Is Bioshock 2 really as bad as we remember? (Spoilers)

[MHR]

Bioshock 2 gameplay was better. I didn't replay it 8 times because I wanted to hear the "awesome" story again, I can tell you that.

People say Bioshock 2 sucks because all they think about when they hear "Bioshock" is The story, "would you kindly" and the electro-bolt plasmid. Bioshock 2 story sucks so everyone hates it. Nuts to that I say, I'll take gameplay over some stupid story any day. Story has little replay value. If all I want is a story I'll go watch a movie.

 

[Magnakai]

I didn't play Bioshock until right before the deuce came out. I really enjoyed the second one because the first left me wanting more. I was able to dive right back into Rapture with improved gameplay more robust RPG elements without replaying the same game again. I remember it feeling like a more modern game at the time. I've never really understood all the hate for Bioshock 2 sequels almost never live up to the initial story and discovery of originals, but its a still fun game to play.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

Not even close. While I never beat the first Bioshock, even I can tell you that the story of Bioshock 2 was much worse. However, I actually liked Bioshock 2's gameplay quite a bit outside of some of the plasmids being horrendously overpowered. I actually enjoyed the gunplay, smashing people with a giant drill like you were some Incredible Hulk / Gurren Lagann hybrid never got old, the weapon upgrade and tonic systems really encouraged exploration while adding a lot of creative perks to the mix (ice drill that reflects bullets ftw!), and having to plan your method of attack beforehand was very enjoyable for me. My main issues gameplay-wise were the previously mentioned balanced issues with certain plasmids and the game being one of many games - such as Fallout 3 / New Vegas - that I've played that seemingly necessitated playing on the hardest difficulty on the first playthrough in order to be a decent challenge. Like those games however, I still enjoyed Bioshock 2 quite a bit and just never quite agreed on the common consensus that it was all-around bad.

I will admit though that the multiplayer was utterly bland and terribly unbalanced. That really didn't need to be made or at the very least needed a lot more time to get right, which may as well been put into making the singleplayer better. I wholeheartedly agree that the multiplayer deserves all the flak it gets.

Off Topic: You spelled "Bioshock" wrong in your title. Grammar Police, AWAY!

 

[Gmans uncle]

I actually thought it was pretty good, I mean yeah it was a tacked on sequel if ever there was one, but everything I loved about the original game was still there: The atmosphere, the setting, the swingin' 40's/50's soundtrack, it was still allot of fun. Plus it didn't have the dumb ass pipe matching mini-game.

It's inferior to Bioshock 1 without question, and even though I haven't played Infinite yet, I'm reasonably (and correctly) certain that it's better too, but Bioshock 2 isn't a bad game by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[redmoretrout]

First, let's get the obvious out of the way:
Yes, it was a tacked on, redundant, game ...There were obviously forced retcons, and the setting itself was already overused before the game was even released. There, it's been mentioned, but that can't be the only reason to hate this GAME (not book... not movie).

Of course it can! If a sequel adds nothing to the story or characters and actually to worsens the original story through pointless retcons and changes then it is doing a bad job. (See the Star Wars prequels) Bioshock was famous for its story, it was what elevated the game from a mediocre shooter (Personally I found the gameplay kinda lacking) to one of the best games of this generation. A hastily written sequel tacked on for no other purpose than to squeeze a few dollars out a franchise is bad, end of story.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

I always thought it was an alright game.

But an alright game jammed between two utterly fantastic ones is not going to fair all that well.

Damn it, Zhukov, stop coming up with the best summerizations of what I want to say, I'm getting tired of quoting you.
Anyway.
I regard Bioshock 2 the same way I regard the Star Wars prequels:
Are they as good as the originals? No, not even close.
Are they as bad as people keep saying they are? Same answer.
Except for Episode 2. That one is exactly as bad as people keep saying it is.

 

[vashthblackseed]

I always felt it was not as good as the first, but still an enjoyable game.

 

[daveman247]

snip

Meltzer's story was pretty big. He was the main character of the "theres something under the sea" bioshock 2 marketing campaign. Following how he worked out where rapture was and where all the little girls were disappearing too. The logs you find carry on from that. Really well done.

True about some of the secondary characters in infinite. Fink wasn't gone into too much, neither was the leader of the vox populi or that war guy in the museum either to be honest. I get that the stories meant to focus on booker and elizabeth, but at what cost?

 

[daveman247]

Of course it can! If a sequel adds nothing to the story or characters and actually to worsens the original story through pointless retcons and changes then it is doing a bad job. (See the Star Wars prequels) Bioshock was famous for its story, it was what elevated the game from a mediocre shooter (Personally I found the gameplay kinda lacking) to one of the best games of this generation. A hastily written sequel tacked on for no other purpose than to squeeze a few dollars out a franchise is bad, end of story.

Unneeded? Maybe. Made the original worse? Nope. The retcons were minor at best. I don't remember rapture suddenly blowing up at the end (bioshock 1's ending was quite ambiguous and rushed.) So bioshock 2 was just a continuation of what was still going on down there.

Jack becoming a sort-of worshipped character of the splicers was pretty cool. I reckon he only escaped with a handful of little sisters or splicers.

 

[CityofTreez]

I always thought it was an alright game.

But an alright game jammed between two utterly fantastic ones is not going to fair all that well.

Well, yeah.

Bio 2 is not bad, it's actually a very solid game. It's just that it gets beaten up by its two other far better (received) games in the series. You take it on it's own and it's rather good.

 

[Abomination]

I liked it a lot, but it did feel a bit too tacked together story wise.

Being a big daddy was certainly very fun though. Just wish the multiplayer had a more reliable netcode, thing lagged like a mother...

 

[Pebkio]

Off Topic: You spelled "Bioshock" wrong in your title. Grammar Police, AWAY!

Dammit! I'm always doing that... Bioshock dammit... a biosock just sounds nasty.

Of course it can! If a sequel adds nothing to the story or characters and actually to worsens the original story through pointless retcons and changes then it is doing a bad job. (See the Star Wars prequels) Bioshock was famous for its story, it was what elevated the game from a mediocre shooter (Personally I found the gameplay kinda lacking) to one of the best games of this generation. A hastily written sequel tacked on for no other purpose than to squeeze a few dollars out a franchise is bad, end of story.

But a game, as was my point, should be judged by more than just what you can also find in a book or a movie. Another point I made in my first "list" paragraph, was that 2K marin made the game feel less like a shooter and more like a fist person RPG. So while the story had to save the mediocre shooter "Bioshock", it didn't have to save the fun RPG "Bioshock 2".

I mean, really, if you're only in gaming for the stories, you might have better luck just reading books. I'm sure there's a novelization of Bioshock out there...

 

[The_Echo]

I think the reason people think BioShock 2 was "bad" was because it was, more or less, a lateral movement where most were expecting a step up.

I thought it was good. Not amazing, maybe not even great, but good.

So basically, it's bad because it wasn't what most people were expecting. Well, maybe. I didn't do the research.

 

[Risingblade]

2 was great compared to 1. I actually gave a shit about the plot in 2.

 

[Frozengale]

So I played Bioshock 2 first oddly enough. And I loved the combat, I loved the setting, the story was interesting and the ending to me was fairly decent. Oh and the moral choice system was straight up stupid. Maybe it's because I didn't have any knowledge of the first Bioshock so the story didn't seem odd, there was no Retcon for me. I just knew Rapture was an underwater city, there were Big Daddies and Little Sisters. The rest was introduced to me through the game so any knowledge of Rapture came to me through Bioshock 2. I found the game to be incredible and it's still one of my favorite games to this day.

I then went and tried to play through Bioshock and... well I'm still trying to get through it. I find Bioshock's combat to be fairly dull. I mostly just Wrench everything in the face til it's dead and it sort of becomes a chore. I just got passed the Fort Frolic, and when Sander sends the huge waves of Splicers at you I sort of just walked around bashing them in the face one by one moving from one to another. Became kinda boring. I find combat in Bioshock to be either incredibly unforgiving or incredibly easy with no real middle ground. In Bioshock 2 I actually felt the need to plan ahead, to be strategic, and to sometimes just go insane with power as I drill through as many guys as I can as fast as I can. Oh and the Big Sisters are terrifying.

In Bioshock 2 I felt like I had a real goal, something that I was working towards and I felt like the antagonist had a real reason to fight against me. In Bioshock I like that I'm exploring a dead city and all that, but I don't feel anything is of real importance. I just do what the guys on the talky box tell me to because.... they tell me to and if I don't then I don't get to go forward in the game. And the antagonist just comes off as an annoying cad who just wants to spite me for no real reason.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

It was good game, yes.

Problem is it wasn't the least bit ground breaking. It was just more Bioshock. Nothing wrong with more Bioshock. It just wasn't a step forward.

ALthough I knocked it down a few pegs by being all "PLAY AS A BIG DADDY" and really you're prototype so you're just Jack with a drill arm. Unless you play on Easy, then your sort of Big-Daddy like.

 

[Easton Dark]

Bioshock 2 is better than Bioshock 1. You guys should replay both and compare... I did so when I bought the desert to sea bundle at christmas time and wow, there's so many improvements over 1. Combat, research, plasmids, hacking, gosh.

And the story wasn't that bad either... I just didn't like that vita chambers were integral. It's such a stupid concept.

I didn't like the actual moral choices you could make, but I was amazed with the effect they had at the end.

Spoiler

When Eleanor decides what to do with the little sister you were controlling

 

[Windcaler]

I never thought Bioshock 2 was all that bad in the first place. It explored themes of fatherhood instead of bioshocks usual political, religious, and social norms. We've had games explore motherhood before but I struggle to think of one besides bioshock 2 that explored fatherhood. That single theme made the game more endearing for me but I also understand that not everyone goes into a game looking for deeper meanings and to understand the art behind the game.

Bioshock 2's ending also at least made me feel like there was some closer, unlike the original games end.

To be fair it did a worse job with the atmosphere and the combat but Ive never gone into a bioshock game expecting those to be the driving points behind it. For me, Bioshock has always been about story and the exploration of themes and ideals. Bioshock 2 had that so I was satisfied with it

 

[Pebkio]

Spoiler

When Eleanor decides what to do with the little sister you were controlling

Actually, that whole sequence was a pretty big "wow" moment for me. To see through the little sister's eyes left me in a daze and I couldn't explore enough, especially when you started to see statues of yourself making the decisions you made. It didn't occur to me, before then, that the girls saw Rapture so differently. And then there was a pretty big twist during that scene revealing that the reason you've been able to adopt little sisters is because of Eleanor's connection to you.