Comments on: Review: BioShock 2

By: James Freeman

James Freeman — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:50:51 +0000

Just beat the game, nice review although I probably would have bumped it up to an A for one simple fact:

The good good good ending brought a tear to my eye.

By: SkubaPatr0l

SkubaPatr0l — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:12:46 +0000

I think this was FAR better gameplay wise. I wasn’t that impressed by the first Bioshock’s combat but this? Absolutely fantastic.
On the topic of scares, I thought the first one was a little creepy and I agree with Anthony that the decision to go straight to the action (the game’s main strength) was the better move. There were however some great tense moments which stood out probably due to how uncommon and well designed they were. The one that stands out for me was in one of the ‘Fontaine’s Little Sister’s Orphanage.’ Genuinely creepy.
Almost forgot to mention, great review! Well worth the read. I would have given it an A, but I see where you saw flaws.

By: JJ

JJ — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:03:52 +0000

Oh, also, just to clarify – although the start of the first one was especially scary, I remember that feeling continuing throughout.

A late-in-the-game scene where concrete-covered splicers suddenly come alive and start attacking you stands out verrrry clearly in my memory.

The sequel is basically never particularly scary, but ultimately you realize that isn’t such a big deal because it’s a lot of fun to play.

By: glebe

glebe — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:58:07 +0000

They could have made the start scary or disturbing without directly copying the first. The first starting was scary cause it was new, but in this one you could have been walking around with the Big Sister terrorizing you and maybe killing a Big Daddy really easily in a shadow scene. But i’m easier to scare than most people.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:17:43 +0000

Well, I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. Dead Space scared the bejesus out of me, and that’s completely action packed from the very start. If they had really wanted to amp up the tension, it would totally have been achievable.

I agree but my point was they tried something different. There was a lot of pissing and moaning about even making a sequel, so they probably wanted to avoid directly copying the first game’s opening.

By: JJ

JJ — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:37:46 +0000

Well, I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. Dead Space scared the bejesus out of me, and that’s completely action packed from the very start. If they had really wanted to amp up the tension, it would totally have been achievable.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:34:57 +0000

JJ, great review, I am slowly playing this right now.

One thing I want to mention is the difference in the start of the two games: the 1st one, like you said, creeped you out.

but now, you are ready, so why bother? Dropping you into the action makes more sense. if they had tried to creep you out, you would be bored, wondering why they were repeating themselves.

A small point, but one I felt the need to address.

By: Julez

Julez — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:44:45 +0000

The only answer would be better graphics if you have a gorgoues PC. I’d probably use a gamepad to play GTAIV when in car, because driving with WSAD really sucks.

But with a game like Bioshock, I don’t know anyone with a PC that would use a 360 controller. It’s nice to hear they addressed this issue.

By: JJ

JJ — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:51:46 +0000

The problem was it was a terrible port from the console versions, so the mouse look was damaged.

Apparently the controls and UI for the PC version of BioShock 2 were designed specifically for the mouse and keyboard and a gamepad can’t even be used to play.

For some reason this ticked some people off, which doesn’t make sense to me – if you insist on playing with a gamepad, why aren’t you playing on a console?

By: Julez

Julez — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:01:23 +0000

Great review. I’m right at the end of the first game, which is my 3rd time trying to finish it (I’ve uninstalled it twice before). The problem was it was a terrible port from the console versions, so the mouse look was damaged. This time through, I found a walkthrough about editing the gamefiles to fix the mouse, and the game is much more enjoyable to say the least.

Can’t wait to get to the end and load up the second game.