Is Bioshock 2 worth playing?

[suitepee7]

Unlike most, I really enjoyed Bioshock 2.
The combat is better (dual wielding, better weapons and plasmids).
The hacking is quicker and does not get tiresome like the first game's.
The enemies are smarter (dodging your shots, taking cover etc.)

I agree the story is weak, however, I thought Bioshock 2's ending was far better than the first's.

anything i say will be a copy of what this guy said. the ending to bioshock 1 was always a bit of a downer for me, but 2 really took into account the many choices you make throughout the game.

however despite everybody saying the story is bad, that's not strictly true. its worse, but that's only because it couldn't live up to the first one. it is still good, and if you head into the game with an open mind there is definitely enjoyment to be had.

 

[Turtleboy1017]

Just finished installing the game on steam, so far so fun!

Thanks for the input.

 

[Erttheking]

As a fellow outsider to the series, from what I can recomend you should only buy 1 of the first two because they're more or less the same. Personally I'm waiting for infine to get me into the series.

 

[Zantos]

You're hardly going to be vilified and exiled if you don't play it, but it's a pretty decent game, definitely worth the £15 I paid for it.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

It's good. I actually liked it better, more personal story. Ignore all the haters. Xmas sales are coming up, well worth the sale price if you're still not sure.

 

[Otaku World Order]

The biggest issue with Bioshock 2's story, for me anyway, is the fact that it takes place ten years after the first. Given that Rapture was already leaking like a sieve in the first game, it should be completely uninhabitable by Bioshock 2.

Other then that, I did find the story interesting and the gameplay has a number of improvements. The moral choices feel more weighty and fit more organically then the first game's "Push A To Save The Children, Push B To Murder Them" system and hacking is less tedious and cumbersome.

For twenty bucks, I say go nuts.

 

[SpaceBat]

The story is awful, the antagonist is horrifyingly bad, the gameplay is even more broken than the first one, the environment has is a copy paste of the prequel and it's simply a bad game. There is nothing the second game does better and there isn't a single reason I could give you as to why you should play this game. Nothing.

Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money on this piece of shit.

 

[Zoe Castillo]

--

 

[Azahul]

Just finished installing the game on steam, so far so fun!

Thanks for the input.

Glad to hear it. Hope you have nearly as much fun as I did.

 

[Treblaine]

I saw the new trailer for Bioshock Infinte, and I gotta say it looks pretty cool. I played the everlasting crap of the first one, got brass balls, ALMOST every tonic, and had tons of fun doing so.

Never got around to the second one though. A simple question, is it worth picking up and playing? It's 20 bucks, not too much, but for those that played it (Bioshock 2) and it's prequal, how do they stack up against each other?

Its very good, gameplay is much refined over the original.

Hard to compare the story but they are definitely on the same level, and goes in quite a different direction. Arguably it has a more robust moral choice system that does not pre-judge your own actions but rather how people react to you.

HIGHLY recommend to any and all Bioshock fans.

 

[vidirg]

Yes it's actually OK. The story is good, it may get a little repetitive but I love the ending.

 

[MercurySteam]

Bioshock 2 is better game in some aspects of gameplay, but that's it. It was not developed by Irrational and it really shows.

Worth playing? Yes? Worth Renting? Yes? Worth buying? If you can find it cheap.

 

[TheOneBearded]

I had a good time with it, poor story aside, so give it a go.

Alone, the story for Bioshock 2 is actually pretty good. The problem is that when you have already played the first game, the characters (except the lunatic from Fontaine Futuristics) feel.....no they are, lackluster. They are the people who should be holding up the story, yet they (some of them) don't do a good job at it. However, in every department, Bioshock 2 did beat the original [weapons, plasmids, enemies, locations, mood (but just barely)].

 

[StarsintheBlood]

The story isn't nearly as good as it COULD have been- see the original story concepts, they were badass. There are plot holes (Yahtzee probably pointed them out) and the atmosphere is WAY more heavy handed and cutesy with the "family" theme than the first one.

But the gameplay is better, and it looks beautiful to me, so I call it worth 20 bucks. God knows I've spent more on worse. Check out the Minerva's Den DLC too- the ending and atmosphere are much more consistent with the first Bioshock than the actual sequel was, in my opinion anyway.

 

[Turtleboy1017]

Finished it . That was a fun way to spend a day!

The story was a little less than the first, but I still liked it. However, I'm kind of pissed that

(Spoiler)

Eleanor didn't stab Lamb at the end. I let Eleanor's adopted mother live, but killed the jerkwad that caused all the problems in the first place. I was hoping that would give me an ending where everything turned out okay, and it did, it's just I wanted to see Lamb die, her being the psycho ***** that she is.

(End Spoiler)

So I had fun with it. Gameplay was great, but it got really easy toward the end when I had control security 3. Always had 2 security bots on me that just made mincemeat out of anything in my way, and I got through the whole game without dying a single time.

EDIT: The only reason I didn't get the ending I wanted was because I accidentally let Alexander live. Damn. I think my game glitched, I was looking for the switch to electrocute him, but nothing came up. His lines begging for mercy also never played, and I just assumed that he was either unkillable or already dead.

 

[soren7550]

I say go for it. The story and locations aren't as good as Bio 1's, but go for the good ending. It was so nice and sweet I almost cried (much like the first one).

Duel wielding is hella fun, as is upgraded plasmids, so that's a plus from one.

 

[Suicida1 Midget]

The story is just kinda crap. But in terms of the horror shooter, its much better than Bioshock. Only bad things i can say about it is, the multiplayer sucks, i hate the linear shooter it is. Everything else it good.

 

[Waffle_Man]

Bioshock 2, as a whole, comes across as a high quality mod or piece of fan fiction.

Id est, it examines some things more closely than it's originator, but throws out some of the more carefully considered and subtle elements in the process.

In terms of combat, it's basically just like Bioshock taken to 11. There are just an absurdly large amount of options, probably about half of them redundant. This makes most of your options seem pointless during the smaller scale fights that existed in the first game, but it really comes to it's own when it starts throwing dozens of splicers or a big sister at you. The end result of this is that combat doesn't hand quite as well in controlled situations, but shines in desperate circumstances. With this in mind, I highly recommend that you play it with vita chambers turned off.

On the other hand, it's largely a theme park version of the first game. It doesn't really have much of a huge twist and it's characters are far less intricate. It doesn't ever really poke or prod any ideas in any interesting ways. Though, to be fair, it does have a couple of (literally, 2) exceptional examples of "showing, not telling" it's story. I won't spoil them here, but you'll know them when they come.

All in all, it seems like it no real reason to exist, and I can't say that gaming isn't better for it, but it definitely isn't worse because of it.

 

[Azahul]

Alone, the story for Bioshock 2 is actually pretty good. The problem is that when you have already played the first game, the characters (except the lunatic from Fontaine Futuristics) feel.....no they are, lackluster. They are the people who should be holding up the story, yet they (some of them) don't do a good job at it. However, in every department, Bioshock 2 did beat the original [weapons, plasmids, enemies, locations, mood (but just barely)].

Really? I saw things the other way around. All the characters in Bioshock excepting Andrew Ryan came across like caricatures instead of characters. There's only so many variations on the "they're all insane, just roll with it" theme before I start to get bored of the whole business. Fontaine in particular...

Bioshock 2, on the other hand, had actual characters. I liked the fact that it established that not everyone in Rapture was a drug-abusing psycho, as it allowed the game to have characters with consistent character traits and goals. I particularly loved the fact that Sinclaire managed to present the evil option without coming across as evil. In the first game, Atlas telling me to rip open a little girl in the pursuit of more power had me quirking an eyebrow and going, "You're a right evil bastard, aren't you?" which kinda screwed the big "twist" that I can't believe people didn't see coming a mile off. Don't get me wrong, I love the first game, but the characters outside of Ryan were not its strong point. Certainly not as good as the ones in the sequel.



Anyway, glad to hear you had fun with it Turtleboy1017. It's a bit of a shame that you came so close to getting the ending that you wanted, but didn't because of a glitch.

 

[TheOneBearded]

Bioshock 2, on the other hand, had actual characters. I liked the fact that it established that not everyone in Rapture was a drug-abusing psycho, as it allowed the game to have characters with consistent character traits and goals. I particularly loved the fact that Sinclaire managed to present the evil option without coming across as evil. In the first game, Atlas telling me to rip open a little girl in the pursuit of more power had me quirking an eyebrow and going, "You're a right evil bastard, aren't you?" which kinda screwed the big "twist" that I can't believe people didn't see coming a mile off. Don't get me wrong, I love the first game, but the characters outside of Ryan were not its strong point. Certainly not as good as the ones in the sequel.

Okay, so the characters in Bioshok 2 were varied and had a cool story to themselves, but what I mean is that they didn't "pull me in" as much as the characters in the first game did. First, you have Andrew Ryan, who, because of Atlas' influence, you see as the bad guy. This makes you want to meet him and ram your wrench down his throat - he also pulls you in with his story and philosophy. Then, we have Atlas, who helps you in the city, and after the submarine "mishap", you grow attached to him even more. Next, we have Tenenbaum, who helped create the little girls and helps you out later in the game after Atlas' "wig" "falls off"(wink wink) (although, she was the person I cared about the least in the game and the sequel). Finally, we have EVERYONE else through a tape recording or encounter. This is what I loved about the first game, you could play the whole game and not know the complete backstory of it. If you wanted to know, you would have to look around for tape recordings. From new visitors to people who had their daughter taken for the "little sisterfication process", every recording could have been its own story.

What do we have in the sequel? A poor black woman. A crazy religious old fart. An asshole of a reporter (just like the real thing) and a stuck up lady that is in dire need of some "hotdog to hole action" (if you know what I mean). The only people I loved were Gil Alexander (the lunatic I talked about) and Sinclair. I saw Sinclair as a friend that cared what happens to me in the city; just like Atlas. With Alex the Great, his story and part in the main story was, to me, one of or the one greatest part of the game. I actually felt sorry for him and what happened to him. This rarely happens to me....ever.

Don't get me wrong! Bioshock 2 is an awesome game. It's just that, in terms of story and characters, it isn't as gripping as the original (however, that mini story with Mark Meltzer and his quest to find his daughter after she was kidnapped by a Big Sister was pretty f**king sweet).

After Fontaine and Ryan, the most memorable character in the original is Sander Cohen. I f**king love that guy!


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