On the shocks

As always, I am rather late with my review of the recently released sequel to 2007's critically acclaimed first person RPG/Shooter hybrid, Bioshock.

Looking back, Bioshock was a pretty huge deal when it launched in December of '07. While it's true that it borrowed very heavily from Looking Glass Games' now ancient System Shock 2, it was still a huge breath of fresh (if somewhat fishy) air in the tired FPS genre. The stand-out feature of Bioshock was the beautifully crafted storyline that dealt with such contentious issues as objectivism, political extremism and the nature of free will. Also, you could shoot bees out of your hand.

Starting out in Bioshock 2, many things are immediately familiar; Rapture is just as beautiful and claustrophobic as it was in the first game, and the pacing and plot progression (driven by radio messages and audio tapes from the city's dead inhabitant) also follow a similar pattern. In sticking so closely to Bioshock's style and pacing, BS2 has understandably drawn criticism that it doesn't really try anything new, and it is a bit of a shame considering how fresh and imaginative the original game was.

That said, Bioshock 2 has a great deal to recommend it. The plot may not be quite as compelling (due in no small part to the absence of the ego-maniacal Andrew Ryan), but it does the best it can to patch together a compelling narrative. Things do take far too long to get going, but unlike Bioshock it maintains its momentum past the halfway mark and ultimately builds to a far more satisfying conclusion.

The combat has received a much needed overhaul and is a significantly more tactical, visceral and enjoyable experience. As a big daddy you'd expect to be tougher and it does a good job of giving a satisfying sense of weight and power to your actions. The plasmid system has also been overhauled, with more interesting powered-up varieties that can be combined in a variety of hilarious and deadly ways.

Needless to say, if you loved the first game as much as me, then grabbing a copy of Bioshock 2 is a no-brainer.