The original Bioshock, now an ancient 2 years old in gaming terms, was, and in fact still is a work of art. The ‘50s art deco styling of Rapture – its underwater city setting, compelling storyline and some genuinely undies-soiling moments made it stand out in a very saturated first-person shooter market.

Now we are revisiting Rapture in Bioshock 2 and while several things have changed – the place and its inhabitants are still all too familiar. Bioshock 2 borrows everything that made its predecessor great and stays with the proven formula, improving in some areas but essentially falling flat as the lack of a gripping storyline emotionally detaches the player from the game.

Firstly, let’s have a bit of a rundown as to what Bioshock and Rapture is all about.
The underwater city of Rapture was built by Andrew Ryan as a kind of Utopia. While residing there, a member of Ryan’s team discovered a species of sea slug which produced a substance called ADAM. ADAM served as the in-game currency and allows the user instantaneous genetic modification through the purchase of Plasmids. These give you special and often devastating abilities such as hypnotising enemies into attacking each other, shooting lightning, fire or ice from your fingertips – you get the idea. Young girls were turned into mobile ADAM harvesters called Little Sisters and to protect them from the wandering ADAM addicted residents of Rapture, giant robotic bodyguard units called Big Daddies followed them very closely fending off any threats.

Set 10 years after the original, Bioshock 2 shows us a Rapture that is in an even worse state of decline. A new antagonist is in charge – Sophia Lamb who has been kidnapping young girls form the surface and using them to replace the Little Sisters that were rescued or killed in the first game. This time around you play as one of the original Big Daddies attempting to reunite with the Little Sister Sophia Lamb has stolen from you.

Even though you are sporting a massive metal suit and have a powerful drill for an arm, you don’t actually move like a Big Daddy at all, instead you move no differently than you did as a human in the original game. This seems a little strange at first but understandable as it would be a long boring game if you lumbered around with a true reflection of the weight you are carrying.

The weapons, while they may look a little different to match the aesthetics of the Big Daddy, are essentially the same which echoes in the whole game really. Rapture looks very much the same, events unfold at a similar pace and the Plasmid powers you find are spread over the course of the game  - and they’re mostly identical to the last game too. Sophia’s disembodied voice taunts you from afar, just as Andrew Ryan’s did and the side quests and overall gameplay dynamics just feel overly familiar.

You are free to explore Rapture, and exploration is well rewarded, but as in the original your next objective or waypoint is indicated by a directional arrow. Fight your way through scripted and wandering encounters before having to defeat one of Lamb’s more powerful spliced-up cronies, then you can move on to the next area and do it all again.

Bus, as mentioned, not all is the same in Bioshock 2. There are numerous modifications that genuinely make the game better. Upgrading your weapons is well worth the effort this time around as some of them fire quite different rounds when fully upgraded. Hacking into consoles is now a real-time mini-game that presents a feeling of urgency about the whole thing. The Telekinesis Plasmid allows you to throw living people around like ragdolls which is always a welcome addition to any game. You can also wield a standard weapon and a Plasmid power simultaneously instead of having to switch as previously.

As is the case with so many games these days and to some degree the original Bioshock too, you get the choice to be good or evil in the choices you make throughout the game. The path you choose changes the course of the story (what little there is of it) and you will encounter a different ending based on your decisions. Personally I always try to stay on the path of righteousness but if the gameplay becomes too repetitive, which Bioshock 2 does at times, then I’ll often stray to the dark side just to spice things up a little.

The final 2 hours of the game gets quite frenetic, with a seemingly endless stream of enemies to defeat before your ending sequence is revealed. Gameplay doesn’t change at all, but the intensity level certainly gets ramped up. To be fair, there isn’t much incentive to play through Bioshock 2 a second time apart from to see a different ending, but this isn’t necessary if you load a save game from half way through and choose to tackle the final stages differently.

Where Bioshock 2 does make you want to pick it up again is with the new online multiplayer modes. Dispite initial trepidation at the expectation that this could be an afterthought in the development of the game, I was pleasantly surprised to find an excellent multiplayer experience.

The regular modes are present – Deathmatch, Capture the Flag et al but there is a very different storyline attached to the multiplayer modes which acts as a prologue to the original Bioshock. It is set during Rapture’s Civil War and you are a product tester for Sinclair Solutions who fights for one of the opposing factions. Progressing through matches allows you to level up just as in games such as Modern Warfare 2 etc. But the defining feature of multiplayer matches is the random spawning of a solitary Big Daddy suit. If your lucky enough to be the one who climbs in it then you can plow through your human foe like they’re barely there. One on one you are indestructible and your enemies must work together to chip away at your health to bring you down.

Ultimately, if you absolutely loved the original Bioshock, then the single player campaign in this sequel will probably leave you feeling like you’ve just played Bioshock 1.5. But many hours of enjoyment is there to be had from the multiplayer aspect and this if nothing else makes it a worthy addition to any collection.

Bioshock 2
For: Xbox 360
From: 2K Games
Score 4/5