourite games overall still.

Its twist, if it even really has one, is nowhere near as good as 1s or 2s. Its story, IMO, is better paced though, and it focuses more on the personal relationship between the protagonist and his daughter. Its more personal, you see a much better scene based off your choices at the end that IMO is more emotional, and it does just flow, rather than the original Bioshock's which kind of hit a dead point after its big reveal. Additionally, its got some great fan service in there with Mark Meltzer, who was used lots during the advertising of Bioshock through the "There's something in the Sea" website, which I believe no longer exists, only redirects to the main Bioshock 2 site, and that was its own personal story that was kind of sad to follow.

The gameplay though, is a lot better, and that's what makes it a better game IMO. The upgrade system is a lot better, and whilst you still have basically the same arsenal the ability to dual wield things removed a LOT of the clunkiness from Bioshock 1's combat. Also, the Drill. Fucking fun to use. Hacking is a lot better than in 1. No longer pauses the game, but that's not a bad thing, and it takes nowhere near as long or is as drawn out as BS1 hacking. Big Sisters are also fun to fight, and the Little Sister escort parts are actually alright, largely 'cause you're allowed to plan and set up before the attack begins, rather than the crap in BS1.

Is it worth playing?
Depends on what you want to get out of it. Its a great game, and if you like the old Quake/Unreal style shooting in games then it'll have you covered, but if you're looking for some big twist, or a science-based story like Levine does [Genetics in 1, Quantum Mechanics in Infinite, 2 kinda just says "Yeah, that genetic stuff still exists", but focuses on everything else in the story, rather than the science side of it], you're going to be disappointed.

 

[The_Echo]

I like BioShock 2. Its story was more of a... I consider BioShock 2 less of a sequel, more of an extended universe addition. If that makes sense. It has nothing to do with Jack or Ryan. It's just what happens later.

The gameplay, in my opinion, was better than its predecessor.

 

[kortin]

Bioshock 2 was vastly superior to Bioshock.

That's all you need to know.

 

[Frozengale]

I haven't finished Bioshock. I find the combat to be not as fun as 2 or Infinite, and the story to be pretty meh so far. I mean sure the atmosphere is good, but that only lasts for so long. Supposedly there is a twist in Bioshock that makes it pretty good. But it is having problems holding my attention. Bioshock 2 had no such problems, I played it straight through and enjoyed every minute of it. Same with Bioshock Infinite. People keep saying how Bioshock 2 has a horrible story. But I don't see it. I mean it's not some grand amazing story, it's fairly straight forward. But it works and it's interesting and I liked the characters for the most part.

Bioshock Infinite is the superior one in my opinion. The world is better crafted and feels more like an actual place, the characters makes sense and are interesting, the combat is solid, and the ending was amazing. While Bioshock 2 rates as a game that I really enjoy I would never say that it's one of the best games I've ever played, but I would play it again. Bioshock is praised up and down by so many but really I don't see it. Maybe it's because I played them out of order, I don't know. Then again I seem to be an odd duck when it comes to which games I like. I prefer Dragon Age 2 to Origins, I prefer Bioshock 2 to Bioshock, I prefer Fable III to Fable II (though Fable TLC takes the cake). I guess I just see things others miss or vice versa.

Also part of the ending in Bioshock Infinite is when Elizabeth talks about how similar versions of them go through stories like this all the time I saw it as a nod to Bioshock 2. One of the core components of Bioshock Infinite's story is the idea of a Father figure and a girl with a strange connection and how the Father figure protects the girl from those that would use her for their own gain. In the end though the Father figure can only overcome the obstacles that stand in their way because of the girl. It draws a lot of parallels to Bioshock 2. Also it makes a lot of sense since they refer to Elizabeth as "The Lamb" and in Bioshock 2 the main girl is Eleanor Lamb.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

In short, it's got some pretty cool gameplay improvements and additions but the first is otherwise better.

Definitely not a bad game though, just kinda outshined by the first and now I guess Infinite.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

I enjoyed elements of Bioshock 2 far more than Bioshock; improved hacking, dual handling, and variety of visual character designs . However, Bioshock still had the more powerful scenes of the two, especially the confrontation with Andrew Ryan; as well as a very interesting story and introduction, and going more in-depth with the characters themselves. But I think it would be hard for most sequels to live up to the reveal. Bioshock made it pretty damn difficult with the way Rapture was introduced. If Bioshock was redone with the elements of Bioshock 2 that I think are an improvement, it would be fairly close to perfect for me (except the very end - *hiss*). I'm not hissing at the end results of your choices, but the 'boss fight'. The Minervas Den DLC for B-2 had a interesting story, that I enjoyed. Despite some of the bugs it still had after all this time, or maybe I was just stuck with these particular bugs.

It feels weird to try to compare Infinite with the Bioshock and Bioshock 2 - probably because two take place in Rapture and one definitely, does not. So I wont. =D

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I enjoyed 2 a lot. After BioShock, it would be very hard to mess up the formula to much and they didn't. The setting is other parts of Rapture that are cool, albeit not up to the original's standard. Similarly falling a little short is the story. Where the original explored the issue of free will and right and wrong, the second was a writing style over substance and sadly forgettable.

The weapons were cool, the gunplay was great, I wasn't too keen on the "Big Sisters" but their addition to the lore paid off at the end. Also, we get to use Big Daddy drills and such. What's not to like about that?

 

[Mr C]

I loved both (have not bought Infinite yet, payday Wednesday!!!). Which is better I couldn't say, though the 2nd doesn't suffer from a crappy final boss fight.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Honestly out of Bioshock 1 and 2. I like the story and gameplay a lot better in 2. If just for the fact that the whole plot twist in 1 makes replaying it less fun imo where as 2 doesn't have that problem.

Imo for me it goes:

Infinite > Bioshock 2 > Bioshock 1.

Honestly, doesn't the plot twist make the game more playable a second time around? That's how it was for me at least in Bioshock 1 and Infinite. First you play the game fresh. And than you go back through the game noticing the little details that slipped you by.

 

[Korten12]

Honestly out of Bioshock 1 and 2. I like the story and gameplay a lot better in 2. If just for the fact that the whole plot twist in 1 makes replaying it less fun imo where as 2 doesn't have that problem.

Imo for me it goes:

Infinite > Bioshock 2 > Bioshock 1.

Honestly, doesn't the plot twist make the game more playable a second time around? That's how it was for me at least in Bioshock 1 and Infinite. First you play the game fresh. And than you go back through the game noticing the little details that slipped you by.

I guess. Personally knowing the big reveal makes it less exciting the second time around whereas in Bioshock 2 it doesn't really have a big twist so it's story doesn't lose any excitement the second time around.

 

[soren7550]

It's not a bad game. The gameplay is better than BioShock's (the plasmids are better, and duel wielding is fun), and the characters are a bit better, but the story overall isn't as good. You could probably pick it up for $10 USD, so it's very much worth it. BioShock 2 is by no means a bad game, it's that it's the sequel to one of the greatest games of all time.

Also, I found the multiplayer fun, but I very much doubt that anyone is playing it anymore.