Zero Punctuation: BioShock 2

[kronoset]

Ha, That was pretty funny review. Still mabye a bioshock prequel would have worked a lot better?

watch Star Wars: Episodes 1 & 2 (and arguably 3), then renounce your foul words cretin!

 

[psyks]

Amusing review. I knew Yahtzee would trash it, and was not disappointed.

Unfortunately, while he is entitled to his opinion, I disagree with it. I enjoyed the living hell out of Bioshock 2, and already have played it through twice. I got pretty good value out of my purchase, I think.

Some refined gameplay mechanics? Check
Some new gameplay mechanics to 'freshen up' things? Check
New locations that remain asthetically faithful to the original? Check
New plot, that stays thematically faithful to the original? Check
Same high production values as the original? Check
...and I could go on.

Now, obviously some ret-conning is going to have to happen, because the first game left little in the way of flexibilty for continuation, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Yahtzee made it out to be.

A perfect example of how Yahtzee is completely off-base on some of these points? There's a series of audio logs that specifically explain why the prototype Big Daddy (the player) is so much more powerful than what ended up as the "production" Big Daddy, namely:

Spoiler

that the prototype was too powerful and uncontrollable, killing orderlies and throwing off the mental conditioning Ryan and Lamb (who you discover were originally working together to create the Big Daddies, much like Tenenbaum pioneered the Little Sisters) were developing to compliment Suchong's physical upgrades. They dumbed the final version of the Big Daddies down so they could be more easily controlled. (and also took away the ability for them to use plasmids)

The point is: the info was there if you cared to look for it. Clearly, Yahtzee doesn't have time to actually thoroughly play a game; instead, he has to rip right through them as fast as possible looking for elements he can excoriate, rather than provide a legitimate, in-depth review.

Which is exactly why I consider his 'reviews' to not be informational, but simple entertainment.

High five. Agree with you every step of the way. You have to take his reviews with a pinch of salt because, well... it's all about ripping the shit out of a thing; That's exactly why people watch them. Plus I don't think he has the physical capacity to enjoy anything in life because he's an evil man filled with hatred, spite, oozing with venom and bile BUT I think the sweet hat cancels out about 98% of that.

 

[Minbad]

*puts on vending machine suit, and eventually kills self out of boredom*

 

[Fearzone]

While I always appreciate Yahtzee's critique it has been a little while since I LOL'd at one of them. (Even "beats the fuck out of me" was more an intellectual appreciation of a smart joke than actual laughter.) Nice to see the LOL moments back in this one.

 

[haaxist]

Wow, the BF:BC2 background is a bit much isn't it? Am I the only one seeing that?

No, you're not the only one. For a second I thought the internet was screwed up.

Back to the game, I wonder why Yahtzee never mentioned being able to use both weapons and plasmids at the same time? For me, it's got to be the best feature, besides the new and improved hacking system. Plus there's just something that gets to me about being able to use the trademark Big Daddy drill. As opposed to the wrench.

 

[LTK_70]

Oh look, it's a big ZP banner that links you to a huge advertisement with a video on top of it! How subtle.

I liked Bioshock 2, but I have to agree about the way they pull every plot mechanic out of ADAM's ass. It doesn't just do genetic reconfiguration but also genetic memory, telepathic connection, plasmids from trace elements and whatnot? The hell?

 

[brynnflynn]

Is anyone else unable to watch because of the Battlefield 2 pop up? Seriously, what was wrong with the way the ads were played before? I can't get my new Yahtzee fix now.

 

[Deathfish15]

BioShock 2

This week, Zero Punctuation reviews BioShock 2.

Watch Video

Nice review and very well put, although you could have made it 3 minutes shorter and said "Bioshock 2 is shit, don't get it" and the point would have been the exact same without all the icing for the cake.



Next week I know, I just KNOW, you're preparing to review Battlefield: Badcompany 2, but how about instead you review Supreme Commander 2 instead of another lame ass mainstream shooter. Please, think about it.

 

[UnravThreads]

Amusing review. I knew Yahtzee would trash it, and was not disappointed.

Unfortunately, while he is entitled to his opinion, I disagree with it. I enjoyed the living hell out of Bioshock 2, and already have played it through twice. I got pretty good value out of my purchase, I think.

Some refined gameplay mechanics? Check
Some new gameplay mechanics to 'freshen up' things? Check
New locations that remain asthetically faithful to the original? Check
New plot, that stays thematically faithful to the original? Check
Same high production values as the original? Check
...and I could go on.

Now, obviously some ret-conning is going to have to happen, because the first game left little in the way of flexibilty for continuation, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Yahtzee made it out to be.

A perfect example of how Yahtzee is completely off-base on some of these points? There's a series of audio logs that specifically explain why the prototype Big Daddy (the player) is so much more powerful than what ended up as the "production" Big Daddy, namely:

Spoiler

that the prototype was too powerful and uncontrollable, killing orderlies and throwing off the mental conditioning Ryan and Lamb (who you discover were originally working together to create the Big Daddies, much like Tenenbaum pioneered the Little Sisters) were developing to compliment Suchong's physical upgrades. They dumbed the final version of the Big Daddies down so they could be more easily controlled. (and also took away the ability for them to use plasmids)

The point is: the info was there if you cared to look for it. Clearly, Yahtzee doesn't have time to actually thoroughly play a game; instead, he has to rip right through them as fast as possible looking for elements he can excoriate, rather than provide a legitimate, in-depth review.

Which is exactly why I consider his 'reviews' to not be informational, but simple entertainment.

Agreed but I disagree with your excuse-for-Yahtzee. I spent less than 7hrs in the single player and really Yahtzee's "OMG T3H STORY POINTS" show a distinct lack of effort. A lot of the things he said were rubbish (e.g. Little Sisters being protected by Big Sisters) were quite clearly pointed out.

Spoiler

The Big Sisters are tasked with looking after the Little Sisters, not to mention their instability due to high ADAM exposure.

You can play the audio logs as you go along (i.e. you don't need to pause the game to listen to them), and I would suspect Yahtzee ignored this feature for some reason.

 

[-[c0Ka|Ne]-]

Play as a vending machine? GENIUS!! Yahtzee: you're in the wrong job!

I'm still looking forward to playing this game (eventuallly), but at least I know roughly what to/not to expect from it.

 

[HotFezz8]

its funny, my mate loved it... its alot like the CoD6 game, shit game, story full of holes, but a pretty playable game...

 

[Darth Sea Bass]

Is anyone else unable to watch because of the Battlefield 2 pop up? Seriously, what was wrong with the way the ads were played before? I can't get my new Yahtzee fix now.

Well said

I won't be watching it until that's gone!

 

[Phoenix09215]

I haven't played the first Bioshock, so I figured I would just play the second. Sorta how my friend suggested I skip Assassin's Creed and just play the sequel.

Except Bioshock 2 now sounds like rehashed garbage and AC2 actually played better than its predecessor.

To be fair it is a good game... but the first was so good that Bioshock 2 just doesn't live up to the hype

Definetly play the first but don;t put off playing the second one because it is still good... I just felt as though the horror and suspense of the first game isn;t there, after all you're a big daddy with a sweet-ass drill You get great satisfaction when drilling a splicer's face... or maybe I'm just violent and psychotic

 

[HK_01]

What's wrong with the player? Can someone fix this, please?

 

[DevilSShadoW]

Almost lost faith in humanity when Yahtzee started trolling me at the beginning of the video.
"No way he thinks it's good! He can't! This game is utter bull just to make a quick buck off a successful game" i taught to myself while he was trollin' me. Thank god he was all like "GOTCHA"

 

[traineesword]

BioShock 2

This week, Zero Punctuation reviews BioShock 2.

Watch Video

Nice review and very well put, although you could have made it 3 minutes shorter and said "Bioshock 2 is shit, don't get it" and the point would have been the exact same without all the icing for the cake.



Next week I know, I just KNOW, you're preparing to review Battlefield: Badcompany 2, but how about instead you review Supreme Commander 2 instead of another lame ass mainstream shooter. Please, think about it.

1) that would have made it 4 minutes and a half shorter
2) the icing for the cake is the exact reason for most people to watch Zero Punctuation
3) he couldn't have left it like that, he'd have had to say "as is this review" as well

and i don't want to make it no.4, because its really not relevant. You do know he barely ever does requests right?


anyway, onto my actual comments, I do disagree with Yahtzee in a lot of ways. Mainly because from everyone who's played it, i've heard its actually worth getting. granted, not the exquisite experience of the original, but still pretty damn good considering. They also said that the new plasmids were fun too, something which Yahtzee seemed to completely ignore.

But Yahtzee did make a good point, if by 'good' i mean 'funny due to hyperbole'
"It would be like playing a Gun Turret from Half Life"
made me laugh at the very least...

I definatly agree with him on the story-line though. A prototype being stronger than the final product? and yes, i have been told the bull-crappy 'this will fill in the holes!' version, that is so Cliche that at first i didn't believe him. they were too strong to control? it makes it hard for me to believe that it has the same writers, who would never have dreampt of reverting to such Cliche. (sorry, don't know how to do the accent on the 'e')
If they had merely left it as "because he only bonded with one little sister" i would have maybe found that more acceptable... other than the fact that surely that creates a stronger fighting will/power to protect that one little sister.

meh, but whatever, it was an entertaining review, Bioshock 2 still sounds like a good game in my opinion, but it does have its faults.

 

[Windowlicker]

I just finished the game the other day and I did like it a lot! Might have seemed more new to me cause I played the first one on PC and this on Ps3.

I think it works even though the story is hokey

 

[kronoset]

Ha, That was pretty funny review. Still mabye a bioshock prequel would have worked a lot better?

watch Star Wars: Episodes 1 & 2 (and arguably 3), then renounce your foul words cretin!

Excuse me but What the fudge are you talking about. George lucas made 3 fucking shit prequels so by this logic you come to the conclusion that all prequels are shit... Maybe next time you can be less of a Complete Utter Nice Turtle with your argument and logic.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I was suggesting that if you make a bad sequel, a prequel is not really going to change anything unless it's developed by a different director. And please do not call me a **** in a subtly concealed way--or any way for that manner; it detracts from your argument. So to correct you, I'd say that a prequel, made by a developer of a bad sequel will most likely NOT be a very good prequel. It doesn't matter when you set something, if the very foundation of the story-telling is bad, then it will continue to be bad until that issue is addressed.

 

[Interference]

Well, I've finished Bioshock 2 and rather liked it. Rapture isn't as fresh as it once was, but there's enough new stuff that it kept me gripped. Not the best game ever, but pretty good.

And you could have at least MENTIONED the moderately fun multiplayer.