BioShock 2 Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 4/8/2023)

[Image from glitchwave.com]

BioShock 2

Developer: 2K Marin

Publisher: 2K Games

Genre(s): First-Person Shooter

Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3

Release Date: February 9, 2010

With BioShock being a smashing success in gaming’s most seminal year of 2007, the prospect of a sequel was inevitable. However, from an artistic standpoint, it was argued that there was no stone unturned in Andrew Ryan’s idyllic, decayed dystopia of Rapture after the events of the first game. Via the perspective of Jack, the player scrounged about the drowned metropolis and uncovered the full extent of its biblical downfall and the context of Jack’s personal placement in the lore of its ghastly history. A substantial factor in the effectiveness of the sublime underwater setting was the sense of mystique that unraveled once the player progressed through its withered, neon-lit corridors. Jack was forced through the most circuitous means of exiting Rapture, hence why the player most likely should’ve gained a learned experience of the Rapture during the ordeal. Since we’ve already been given the grand tour of Rapture (albeit in the least welcoming way imaginable), why would 2K feel the need to grace us with yet another excursion around the city? Money: the short answer is money. Like any other acclaimed release, 2K wanted to take advantage of BioShock’s overwhelming commendation while the iron was still hot, even if releasing a sequel conflicted with the core of why everyone was commending the game. “BioShock is a work of art”, a summation of the game’s exceptional quality written so frequently that putting the conclusive blurb in quotes is meant to highlight its enigmatic ubiquity. While BioShock was not the first video game that featured plot twists and notable philosophical constructs interwoven in the fabric of its world and narrative ethos, it benefited greatly from being designed as a first-person shooter during the genesis point of the genre’s time in the commercial limelight. To the masses, BioShock was something of a high-brow FPS game, even if immersive sim veterans that played System Shock knew that the game was lacking in the gameplay depth department compared to its PC predecessor. Still, BioShock’s accolades were deserved on the merit of its world-building, lore, and storytelling, three aspects that a sequel usually fails to retain its impact because it uses all of the strengths of the first game as an easy crutch. The only way that BioShock 2 could prove its worth as a sequel is by offering an experience that was radically original, and it certainly didn’t do that.

Firstly, BioShock 2 fails to inspire any new sense of awe and intrigue because its setting is still Rapture. The sunken society already went through the rigor mortis process before Jack arrived, and his frenzied adventure through this corpse of a city abused its dilapidated foundation to the point where it’s unrecognizable. BioShock 2 revisits this dead metropolis with a similar sense of shamelessness as a necrophiliac, defiling all notions of a once marvelous spectacle for the sake of familiarity. However, the developers have pulled what Team Silent did for subsequent visitations to Silent Hill in that franchise's sequels to keep the freshness in using the same setting. BioShock 2 features a whole new slew of levels conveniently districted off from each area from the first game. We thought the ones from the first game provided a detailed crash course history into the lore of Rapture, but each area of BioShock 2 attempts to expound on the underwater civilization’s history even more. “Siren Alley” is Rapture’s red-light district and considering all the women of the night here are gnarly, gangly Splicers with most of their teeth and skin missing, it erases any arousal associated with its implications. The outer area of the Persephone district is a high-security prison to hold Rapture’s criminally insane and their political malcontents, while the exterior of the area is a hospital designated for those prisoners. “Fontaine Futuristics” is the heart of the first game’s main antagonist lucrative plasmid operation, and “Ryan Amusements” is a propagandist amusement park meant to deter Rapture’s children from the “horrifying” surface world while they take part in carnival merriment. In reality, this level I mentioned sounds more interesting on paper than it really is in execution. These new districts of Rapture comprise areas that have intriguing premises, but they lack the gravitas of those from the first game. Compare “Dionysus Park” to “Fort Frolic,” two areas with a similar connection to Rapture’s artistic endeavors, and the former falter on all fronts. Sander Cohen’s theatrical monument of his madness was a distinctive destination that encapsulated me and most others with its majestic, yet unnerving spectacle. Even for the other areas that weren’t as explicitly dominated by one of Rapture’s forsaken figures, their presence was still a driving force in the area they occupied. This area’s significance is explained by Sofia Lamb or Sinclair signaling in exposition to the player, which is the same for every other area in BioShock 2. The game’s progression is as tied down to further the story as a titanium anchor, and the fact that a one-way transit system is a vehicle to travel to these places without ever returning to the previous area. BioShock 2 doesn’t let the player breathe and let the oppressive atmosphere of Rapture weigh on them like the pressure of roaming around the ocean floor should feel. It’s a shame considering all of these new levels had the potential to be delved into more thoroughly.

BioShock 2 may take place years after the events of the first game, but the plot conflict the story is centered around was catalyzed a few years before Jack’s eventful plunge. BioShock 2’s protagonist is a Big Daddy, but not one of the lumbering, moaning tanks seen in the first game. “Delta” is a prototype Big Daddy that is taller and more limber than his bulkier counterparts, and his claim to fame is being the first of his kind to form a bond with a Little Sister as her violent protector. On New Year's Eve 1958, Delta is forced to provoke his wrath on a group of Splicers who thirst for the delectable ADAM that his Little Sister houses. During the scuffle, a stern-looking bespectacled lady somehow possesses the will to force this scuba-geared brute to submit to kill himself by shooting himself in the head with a pistol, with his Little Sister looking on in complete shock and horror. Nine years later, Delta reawakens from his decade-spanning coma from the power of another Little Sister, and his mission is to reunite with his original Little Sister by turning over every nook and cranny in Rapture.

The introduction sets the scene for the whole game effectively enough, but there is a Big Daddy-sized elephant in the room pertaining to the source of the game’s conflict. Sofia Lamb, BioShock 2’s main antagonist, is not simply Eleanor’s jilted mother saving her daughter from the twisted Little Sister system that besets so many of Rapture’s female youths. She’s as crucial a figure in Rapture’s history as Andrew Ryan and Frank Fontaine, or at least the game would have you believe she is. In fact, she’s been appointed the leader of Rapture after Jack bludgeoned its founder with a golf club and also ousted the competitor that led him to do so , so one can infer that she’s been lurking around Rapture’s flooded corners for quite some time. The game will have us convinced that Sofia Lamb didn’t need to make her presence in the first game due to her being irrelevant to the power struggle between Ryan and Fontaine, even if she managed to plant herself on the throne at her utmost convenience smoothly. However, in a game whose setting is given context through the lore journals of the figures that built and broke Rapture, one would think that a person among the essential elder statesmen would at least be mentioned once in the first game. Hell, the southern Sinclair and esteemed scientist Gil Alexander, two prominent characters in BioShock 2, are spoken of in the first game’s audio logs if one pays close attention. The developers obviously shoehorned in the game’s primary villain that they conjured up on the spot when a sequel was announced. Any character even whispered as a footnote in the first game could’ve been a suitable main antagonist, elucidating more on Rapture’s history that could have center-stage prominence in a sequel. As an antagonist regardless of her sudden appearance, Sofia Lamb in the position of the city’s ruler doesn’t evoke the same sense of omniscient dread as Andrew Ryan did. I guess a city formulated by philosophies of utilitarianism doesn’t spell out the same harrowing potential of Ryan’s objectivism.

Either that or BioShock’s atmosphere doesn’t exude the same feeling of overwhelming dread because playing as a Big Daddy compromises on that “stranger in a strange land” perspective that marked Jack’s adventure. Using Resident Evil as a prime example, controlling someone of a stronger disposition than the average Joe tends to reduce all of the horrors into cannon fodder for their eclectic arsenal. However, the player will find that playing as Delta isn’t too dissimilar to playing as Jack. The additional weight of a Big Daddy’s suit is not a gameplay detriment, and that fish-eye lens of the scuba helmet that clogged the player’s peripheral vision in that climactic section of the first game is only visible in the corners. The player has the option to remove any trace of the helmet from their view in the game’s menu. Many of the same weapons that Jack used to defend himself from the ADAM-addled Splicers return for Delta, but seemingly only the high-octane ones that blaze through enemies in seconds. The machine gun, the shotgun, and the explosive launcher cement their roles as the most effective tools of destruction. The crossbow has been refashioned as a spear gun with its own alternate ammo, and Big Daddy’s trademark industrial-strength arm drill has replaced the piddly wrench as the melee weapon. The only new and unique addition to the armed, steampunk collective is the Rivet Gun, which functions as a nail gun with the power to kill a gorilla if being shot at by the Rosy variant of Big Daddys from the first game didn’t already make that clear enough. If the surprisingly swift movement of playing as a Big Daddy doesn’t immerse the player into the role, the reduction of all the “wuss weapons” that Jack carried around, along with the redundant Chemical Thrower, will make the player feel practically impervious. My only wish is that the developers could’ve brainstormed some new plasmids to diversify the methods of Splicer murder. Adding only the Drill and Rivet Gun to the selection of weapons may seem sparse, but the developers didn’t even bother to implement new ones into the mix, and only omitted the handy “Sonic Boom” plasmid. The only smidge of difference is combining the “Enrage” and “Hypnotize Big Daddy” plasmids for a minute quality of life enhancement. Still, I surely thought that a Big Daddy would possess some unique plasmid types to use.

BioShock also brings many other quality-of-life improvements to the table that makes the gameplay much smoother and more accessible. If the game insists on wearing the first game’s identity like a heated space blanket, then the developers should at least improve on the first game’s nitpicks with the advantage of hindsight that comes with a direct sequel. While a Big Daddy does not have a varied range of new plasmids at his disposal, one thing he can do beyond Jack’s capabilities is dual-wield the plasmids and firearms in combat. Gone are the days of alternating between both arms, using the elemental forces as supplementary means of support to blasting enemies with a barrage of bullets and explosives. Charging up “Electro-Bolt '' or “Incinerate” to deal with a chain reaction like Delta is The Emperor from Star Wars or a fire-breathing dragon is satisfyingly deadly. Hacking the water-damaged machines scattered around Rapture only requires a reaction-time intensive mini-game, and accurately timing the compass needle on the blue and green bars will generously reward the player with free items along with the manual discount. Delta’s toolkit also comes with a remote hacking weapon that shoots a dart from a distance to trigger the hacking mini-game, which of course is convenient for dealing with security cameras and turrets. As someone who didn’t mind connecting the pipes in the first game, I still can’t deny that the simpler, streamlined approach that doesn’t completely halt the game’s pacing is objectively better. The research camera that took informative polaroids of enemies has been upgraded to the 20th century with a film camera that directs the targeted enemy for a short time and grades the player on their methods of disposal. Film in this camera also can’t be exhausted, so the player is no longer required to buy film at a dispensary. Quality of life improvements are indisputably the quintessential perk of BioShock 2, yet the developers still forgot to add any consequence to dying. The Vita-Chambers will continue to resurrect the player without even requiring a small fee for their troubles. The enemy that knocked the player to the ground will now have a small amount of their health replenished, but this can be easily reduced.

If you couldn’t infer from BioShock 2’s plot premise, the Little Sister and Big Daddy dynamic that the player had the option to entertain in the first game is front and center in the narrative. Despite his role as a Big Daddy, Delta is still faced with the same opportunities to free the young girls from the clutches of his peers or reduce them to nothing but their coveted cores similar to Jack. One core difference this optional mechanic presents as opposed to Jack is that Delta can adopt a Little Sister before exercising them and dropping them off at the pipelines in the walls, or at least if they are inclined not to harvest them. The Little Sister will adorably ride on Delta’s shoulder like a little girl would do with an adult parental figure, and it’s adorable. Still, I wish they would refer to me as “Mr. B” like all the other Big Daddys instead of “Daddy” because of the eerily kinky implications. Porn has done a number on my brain, I tell ya. More so than a prop or trophy, carrying around a Little Sister gives Delta the opportunity to gather more ADAM from a select number of corpses strewn across the map. The process mirrors that of the climactic point of the first game when Jack posed as a Big Daddy, with Splicers ambushing the poor girl and killing her on sight. However, this is much more manageable because the player can prepare before setting the Little sister down to go to work on the body. I consider this voluntary excursion to be another quality-of-life improvement because the game doesn’t punish me for my moral decision to save the Little Sisters, and the much-needed high quantity of ADAM for tonics and plasmids can be supplemented through this action.

The types of Splicers, along with the weapons, have been somewhat reduced. Apparently, this district of Rapture encompasses the territory of the Leadhead and Houdini Splicers, with the new addition of the hulked-out Brute Splicer to charge at Delta and throw debris at him. Alpha Series Big Daddys will appear later in the game as hostile enemy types without the accompaniment of a Little Sister, and they’re much less resilient than the advanced models we are used to fighting. Each of these enemies still invades the dank halls of Rapture’s remnants, but the variation is a little lacking. The one standout new enemy type that strikes fear in the hearts of the player as the Big Daddies do is the Big Sisters: the gender-swapped, lankier version of the Big Daddy. One of these deep-sea ladies kidnaps the Little Sister that resurrected Delta at the beginning, and confronting her is not a facile duel. In fact, I’d say that the Big Sisters are much more formidable foes than their male counterparts due to their lightning-fast agility along with hitting Delta like a Mack truck. After the first encounter with one, they’ll keep appearing after Delta saves every Little Sister in an area, signaled by a shriek so shrill that it blurs the screen. I don’t understand why the Big Sisters insist on attacking me after I liberate the Little Sisters from their possessed state of being, considering that they are adult versions of Little Sisters themselves. I never chose to harvest a single Little Sister in my playthrough, so perhaps they attack Delta whether or not he exhibits strong moral fiber. Maybe the Big Sister can’t help but be hysterical (that’s the game being sexist, not me).

Speaking of adult Little Sisters, the game’s plot really begins to unfold as soon as Eleanor makes her first contact with Delta after their ten-year-long hiatus. We learn of Delta’s origin as he was forced to become a Big Daddy when Andrew Ryan intercepted the suspicion that he was a spy from the surface world. The tip-off came from a Rapture lothario named Stanley Poole, who the player has the choice of killing or sparing out of forgiveness upon learning this revelation. It’s important to keep choices like these in mind because they directly affect the outcome of the six possible endings. Once Delta finally makes his way to Eleanor’s chamber, Sofia Lamb severs their bond by smothering Eleanor with a pillow, thus rendering Delta unconscious as a result. Eleanor sends another Little Sister to Delta’s rescue once again and after he regains consciousness. The duo reunites with Eleanor now donning the age-appropriate Big Sister outfit, and Delta can sic her on Splicers and the Alpha series Daddies with one of the only new plasmids that the game offers. Sinclair, the man who has been directing Delta towards the course of freedom, is transformed into a Big Daddy by Sofia Lamb and must be disposed of to stop Delta and Eleanor from using his escape pod. A tenacious Sofia Lamb floods the area and leaves Delta mortally wounded as a result. This final resolution in the narrative can ignite a myriad of different possibilities. As mentioned before, not only will saving the Little Sisters coincide with how the game resolves, but there are also three notable figures involved. Naturally, the bad ending in which a spurned Eleanor leaves with your powers out of spite occurs when you do nothing but harvest the Little Sisters. The good ending involves Eleanor preserving Delta’s consciousness for a lifelong bond between them, and the neutral ending is a more complicated mix of leaving Delta behind as he dies. The choices to spare the lives of Grace, Stanley, and Gil factor in whether or not Eleanor kills a drowning Sofia. The multitude of different outcomes depending on the player’s actions are far more intricate than the narrow few offered in the first game, so the stodgy critics no longer have to worry about dying of ludonarrative dysentery.

Ultimately, the substance of the plot in a BioShock game stands on pointing out the hypocrisy of the Rapture’s current leader as a scathing critique of a real-world philosophy. Sofia Lamb’s ideologies may not be as insane as Ryan’s, but she’s anything but benevolent. Her stern, schoolmarm iciness makes Nurse Ratched seem like a barrel of laughs. It’s the way that she conducts her means of utilitarianism that makes her a hypocrite. Actually, her views fall under the umbrella of a more severe ideology known as collectivism. Her whole prerogative for severing the ties between Eleanor and Delta was so she could keep Eleanor in close reach to use her as a machine for something referred to as “Utopia.” She finds nothing wrong with torturing Gil Alexander or Sinclair, or potentially killing her own daughter under the guise of her actions being for the good of the general population. It’s incredibly transparent that all she’s doing is for herself. Giving the Little Sisters their freedom as Delta infuriates her, for it exceeds her comprehension of a Big Daddy having his own free will to choose and allow the girls to escape the ADAM-driven hive mind that she desperately wishes to control. Even the antithesis of Ryan’s laissez-faire approach is shown to be the opposite side of the same coin, with one individual dominating over everyone else.

BioShock did not need a sequel, or at least it didn't from an artistic standpoint. BioShock 2 still sold like hotcakes because that is what the developers set out to do with their hot FPS trailblazer. I should lambaste BioShock 2 for merely existing as a product of capitalist opportunity, but I can’t criticize a game too harshly for its intentions. After all, every sequel is an inherent means to reap the benefits of popularity while they still can. BioShock 2’s problem is that the developers did an insultingly little amount to discern it from the first game. I’ve seen identical twins with more genetic variation than in BioShock 1 and 2. One could make the argument that Bioshock 2 is a better game from a mechanical standpoint, and I might be inclined to agree based on the number of admirable quality-of-life improvements. Still, I also can’t commend BioShock 2 for including these as its point of substance, for it’s all minuscule in the grand scheme of things. BioShock 2 couldn’t surpass the aesthetic and atmosphere, nor the gripping story of the first game, and that’s what made its predecessor a gigantic hit. Unfortunately, BioShock 2 cannot blossom under the shadow of the first BioShock, but it seems like it always wanted to be shadowed by it in the first place.