So for starters, the graphics. One disappointing thing i found about the 2nd game was the fact the graphics weren't that much of an improvement over the first, what the first had going for it were some great graphics for its time, promoting a really immersive world and as with newer games its expected the graphics are kicked up a notch. Not to say the game still isn't as atmospheric, it just could have been done better with current technology being leaps and bounds over what was out when the original was released. Though the game is still quite the picture to look at.
The game itself is set 10~(8 to be accurate) years after the events of Jack and the war between Fontaine and Ryan. With both of them dead, its was only a matter of time until another Leader/Tyrant showed up. You play as an Alpha Model Big daddy Named "Delta" on a quest to save the little sister he was bonded to. Now as with the first game, Bioshock 2 is pretty heavily plot driven, with tonnes of diaries to find revealing a lot of back story behind what has happened in the 10 years that has past. However unlike the first, the seconds story would be one "to pull the heartstrings" to say. Throughout the game there is pretty much one focal idea - Save your little sister. As you progress, In a very Deadspace-ish manner i must say, you encounter other big daddies and little sisters, and once again, you are pleaded to by Tenenbaum to rescue the little sisters and are persuaded by another character to harvest them for adam. And once again, depending on your moral decisions within the game you get your choice of 6 different endings, though this time it's not entirely reliant on what you do with the little sisters. There are points in the game were you can either show mercy and compassion or ruthlessness on certain characters that judge the outcomes. Though the game itself isn't much of a ride, its fairly straight forward - this is something i'm not entirely sure whether its a good thing or not. A disappointment i had with this was lack of an endboss, Instead of a antagonist like Ryan/Fontaine in the original, you simply get someone who preaches a whole bloody lot with no power of her own. In the end, its still quite enjoyable and it can give you a good 10 hours so of playtime, more if you intend to collect absolutely everything.
Now for the actual gameplay, its probably the most enjoyable part of the game. Though for the most part it is very similar to the first. As mentioned above, you play as a prototype Big daddy, and of course this means all of those big daddy weapons we encountered in the first game and more along with being able to use plasmids at the same time. Naturally, the first weapon you get is a drill (FUCK YEAR WHO DOESN'T LIKE DRILLS), Which i found immensely fun to use along with the Winters breath plasmid and a few of its upgrades. Another addition, is being able to use little sisters to harvest adam for you. While not entirely necessary, its hella useful to do so but it doesn't come free, you get attacked by waves of splicers. which is great if you're looking for some pretty intense action. though can get quite tedious if you simply want to move on, constant messages saying "there's still little sisters on this level e.t.c" annoyed the heck out of me. There's also the (in)famous hacking game, which was changed in the second to something i found more enjoyable. From that pipe minigame, its turned into a little timed game game where you simply wait for the arrow to hit a green area and press a button to continue. there's also the addition of remote hacking, which i found pretty cool. As for the multiplayer, i haven't really had the chance to play it through yet so i can't really comment on it.
With the enemies, its fairly the same lot you got with the original, except with the addition with big sisters of whom i found to be extremely fun fights. The element of research is still present with the game, though does get quite tedious for some/little gain. You've got your typical Leadhead, thugs, Brutish, spider and houdini splicers along with the mentioned Big Sisters and also an extremely high amount of (prototype) big daddies. Another interesting thing in the game is that there is a section of the game where you play as a little sister. I found amusing even, to see how different the little sisters see Rapture.
All in all, Bioshock 2 is very much worth a play, even more so if you enjoyed the first one. The story is great, incorporating more than simply good, bad or neutral endings, depending on how you act. There's also a fair bit of lore revealed in this game about Rapture which was quite interesting. The gameplay is stunning, I generally don't appraise fps games on the gameplay they offer as most are more or less the same in that aspect, but with Bioshock, it gives you a choice of how you want to play, given the rpg aspect of it. Visually, it wasn't what i expected, though still not bad, could have been done better.
Now I don't particularly like giving ratings to games, i'd rather try and lay out what I enjoyed of the game and let users decide based on what i've said. so no, no ratings.
