Slashdot Mirror
BioShock 2 Released
BioShock 2 launched today for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows, ending the wait for a sequel to the original 2007 blockbuster. The events in BioShock 2 take place 10 years after the story from the original game. This time around, players control a prototype Big Daddy in an attempt to overthrow the new leader of Rapture. Early reviews for the game are quite strong, though the developers were prepared for fan backlash over some of the changes they made. The Guardian's Nicky Woolf praises the new storyline, and adds that "there is a fundamentally excellent shooter here too, with some of the best combat dynamics in the business." Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Alec Meer also had good things to say about the combat: "I can't stress this enough – as a game about shooting people, it's very responsive and very rewarding." However, Meer expressed disappointment that some of the impressive new concept art didn't get used and that the story and environment couldn't match the novelty of the original game. "Part of Rapture's great wonder was that it was just believable enough, if you squinted your brain a bit (or a lot), but this lathers on so much wild sci-fi that it's much harder to connect to it. The Sisters are elevated from horrifying genetic/psychological experiment into all-powerful messiah figures capable of pulling any old deus ex machina out of the hat. Making them into so much reduces the power and the sadness of what they are. As a result, the concept feels too exhausted to ever be used again."
Wow, a huge three years between games.
You guys never played Zelda, Metroid, Diablo or StarCraft, have you?
What kind of DRM does the PC version have?
I never bought the first game, due to the draconian DRM. By the time it was eased, there were so many other great games on my list to purchase and play that I never got back around to Bioshock. The end result: They lost my business.
I really enjoyed the first game. It had a lot of new elements thrown into it. Far from being a straight-up shooter, there was quite a bit of exploration required. Some areas reminded me of Thief for the PC. I liked the options to "level up" your character, and the moral choice to harvest / not to harvest the Little Sisters. (Although I didn't realize that it was all-or-nothing with that, so while I only harvested 1 Little Sister [the first one] I got the "bad" ending.)
Graphically, the first game felt a little dated, even at launch. But it was a great example of what a great story and plot arc can do to overcome graphics.
That said, I'm not looking forward to the sequel at all. I'm going to skip this one. Meer reflects the same thoughts I had when I first learned of a Bioshock 2: "Part of Rapture's great wonder was that it was just believable enough, if you squinted your brain a bit (or a lot), but this lathers on so much wild sci-fi that it's much harder to connect to it."
I don't think the follow-up will hold up. Part of that is that too many gamers (like me) would keep comparing a sequel to an original game that was (in many ways) groundbreaking. And it's awfully hard to live up to that.
If it's anything like "rogue" or "nethack" crossed with "tetris" and "super mario" ... I'm ready to play!
Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
What's the story with DRM on this game?
who thought the original was boring?
Hands down, System Shock 2 was better in every way than Bioshock (well, OK, graphically Bioshock is far better but then you'd expect that given the progression of engine abilities).
Most specifically, I like the background of Bioshock BUT the twist in the middle of the story really pissed me off, at least the way they handled it from user interaction. They were going somewhere subtle and then all of the sudden you have no choices (despite supposedly the game being about choice) and a Mu-Ha-Ha villain lacking only a twirly mustache.
That's not to say at some point I will not play Bioshock 2, I just have trouble really putting my heart into it after Bioshock was such a weak game compared to the story and gameplay of System Shock...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
halflife? Prey and Doom are clearly not based on reality, but when i played Halflife that first time, i SWORE i was riding on a train.
>I'm a little bit afraid of the person who thought Bioshock was "believable".
Dunno, obviously the fantastic elements are ridiculous, but there's no shortage of Randians and other nutters looking for some kind of new floating society. The last time I heard about this nuttiness was "The Freedom Ship," kinda a libertarian/randian/right-wing fantasy about living on the seas tax-free (ignoring the massive ship assessment fee of course!). I think its 100% believable to think that fanatics would attempt to try to start their own little society or compound. Religious types seem to do it all the time.
I really couldn't get into BioShock. I had just played Dead Space and they both felt like essentially the same game and same story line. You arrive, transport is destroyed, find yourself thrown into environment overrun with monsters, get your prompts from a "friendly" on the radio, etc. I made it through the first chapter, then quit. Oh, and the sound was annoyingly "off" somehow, maybe not properly mapped to the sprite's distance in the background.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Screw the critics. I love BioShock. The storyline, the drama, the graphics, the subtle all-pervading insanity.
How are deformed mask wearing cannibals subtle? Seems pretty obvious the level of insainty.
"Ooh, the concept appears unbalanced." ... "Waah, it's not as believable as the original." ... You know what? Put down the MacBook and the horn-rimmed glasses, back away from the Frappuccino, slowly, and STFU with all the art-school metaphysical crap.
I fail to see what a Mac Book, coffee products, or the rest of that bigotry has to do with the game.
The original kicked ass, pure and simple. How many other games offer that combination of determination and sadness, beautiful scenery and horrifying monsters, fast action and beautiful cutscenes?
99% of most games. I can't think of a Final Fantasy game for instance that didn't provide everything you just mentioned.
The environments, the puzzles, the music and sound effects - BioShock created an amazing world to rival Alice and Firefly, and engaged the player immediately and completely. Enough plot twists to make M. Night Shyamalan green with envy, culminating with finding out the truth about the voice on the radio, and the awesome "Man Vs Slave" cutscene.
The story is basic and most saw the double cross in the first 5 minutes. Atlas was far too much in the know to be as benign has he claimed to be.
The scenery is standard 30,40,50 thematics used in Fallout and a variety of other post-apocalyptic settings shooting for a Film Noir feel (see Dark City as a good example of the reuse of that era for effect.) I kept waiting for a Pip Boy ad.
The graphical elements were further more a re-use of Jules Vern crap and the Little Sister could be either The Stepford Wives or Village of the Damn. Take your pick. Both rather one dimensional.
The time line is inconsistent with more anacronisms within it's own lore is was barely tolerable.
The degeneration of the Plasmid users was nothing more then a set piece of zombie fantasy. The quickest and CHEAPEST way in a story to detach from conventional society is to use "The Zombie" be it fast running cannibals (28 Days) to the slow lumbering doomwalkers (Night of the Living Dead) they are cheap tools used to remove conventional society (almost as cheap as a nuclear apocalypse) from the world. Add in some uncanny valley-like responses from the audience by keeping them semi-human (rather then 80% rotting we want to unnerve the audience by keeping them 'fresh') for cheap effects.
The character development was non-existent save for a single woman pining over the leader described through audio tapes. Hell Borderlands had twice the character development with just the Tannis character alone.
Don't know about the critics, but I personally have enough faith in the sequel to have pre-ordered it. Especially considering all the bonus stuff that's included. :D
Sadly video games have come a long way in the ability to tell a story... but they have a long way to go. Enjoy it for what it is, a game. It is far from literature that people will be reading\playing in a 100 years...
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
Wow, obviously I meant "games" not "gays". I wish Slashdot had an edit feature. :)
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout. --Robert A. Heinlein
that wasn't THAT obvious :)
Actually M. Night Shyamalan wrote Bioshock 2's script but it was canned after they found out he was one of the masterminds behind 9/11
I fully agree that we should put all these Randroids adrift in the middle of the ocean so they won't be forced to use the roads, military, fire departments and schools they don't want to pay for.
...if they had allowed you to play as a Little Sister, the target of every Splicer, crawling through the ducts for safe transit, popping out here or there to try and drain some Adam from a corpse, scampering around various Big Daddy's for protection (or deliberately drawing enemies to Big Daddys to get them killed), perhaps being able to set traps or sabotage things.
I suppose a scenario like that would've made the game more puzzle-like rather than a shooter, but I think it still would've been pretty interesting to play.