Bioshock 2 Review

Written 02/15/2010

Note: This review is for the PC version of the game. Screenshot and video taken on my machine.

Back in 2007, 2K Games took everyone by surprise with the original Bioshock. It was a smart, original, and story driven survival-horror-FPS. Its quality is still hard to match today, considering what it offered. Now, three years later, we see Bioshock 2 aiming to dethrone its predecessor. Its success in that goal however, can be left to interpretation. I will attempt to reserve my personal opinion on the matter until the end of this review.

Visuals and Presentation

The one thing that Bioshock 2's single player campaign exudes the most is ambiance. This game is so atmospheric it's palpable. Everything you see is completely top notch from the models to the textures to the animation. The animations in particular carry the most impact for me simply because there is no mistaking what each character is feeling and at times what they are thinking about. You don't typically see impressive digital acting like this except in games like Half-Life 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV. It's also apparent that 2K spent quite a bit of time on its lighting. Without such detail paid to the lighting, most, if not all, of the atmosphere of the game would be lost. The lighting can also provide critical gameplay elements when necessary. Often times you'll see a shadow or some other visual cue that warns you of impending danger and gives you enough time to prepare for it.

Unfortunately, very few of these good things can be said about Bioshock 2's multiplayer visuals. No shred of the game's excellent lighting remains in the maps; which are mostly recreations of areas from the original Bioshock. This leaves every area flatly lit and feeling empty despite the chaos of matches. The models, textures, and animations also severely suffer from the same treatment. Every texture's resolution has been reduced far beyond what is necessary for a typical multiplayer setting. This is so extreme on the weapon and character models that most of their fundamental texture definition is lost and degrades many models to colored blobs. The models have also had many of their polygons removed, which leaves their shapes less defined and somewhat distorted. Animations are also much stiffer than in the single player campaign. Overall, single player = good, multiplayer = bad.

Visuals and Presentation Rating:

Sound

If the visuals of Bioshock 2 are that atmospheric, the sounds are doubly so. From beginning to end, you will always be hearing something interesting or disconcerting. From water dripping on the floor through cracks in the environment to creaking support beams, you're constantly reminded by the audio that you are hundreds of miles under the sea. Splicers and Little Sisters are always heard before seen, and it's always interesting to hear what they have to say before revealing yourself to them. You'll also be hearing a great deal of voice acting via the prerecorded tapes littered across Rapture and conversations with your allies. Every bit of it is very well thought out and performed, and add tremendously to understanding the overall story as well as Rapture's history. The music is also an excellent contributor to the game's atmosphere with melodies that keep the apprehension high and climax songs that leave you downright stressed. Without such excellent audio throughout, Bioshock 2 would simply not be the same.

Sound Rating:

Gameplay

If you've played the original Bioshock, you're already very familiar with the gameplay formula of Bioshock 2. The game is designed to keep you scavenging for new equipment, ammo, and money to keep you alive. If you're not someone who likes to explore or you can't handle limited resources well, Bioshock 2 is not the game for you. You also have various powers such as the ability to wield lightning, fire, and ice from your palm through genetic mutations called Plasmids. To obtain more Plasmids, you must find Little Sisters and either kill them for their ADAM, or save them and accept a lesser amount of ADAM as a gift from them. Unlike the first Bioshock though, you can wield a Plasmid and a conventional weapon at the same time. Everything else in the game simply requires you to survive long enough to reach the end. While this still works well in Bioshock 2, a few key issues keep the game from rising to true greatness.

While you are encouraged to explore your surroundings to stay afloat, doing so doesn't feel as rewarding as it did in the original Bioshock. You're still in the underwater city of Rapture, and it's still a very original and interesting place, but the breath-taking aspect of the city is somewhat diminished in the changes made throughout Rapture. Technical issues are also very abundant in the game. In short, 2K needs to release a major patch for the game...now! During my play through of the game, I experienced a major crash that would not allow the game to relaunch, even after reinstalling the game. I searched the official Bioshock 2 forums for a solution but there wasn't one available until a day and a half later; and even then it was only a work-around of the real problem. On another occasion, my Plasmids were fully disabled and remained so even after logging off and logging back on. The only way I found to fix the issue was to spend some of my limited ADAM on a new Plasmid, thus resetting my Plasmid selection options.

As for multiplayer, I can sum it up in two words: stay away. For one, the lag is absolutely unacceptable. The gametypes are the same standard ones we've seen over and over for years in FPSs. As I've mentioned in the Visuals section, all artistic pleasantries have been stripped away in the vain hope of increasing performance. Balancing is basically non-existent as everyone runs around with only grenade launchers. I'm unsure if I should be blaming the QA department or the programers for this, but if a major patch is not released to fix these glaring issues, heads need to roll.

Gameplay Rating:

Story

Warning: Spoiler Alert!

It's been 10 years since the events of the original Bioshock, and a lot has happened. You're no longer Jack Ryan from the first game, but a Big Daddy known only as Subject Delta. As the game opens, you're strolling along with your Little Sister, Eleanor, doing what Big Daddies do best; drilling holes in those who would harm his little friend. Then one of the cheeky buggers throws a Plasmid at you that allows the user to command a Big Daddy for a short amount of time. While you're still under the Plasmid's effects, Eleanor's mother, Sofia Lamb, reveals herself to you. She hands you a pistol, tells you to place it to your head and fire. Unable to resist the Plasmid, you obey. You somehow survive, and are awakened years later dazed and confused. You're now left to figure what's going on.

The story from here is not as well developed nor does it hold the same impact as the first Bioshock's did. That's not to say it's bad by any standards, but it definitely feels like someone else wrote the story for Bioshock 2. There are many references to a cult that has formed in Rapture under Sofia Lamb, and they can be seen everywhere from the paintings on the walls to random scribblings by the Splicers. A fair warning though, there was one painting in particular that offended me as a Christian. It depicted three men hanging on crosses surrounded what look like prayer candles, and it looks like Jesus' crucifixion at first glance. Upon closer inspection though, you can see that the three men hanging on the crosses are Rapture citizens. I don't know what 2K was trying to say there, but needless to say I did not appreciate the image. Luckily, that was the only serious incident like that. After everything's said and done though, the game ends in a satisfying way that leaves the door open for a potential Bioshock 3.

Story Rating:

Replay Value

Considering the utterly broken multiplayer or the fact that the single player campaign takes 10 hours or less to complete, Bioshock 2's replay value is next to nothing. The only thing that truly warrants another playthrough of the single player campaign is the ability to see the alternate ending of whichever one you got before by doing the opposite of whatever you did the first time. Unless you're interested in replaying the game on a harder difficulty as well, there's nothing else to do beyond the alternate ending.

Replay Value Rating:

Final Thoughts and Overall Score

Under all the rubbish 2K has failed to clean up before releasing the game, Bioshock 2 is actually a solid game. If a major patch that addresses all of the severe issues is released, the multiplayer portion of the game has a chance to be fun and possibly worthwhile. Let's be honest with each other though 2K, the original Bioshock was a huge success because all development time was put into the single player campaign and only the single player campaign. Had Bioshock 2's development cycle followed the same path, it could have easily outshone the first game and then some. If you, the player, have played the original Bioshock, Bioshock 2 is still worth it...after a patch and possibly a price drop. Quite honestly though, this game would be rated higher if the multiplayer did not exist.

Bioshock 2 Overall Score: 

Amendment: 2K has released a patch for the multiplayer portion of Bioshock 2 after the writing of this review which fixes many, but not all, of the game's lag issues. All of my other statements not concerning the lag still apply.

Minimum:

OS: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ 2.4Ghz or better, Intel Pentium 4 530 3.0Ghz Processor or better

Memory: 2GB

Graphics: NVIDIA 7800GT 256MB graphics card or better, ATI Radeon X1900 256MB graphics card or better

DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c

Hard Drive: 11GB

Sound: 100% DirectX 9.0C compliant sound card or onboard sound

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Recommended:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Dual Core 2.60Ghz, Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Dual Core 2.13Ghz

Memory: 3GB

Graphics: NVIDIA 8800GT 512MB graphics card or better, ATI Radeon HD4830 512MB graphics card or better

Other Requirements: Initial installation requires one-time internet connection; Ability to save game, earn achievements, receive title updates and online play requires log-in to Games for Windows LIVE; software installations required including Microsoft Visual C++2008 Runtime Libraries, Games for Windows LIVE client, Games for Windows LIVE Client Patch, Sony DADC SecuROM, Microsoft DirectX.