Review: BioShock 2

Funkysandwich

Contra Bassoon
Jan 15, 2010
759
0
0
Andronicus said:
I still don't know if I'll bother picking this up. If it's more of the same then, while the same is good, I don't think it constitutes shelling out AU$100+ for it. I liked Bioshock one, but I guess I really didn't like it that much. I'm a lot more interested in the locations you get to visit than anything else, but I might as well just check the wiki.

Maybe after a year or so, once it's come down in price a bit, I'll reconsider it.
It'll cost you about AU$75 on steam right now.

Having said that, the only thing I liked about Bioshock was the fact that I know someone called Andrew Ryan. Which was pretty funny.

The rest was a bit bleh.
 

Andronicus

Terror Australis
Mar 25, 2009
1,846
0
0
Funkysandwich said:
Andronicus said:
I still don't know if I'll bother picking this up. If it's more of the same then, while the same is good, I don't think it constitutes shelling out AU$100+ for it. I liked Bioshock one, but I guess I really didn't like it that much. I'm a lot more interested in the locations you get to visit than anything else, but I might as well just check the wiki.

Maybe after a year or so, once it's come down in price a bit, I'll reconsider it.
It'll cost you about AU$75 on steam right now.

Having said that, the only thing I liked about Bioshock was the fact that I know someone called Andrew Ryan. Which was pretty funny.

The rest was a bit bleh.
Good point. Thing is, I usually only use Steam for indie games or older games. If I'm going to pick up something brand new and a little more mainstream, I'd rather pay for something a little more tangible. Besides, I don't think my broadband would cope if I only ever used Steam.

EDIT: Also, hehe, funny about knowing someone called Andrew Ryan. My first name's Andrew and my second name's Ryan. *checks Funkysandwich's location* Err, I don't know you, do I?
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
7,222
0
0
Patroclus said:
I think I would enjoy playing that sometime. But I missed out on the first one, unfortunately. Do you recommend playing through the first Bioshock before the sequel? Or do you think that would somewhat spoil the experience of Bioshock 2 for me?
I do think that playing the first will take some of the shock and awe away from the second, but I also think it will provide context for situations, locations, and characters that ultimately add to the overall experience. In other words, yeah, play the first one first.
 

Patroclus

New member
Sep 28, 2009
55
0
0
Susan Arendt said:
Patroclus said:
I think I would enjoy playing that sometime. But I missed out on the first one, unfortunately. Do you recommend playing through the first Bioshock before the sequel? Or do you think that would somewhat spoil the experience of Bioshock 2 for me?
I do think that playing the first will take some of the shock and awe away from the second, but I also think it will provide context for situations, locations, and characters that ultimately add to the overall experience. In other words, yeah, play the first one first.
okey dokey :) If you recommend playing the first one first then i suppose it is worth the time and effort. Frankly, my main concern has been time, which hasn't been as abundant I would like it to be. My thinking had been that if i can get the whole (or most of) the Bioshock experience in the most recent game, then I would save myself on time and money.

Well, anyhow, thanks for the advice Susan :D
 

Panda Mania

New member
Jul 1, 2009
402
0
0
Yay! ^^ I was so worried it would flop when compared to the first game's brilliance. It sounds like the only thing they've lost is the awe-inspiring novelty. It could be so much worse.

Can't wait to get me some lil' sista co-op and art deco porn. *frowns* don't think about that statement too deeply...
 

Skizle

New member
Feb 12, 2009
934
0
0
Jaredin said:
Looking forwrd to getting this tommorow. It looks as fun as the first one for sure ^^
As much as I want to do this I'm going to have to wait till I finish up Mass Effect 2. Every time I play 2 games at once I end up getting consumed by one of them and end up not playing the other at all. Coincidentally this is what happened when I bought both the original Bioshock and Mass Effect at the same time. In the end I didn't beat Mass Effect until a few days ago.
 

ZippyDSMlee

New member
Sep 1, 2007
3,959
0
0
*activates flame shield*

So did they fixed the simplified sound bite feeling dailog/script from BS 1 and create a more flowing narrative? BS is cliched with a few good bites tossed in here and there, so I am not to worried about things being worse......

So you admit the art deco and shiny turns off error and under development detection eh?

The odds and sods machine was a bit annoying and really not needed since you should trip over or buy ammo 99.999% of the time, it would have been nice that instead of using it for farming/creation but allow for deeper weapon modifications... but I am regressing quickly here...

So they let you drill a LS in the open? sorry I could not help it...hehehehe....ahem, are the LS still indestructible?


You lost me what games have borrowed from BS again? BS tends to do the borrowing.... and frank'en'genre game... er...thing. :p

"Compared to the heart-breakingly perfect narrative design of the original game" lul wut?

The point of a death mechanic is not to kill you but make death a gameplay element...... and I see they fail to even try to do something with it....yet again....

*eyes glaze over as you rave over how pretty rapture is* did they add some vertical levels this time or are they all small and flat again?

Swap out "innovative shooter" with shallow and contrived for what is suppose to be a innovative game please.....
*flame shield implodes turning into a crispy lil furry thing*


*puff puff* and I did keep the rage and loathing away from this post as well >< *turns to ash*
 

JokerCrowe

New member
Nov 12, 2009
1,430
0
0
Zack84 said:
Hmm fanboy love-fest is what I see here. I'd like to know what Yahtzee thinks of Bioshock2. I for one was let down by Bioshock. Sure, I still enjoyed it, the graphics, presentation, voice-acting, etc. were all stellar. Unfortunately, the game was shallower than advertised. What is the point of a game having RPG elements if you aren't actually forced to make decisions on what skills to develop? IN BS you can just go to a machine and swap your abilities at any time. It makes the decisions seem empty and robs the game of replay value.

System Shock 2 will always be the better game in my mind. It's arguably more atmospheric than BS1, and considerably more difficult and therefore more scary. This review only makes me less enthused at the prospect of playing BS2. I'm sure I'd still enjoy it in the end, but it'll leave me pining for something more.

Good job, console-tards. You've won. Franchises once beloved on the PC have now been revamped (stripped down and simplified) for the console generation of drooling frat-boys who can't wrap their minuscule brains around the complex concept of an inventory menu. Blargh!
I would also like to know what Yahtzee thinks, (I don't think he's going to keep me from getting the game though) but I don't understand why so many people think that bioShock was an RPG... it was just a shooter. and did you find all the tape recordings? that made it a very deep experience for me (but I never played System Shock...)

"Console-tards" was a bit uncalled for though.
 
Feb 13, 2008
19,430
0
0
There's the one thing that explains why I won't be getting it unless it's on budget.

The trip into Rapture originally made me nauseous, actually getting outside? No...

*shivers* Damn sealife.
 

Funkysandwich

Contra Bassoon
Jan 15, 2010
759
0
0
Andronicus said:
Funkysandwich said:
Andronicus said:
I still don't know if I'll bother picking this up. If it's more of the same then, while the same is good, I don't think it constitutes shelling out AU$100+ for it. I liked Bioshock one, but I guess I really didn't like it that much. I'm a lot more interested in the locations you get to visit than anything else, but I might as well just check the wiki.

Maybe after a year or so, once it's come down in price a bit, I'll reconsider it.
It'll cost you about AU$75 on steam right now.

Having said that, the only thing I liked about Bioshock was the fact that I know someone called Andrew Ryan. Which was pretty funny.

The rest was a bit bleh.
Good point. Thing is, I usually only use Steam for indie games or older games. If I'm going to pick up something brand new and a little more mainstream, I'd rather pay for something a little more tangible. Besides, I don't think my broadband would cope if I only ever used Steam.

EDIT: Also, hehe, funny about knowing someone called Andrew Ryan. My first name's Andrew and my second name's Ryan. *checks Funkysandwich's location* Err, I don't know you, do I?
Do you live in Australia?

Must be pretty awesome being the evil overlord of your own underwater art-deco city.

Well, until you died, that is
 

Andronicus

Terror Australis
Mar 25, 2009
1,846
0
0
Funkysandwich said:
Andronicus said:
Funkysandwich said:
Andronicus said:
I still don't know if I'll bother picking this up. If it's more of the same then, while the same is good, I don't think it constitutes shelling out AU$100+ for it. I liked Bioshock one, but I guess I really didn't like it that much. I'm a lot more interested in the locations you get to visit than anything else, but I might as well just check the wiki.

Maybe after a year or so, once it's come down in price a bit, I'll reconsider it.
It'll cost you about AU$75 on steam right now.

Having said that, the only thing I liked about Bioshock was the fact that I know someone called Andrew Ryan. Which was pretty funny.

The rest was a bit bleh.
Good point. Thing is, I usually only use Steam for indie games or older games. If I'm going to pick up something brand new and a little more mainstream, I'd rather pay for something a little more tangible. Besides, I don't think my broadband would cope if I only ever used Steam.

EDIT: Also, hehe, funny about knowing someone called Andrew Ryan. My first name's Andrew and my second name's Ryan. *checks Funkysandwich's location* Err, I don't know you, do I?
Do you live in Australia?

Must be pretty awesome being the evil overlord of your own underwater art-deco city.

Well, until you died, that is
Hehe, I live in Melbourne :)

Yeah, the whole dying thing was a bit of a setback in my education, but it's nice that 2K decided to make a game chronicling my life achievements, even if I don't quite remember them...
 

capacollo

New member
Nov 17, 2009
352
0
0
Russ Pitts said:
Chipperz said:
Out of interest, what's the multiplayer like? I love the idea of creating my own splicer and then fighting for dominance in a setting as awesome as Rapture...
We'll be publishing a multi-player review shortly, once Jordan has had some time with the game.
I may have missed it in the review how long is a typical single-player campaign last? As well how is the story line in your opinion?
 

messy

New member
Dec 3, 2008
2,057
0
0
Crimson_Dragoon said:
Liked the first one and am glad to hear the second is just as good.

On a related tangent, am I the only one that noticed they included a score (4 out of 5 stars) at the bottom. That's new for their reviews and I'm not sure I like it. I always respected the Escapist for not putting in an arbitrary score (which people will just argue over).
Finally someone else noticed; seriously why the scores? I thought the escapist argued that converting a complex opinion into numbers was just pointless.
 

BrotherRool

New member
Oct 31, 2008
3,834
0
0
bladeofdarkness said:
is it just me
or does anyone else feel like the phrase "area defense" is a euphemism for "escort mission" ?
NO!

Escort missions are the bane of a any gamer because of the idiotic AI but most of all the idiotic PATHfinding AI and having to stumble through an area at a different pace than you're comfortable with because of some stupid NPC.

Area defence can be bad, but not escort mission bad.
 

comadorcrack

The Master of Speilingz
Mar 19, 2009
1,657
0
0
Not sure I get what your problem with the Voice acting is there Russ.
You used Sinclair because he's a Stereo typed southerner. But its worth noting that pretty much every character in bioshock Has been a stereo type.

Atlas. Stereotypical Irishman
Fontaine. Stereotypical Gangster who says "Mother Goose"
Tenenbaum. Stereotypical German Maid
etc etc
 

Soren91

New member
Jul 27, 2009
192
0
0
I just bought the game and so far this review is very accurate. Bioshock 2 feels a lot like the first one and that's fine for me because I loved the first game to death.
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
7,222
0
0
Ok, having played through more of the game, I finally figured out the best way to describe BioShock 2.

Ok, remember what the later levels of BioShock were like? After you were used to Rapture and Splicers and audio diaries, and the whole rest of it? Levels like Apollo Square and Hephaestus (which I have undoubtedly just spelled wrong). That's what BioShock 2 feels like. It's BioShock, minus the ZOMG of having just discovered this new and wonderful environment.

Make of that what you will.