having finished bioshock 2 yesterday, i came to a suprising conclusion about what the game feels like
this game, despite being perfectly fine and enjoyable on its own, doesn't really FEEL like a sequel
it feels like the bioshock equivalent of a F.E.A.R expansion pack
it doesn't simply LACK the innovation of the previous game, but in some cases, it literally seems to repeat the same set pieces of it
a steam filled room where you get sudden glimpses of enemies. a splicer appearing right behind the player when doing something. walking past manikins who turn out to be enemies
too many things in this game seem like they we're made by people who looked at the first game and said "lets make more of it" instead of trying to take it to the next step
the plot and characters change from the first game, for better or for worse
Eleanor turns out to be a surprisingly welcome addition, but Sofia lamb simply lacks Andrew Rayn's charisma, and Sinclair makes for a VERY poor replacement for atlas
the sander cohen expy is also rather poor, and the several NPC's you get to choose whether or not to murder, are less then impressive.
but the gameplay doesn't really change at all
the weapons are mostly differently named and animated versions of the first games weapons (the drill is the main difference)
the plasmids are also more or less the same ones you always used in the first game
the enemies are the same with the addition of THREE new kinds of enemies in the entire game (the tank from L4D, and another two versions of a big daddy)
and the introduction of boss fights, or rather THE SAME boss fight played over and over again
the idea of protecting a little sister while she collects ADAM is also taken from the first game, only repeated to the point of frustration
and, of course, during the final stages of the game, you get an option of summoning a big sister to fight on your side
which, while extremely cool, is also the definition of the word "game breaker"
and using her in anything but the most insanely hard battles, is like using a chainsaw to trim your bonsai tree
as a whole, the game isn't BAD by any stretch
in fact, its quite GOOD as FPS's nowadays go, but i just came out of it thinking "i hope they hurry up and release "bioshock: perseus mandate" faster this time around
this game, despite being perfectly fine and enjoyable on its own, doesn't really FEEL like a sequel
it feels like the bioshock equivalent of a F.E.A.R expansion pack
it doesn't simply LACK the innovation of the previous game, but in some cases, it literally seems to repeat the same set pieces of it
a steam filled room where you get sudden glimpses of enemies. a splicer appearing right behind the player when doing something. walking past manikins who turn out to be enemies
too many things in this game seem like they we're made by people who looked at the first game and said "lets make more of it" instead of trying to take it to the next step
the plot and characters change from the first game, for better or for worse
Eleanor turns out to be a surprisingly welcome addition, but Sofia lamb simply lacks Andrew Rayn's charisma, and Sinclair makes for a VERY poor replacement for atlas
the sander cohen expy is also rather poor, and the several NPC's you get to choose whether or not to murder, are less then impressive.
but the gameplay doesn't really change at all
the weapons are mostly differently named and animated versions of the first games weapons (the drill is the main difference)
the plasmids are also more or less the same ones you always used in the first game
the enemies are the same with the addition of THREE new kinds of enemies in the entire game (the tank from L4D, and another two versions of a big daddy)
and the introduction of boss fights, or rather THE SAME boss fight played over and over again
the idea of protecting a little sister while she collects ADAM is also taken from the first game, only repeated to the point of frustration
and, of course, during the final stages of the game, you get an option of summoning a big sister to fight on your side
which, while extremely cool, is also the definition of the word "game breaker"
and using her in anything but the most insanely hard battles, is like using a chainsaw to trim your bonsai tree
as a whole, the game isn't BAD by any stretch
in fact, its quite GOOD as FPS's nowadays go, but i just came out of it thinking "i hope they hurry up and release "bioshock: perseus mandate" faster this time around
