Welcome to Rapture…Again

BioShock 2

It was the sequel that no one really wanted, but it seems most people have come to enjoy. It took me a long time to finish the first BioShock on the PC.  It was creepy, stressful, beautiful, immersive, and most importantly, fun. However, at the end of the game I really felt like the story had been resolved. There wasn’t really a sense that anyone should need to go back to Rapture, ever. I’m glad someone else thought otherwise.

It’s probably true that the motivation behind BioShock 2 was not to expand a universe or satisfy the demands of a loyal fan base. Companies exist to make money, and the original BioShock made money. I don’t have any problem with a company taking advantage of an existing franchise. But, it was kind of odd to see them so dedicated to the idea despite such negative sentiment from the “hardcore” gaming community and games media.

So how did it turn out? Great! I finished the first BioShock right before digging into BioShock 2, so I have a pretty fresh perspective on both. The seemingly obvious tweaks to the combat, such as “dual wielding”, the new weapons, and the expanded library of plasmids and tonics all add up to a much better experience in BioShock 2.

One of the other things that stood out immediately to me was the huge improvement in the character models of the “normal” individuals throughout the game. Sure, you only saw a couple of them in person in the original BioShock, but they didn’t look much better than the horribly deformed “splicers.” In BioShock 2, normal people look like, well, normal people. The rest of Rapture felt more developed and alive than in the original game as well. Sure, I had seen Rapture before, but not like this.

The multiplayer was also a pleasant surprise. It’s hard to imagine how BioShock would work in a multiplayer setting, but it totally does. I haven’t played a ton of it, but what I have played was very interesting. A prologue sets up the story of the multiplayer game and provides you with an apartment in Rapture where you can modify your appearance and configure your loadouts before hopping into a match. The characters are colorful and the story concept is interesting. It reminds me a lot of Team Fortress 2, with plasmids.

So would I recommend you play through BioShock 2? Yes, without hesitation. However, if you are not the type of person who skips dialog in shooters to get to the shooting, I’d recommend trying to play the original BioShock first. While BioShock 2 has it’s own story, it’s not entirely self-contained. It relies heavily on concepts and characters that were well established in the first game, but aren’t completely fleshed out in the sequel. Without spoiling anything, I can safely say that I am looking forward to the possibilities in a BioShock 3.