BioShock 2

Available on: Xbox 360, PS3, and PC
Played it on: Xbox 360
Played it for: 30 hours

RATING: 9/10

Summary:
Welcome back to Rapture, ladies and gentlemen! The home of the greatest minds in all the world has been brought back with a vengeance! This time around, however, you aren't the sleeper agent, heroic, prodigal son returned to his father's utopian palace. You are instead, one of the great keepers of the underwater city: an Alpha Series Big Daddy, code-name DELTA. The beginning of the game shows you being forced to commit suicide by a woman named Doctor Sophia Lamb.

Ten years pass, and you find yourself inexplicably alive and well, and in need of finding your Little Sister.

Review:
BioShock likes to stand out. It makes a statement every time it releases a title, saying, "Look at me, world! I'm extremely disturbing, and I don't care!" However, the games have such good plots, and are made so well, that they simply become a good series, no matter how messed up it may be. I never thought in a thousand years that BioShock 2 would be as good as the first one, but I was quite mistaken. In fact, I thought the plot was actually better than BioShock's, as the pseudo-utopia comes more fully to life in the even more destroyed set pieces and ruined psyches of the splicers. DELTA never speaks throughout the game, but your emotions find voice in Eleanor, your now 19-ish Little Sister, who helps you through the course of your journey by giving you gifts and guidance, among other things. You can feel DELTA's pain, anger, and resentment towards Dr. Sophia Lamb as more and more secrets about your past are revealed through various means. It really is a masterpiece of story-telling.

The gameplay is better, too, as the graphics and controls are more refined and flowing in this installment. Hacking is much more difficult, as the game doesn't pause itself mid-combat to hack a turret, and failure to hack correctly leads to the loss of remote hack darts, which are essential tools in a sticky situation. Of course, what you can't hack you can shoot or hit with the 6 other weapons in the game, ranging from the iconic rivet gun and drill to a missile launcher that fires heat-seeking-rocket-propelled grenades. And let's not forget the wide range of usable plasmids in the sequel, which harness the power of the elements much more fully and devastatingly, and can easily disable any robotic opponent. Or living one, for that matter, considering the flames, ice, bees, cyclones, and other assorted punishments you can dish out to splicers are not limited to any one setting. Instead, the choice is yours on what to use and what not to as you get closer and closer to your goal. As much as it tries, BioShock is still an RPG at heart.

But as much as BioShock 2 tries to be better than it's father, the two will both stand hand in hand on the top of the gaming pedestal, showing the world how different an experience it can create for players new to the series, and even to seasoned veterans like myself. In the end, it really stops being BioShock and BioShock 2, and instead simply becomes "Rapture." And now that 2K is releasing their third title in the fall of this year, how will the series be affected by the change of scenery? I look forward to the year ahead.