A First Look At Multiplayer In BioShock 2

[Earnest Cavalli]

A First Look At Multiplayer In BioShock 2

[gametrailers=55394]​

Publisher 2K Games has released the first trailer for BioShock 2's multiplayer component, which seems to eschew the original's moody pacing for Quake-esque frantic battles.

Of particular interest in the trailer is the creation of an automatic turret (a la Team Fortress 2), the female character using BioShock 2's Research Camera on a fallen foe and the combined use of plasmids (particularly the bit where one person freezes another, then dashes through them shattering the frozen combatant in the process).

Though many BioShock fans clamored for a multiplayer component, I think they were maybe hoping for something a bit more akin to the actual gameplay in the now-classic shooter. Or, at least, they were hoping for something a bit less like traditional run-and-gun online components than this.

What say you BioShock fans? Are you happy as long as you can use your plasmids or does this Quake-style fighting turn you off?

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[IrrelevantTangent]

Honestly? I trust 2K Games. They were able to make the original Bioshock a wonderful diamond in the rough, and I trust them to be able to make a Bioshock multiplayer experience like no other. It'd be a different story altogether if a different company was working on it, but as I said, I'm confident 2K can do a good job.

On another note, I like the fast-paced gameplay shown in the trailer, and it sounds quite enticing- I just hope the gameplay itself will be recognizably Bioshock-y and not too fast paced or difficult to participate in.

 

[Andy Chalk]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Well... so much for BioShock. I think this just officially became a bargain-bin title.

 

[Legion]

To be honest I didn't really want multiplayer for the following reason:

Any company that creates it always either spends more time on it than they do the campaign so the story is short and not well thought out (Halo 3 and Gears 2 are examples in my opinion).

Or they don't spend much time on it at all and add it just to boost sales as it increases re playability (Turok, Condemned 2 and Tenchu Z, although it was only the connection not the game-play that was the problem with them really).

The video does indeed look too similar to the simple run-and-gun styles of FPS death-matches in general but the plasmids do make a nice twist. Although I can't say that video did the idea any justice.

Like The_Oracle said, 2K made Bioshock turn out as good as it did, so I shall put my faith in them for the moment.

 

[BonsaiK]

I think multiplayer is shaping up to be pretty average. They've obviously gone for "Quake with different weapons" to save development time, but so much more could have been done with the concept. A waste of potential.

 

[Sewer Rat]

It looks pretty good, but I really hope the main campaign doesn't suffer for it.

 

[soulasylum85]

i think it looks great. good thing i already have it pre ordered. i cant wait to return to rapture.

 

[MiloP]

In looks, this looks better in than Modern Warfare 2 in every respect I could ever fathom.
But the Plasmids and ability to jump into a Big Daddy suit have got to cause some balance issues. Still, I'm on board.

 

[Proteus214]

Might be entertaining, but it's nothing we haven't seen before.

 

[Monshroud]

I have to say I am bit worried. As has been stated by others, I too trust 2K Games to maintain the same quality or better for Bioshock 2. My concern is more of a general nature, that being that for some reason companies seem to think there has to be a multiplayer component to a game, and that is just not true. When multiplayer is added you have to either extend your development time or split it. Given the costs to develop these AAA titles, companies tend to split the time and that has a huge impact on the single player campaign, which is what made the game popular in the first place.

That being said, it looks a bit more faster paced than I expected. Using Plasmids could be a fun addition depending how they are balanced and how much EVE you have. If EVE is limited then it could make for some great strategy play, if it is unlimited, I think the games will just turn into people spamming Incinerate, Electro Shock and Freeze. I am kinda interested to see how the camera comes into play though. I had not heard about that before.

 

[MajoraPersona]

I'm just going to interject here:

1. They're having another company manage most of the multiplayer.
2. 2K is, of course, still involved with the multiplayer, there's just a different team working on it.
3. BioShock (and the main story of BioShock 2) take place when Rapture is a dead city. The multiplayer setting is a year or two before the first game, when people were fighting in the streets.
4. They've said that it would be like this since they revealed the multiplayer component months ago.

Only the fact that they have a trailer of the multiplayer mode is either new or exciting.

What remains to be seen is whether or not there's an option to sneak around and still be able to survive/upgrade.

 

[Joshimodo]

To be honest I didn't really want multiplayer for the following reason:

Any company that creates it always either spends more time on it than they do the campaign so the story is short and not well thought out (Halo 3 and Gears 2 are examples in my opinion).

Or they don't spend much time on it at all and add it just to boost sales as it increases re playability (Turok, Condemned 2 and Tenchu Z, although it was only the connection not the game-play that was the problem with them really).

The video does indeed look too similar to the simple run-and-gun styles of FPS death-matches in general but the plasmids do make a nice twist. Although I can't say that video did the idea any justice.

Like The_Oracle said, 2K made Bioshock turn out as good as it did, so I shall put my faith in them for the moment.

Agreed with everything apart from the Gears 2 comment. The story on Gears 2 was better than Gears 1 overall, and the multiplayer was worse than Gears 1.


I wish Bioshock 2 wasn't multiplayer.

Or played as a Big Daddy.

 

[Legion]

To be honest I didn't really want multiplayer for the following reason:

Any company that creates it always either spends more time on it than they do the campaign so the story is short and not well thought out (Halo 3 and Gears 2 are examples in my opinion).

Or they don't spend much time on it at all and add it just to boost sales as it increases re playability (Turok, Condemned 2 and Tenchu Z, although it was only the connection not the game-play that was the problem with them really).

The video does indeed look too similar to the simple run-and-gun styles of FPS death-matches in general but the plasmids do make a nice twist. Although I can't say that video did the idea any justice.

Like The_Oracle said, 2K made Bioshock turn out as good as it did, so I shall put my faith in them for the moment.

Agreed with everything apart from the Gears 2 comment. The story on Gears 2 was better than Gears 1 overall, and the multiplayer was worse than Gears 1.


I wish Bioshock 2 wasn't multiplayer.

Or played as a Big Daddy.

I agree that multiplayer was better on Gears 1, but I wasn't talking about quality but time spent. They changed a lot of things from Gears 1's multiplayer that didn't need changing and because they spent so much time they ended up with a story that's all over the place. Don't get me wrong, the campaign was fun, but the plot was a little shaky.

I'd go into detail but don't want to drag this off-topic.

I agree that Bioshock shouldn't have multiplayer, unless they can make it unique. As for being a Bid Daddy I like it, but hope they keep the storyline as good as the first and don't do anything stupid (like making the Big Daddy somehow get "betrayed" like what happened in the first (in the first it worked, but as a BD it would seem silly)).

 

[Generic_Dave]

I have to say I like the idea, with so much of Bioshock based around Taking place in an abandoned (or nearly) city of Rapture, you kinda forget that it was full of life at some stage, the multi-player looks frantic and fast paced, but when you consider it's supposed to be based during the "Fall" that makes sense, everyone's going nuts and there's tons of plasmid splicer kicking each other senseless. I know you can't tell from the vid, but I'd say the Big Daddy suit is on a (very) short timer, a power up that the game assigns due to certain in game stats, I would hope it's not randomn, or just a case of "knowing" where the suit is.

I can't see this going wrong, and from what I've seen in on-line multi-player, it doesn't matter how "stealthy" or slow paced the action is supposed to be. When you put people into the arenas, a large proportion of the time most people just run around like psychos anyway, so you can't really fault the developers for trying to design something the way it will be played rather than the way they want it to be played.

And as for it "taking away" from the single player, the multi-player was out-sourced (to Digital Extremes) so I don't think we have to worry about that. 2K is focusing on the Single Player (as they should) and Digital Extremes is doing the Multi-player work.

 

[ryai458]

ok people dont seem to know this but the multiplayer part of bioshock 2 is being made by a different company, obviously with input from the original developers.

 

[Baby Tea]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Well... so much for BioShock. I think this just officially became a bargain-bin title.

My thoughts exactly.
The whole ambiance, the dark foreboding deep of Rapture, the hidden perils of the sunken city, has just been pitched into a garbage can. When I played the first one, I rarely ran. I walked meticulously, carefully exploring, looking for those who would be lurking in the shadows to strike, and listening to the distance sounds of the screams and groans of the denizens and dying city alike.

Now people will be running full tilt, bunny hopping all over the place, and practically wiping their asses with any semblance left of the setting of this game. At least the first one was good.

 

[DanielPowell33]

Looks like it can be easily dominated by turrets and big daddies.

 

[ae86gamer]

It looks... ok, but I hope that the main campaign isn't ruined because they felt like they needed to spend more time on the multiplayer.