Bioshock 2 Review Thread

[General Zod]

Just finished it. I have to say I'm still not sure what to think of the game. The writing made it feel completely different, but at the same time it felt "unfinished". The story just didn't have as much "meat" as the first one, and the characters didn't feel quite as interesting. Whether that's because we've already had most of the background for the setting laid out or because the writing was weaker this time around I'm really not sure.

Also, what the fuck happened to Tenenbaum? She made an appearance for the first ten minutes of the game and then bam. You never hear from her again.

[Setzer]

I know. There was the camera on Delta, so she should have been able to see what you see and communicate with you. Not to mention how out of character it would be for her to abandon the girls when their safety is her whole reason for coming down here. I think having Tenenbaum and Sinclair as the angel and demon on your shoulders would have been interesting.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Just finished it. I have to say I'm still not sure what to think of the game. The writing made it feel completely different, but at the same time it felt "unfinished". The story just didn't have as much "meat" as the first one, and the characters didn't feel quite as interesting. Whether that's because we've already had most of the background for the setting laid out or because the writing was weaker this time around I'm really not sure.

Also, what the fuck happened to Tenenbaum? She made an appearance for the first ten minutes of the game and then bam. You never hear from her again.

I, personally, blame it on weaker writing. There are, at least, a couple of points in the story where it's clear the writers didn't really take everything into account. The Case of the Mysterious Disappearance of Tennenbaum is one. Many of the events leading to the last hour or so of gameplay also fall into this category.
Spoiler

After mopping the floor with those Big Sisters, Delta just waltzes into that decon chamber with enough firepower to equip a small army . . . one of which he's single-handedly slaughtered on his way down. And yet, the best he can do is beat on a glass door with his fists when Sofia Lamb suffocates her daughter. Hell, even if they made him put all his weapons in a mail tube or something, he's still brimming with various genetic enhancements expressly designed to make bad people go away. "Hah, you're going to try to suffocate Eleanor with a pillow? Well I can move things with the power of my fucking mind! What do you think I'm going to do with this pillow? Huh? Huh? I'll tell ya. I'm going to beat the stupid out of you, you crazy bitch."

[Setzer]

Yeah, storywise, it's inferior to the original, but I like the improvements to gameplay.

[Manus Celer Dei]

How long is Bioshock 2 compared the original, longer or shorter?

[Mr Bean]

How long is Bioshock 2 compared the original, longer or shorter?

Longer, feels longer anyway except the final which is vastly shorter.

I guess it's shorter but it does not feel that way. Much like in Bioshock 1 the trip to the great reveal then the 2nd half of the game is the formula.

To put it another way
Bioshock one was
Intro->Medical Pavilion->Neptune's Bounty->Smugglers' Hideout->Arcadia->Fort Frolic->Hephaestus->Olympus Heights->Apollo Square->Point Prometheus->Final


Bioshock 2 is similar except the game ends at Spoiler

Persephone

Which is right around stage eight. So the number of different locations is similar to Bioshock 1 but unlike Bioshock 1 the first six seem to take longer even if there is no last three. There is no Olympus Heights/Apollo Square equivalent you find Lamb, stuff happens. Then more stuff happens then the game ends.

[Manus Celer Dei]

Is there a lot of replay value beyond getting the good/bad endings? The first one didn't have a particularly large amount of character customisation but different builds added a bit of fun to playing through it again, is that still there in Bioshock 2?

[Mr Bean]

Is there a lot of replay value beyond getting the good/bad endings? The first one didn't have a particularly large amount of character customisation but different builds added a bit of fun to playing through it again, is that still there in Bioshock 2?

Not really, the different endings depend on how you deal with the three choices of letting someone live or die. And how you handle the little sisters. More than anything else your ending depends on how the little sisters are handled again.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

There's a little bit more to -do- in each area... but this is mostly Harvesting with the little sisters. Which is extremely formulaic, each one can harvest twice, so there are exactly two corpses for each little sister. This consists of surviving an enemy rush until she fills a little bar. Generally you can trap up the area fairly well and make this easier.

There is an achievement for doing this while not allowing a splicer near the LS AND not taking any damage... But there're a fair number of early rushes that are all melee. So it's not too hard to get with a full load of trap bolts...


For me, it actually felt a LOT shorter... Not the least because the areas don't have near the nooks and crannies to explore... and as a result, I practically stumbled over every last power to the people. (There aren't enough to fully upgrade everything though...)

[Terralthra]

Spoiler

The sequence in which you see through the eyes of the Little Sister, with all their brain-washed conditioning, was profoundly chilling to me.

[General Zod]

Spoiler

The sequence in which you see through the eyes of the Little Sister, with all their brain-washed conditioning, was profoundly chilling to me.

Closer to end game than mid game, though I have to admit that was probably the best sequence in the entire game.