Well, it’s February 9th and 2k Marin’s sequel to the 2007 Game of the Year, Bioshock, has been released. How has Rapture fared during the decade between titles? What’s all this about multiplayer? How have the mechanics changed? Will I ever look at the box art the same ever again? Well, having picked up the game at midnight and spent several hours with it, I’ll be happy to answer most of these questions.
The intro of the second title in the series finds the player controlling Subject Delta, a Big Daddy with little to no memories of his past. Delta wakes up a decade after the events of Bioshock to the voice of familiar secondary character Brigid Tenenbaum. It seems over the last 10 years, things have been getting even worse in Rapture. For those familiar with the shit/fan levels of discord in the first title, one can imagine that the city is pretty biblically boned. Thanks to the atmospheric Big Daddy suit, you’ll be able to wade through the damaged and submerged portions of Rapture, as well as a few trips out to the ocean floor, allowing you to gain some pretty awe inspiring vistas of the underwater metropolis.
One new feature that was never introduced in the first title is the multiplayer mode. Fans of FPS mainstays like Call of Duty and Halo will find a lot of familiar mechanics here. Individual Loadouts can be arranged to combine a vast number of weapons, plasmids, and gene enhancers for your character. These weapons and plasmids are unlocked by gaining experience, or ADAM in this case.
ADAM is acquired through many different means. Hacking a gun turret to only target your opponents will earn you ADAM, not to mention giving you an advantageous position on the field. Killing your opponents and then researching their corpses to gain a damage boost against them will also earn ADAM. ADAM can even be collected in vials which are spawned only once in areas all over the maps detailed environments and secret passages. All of these things combine to force the players to stay moving around the field in order to take advantage of opportunities to gain ADAM.
There are several different modes of play, including renditions of Free-for-all, Team Deathmatch, Territories, and Capture the Little Sister. All of these game types feature the 1959 Civil War between Atlas and Ryan, with the player fighting on the side of one of the charismatic would-be-Rulers of Rapture. The whole experience is wrapped up in a stylish hub where your character can change weapon loadouts, costumes, and listen to audio journals from the main characters as they fight through this Civil War. Everything blends together to create a multiplayer experience that feels more like a canonical account of the civil strife going on in Rapture during the actions of the first Bioshock title. The multiplayer experience is innovative and easily on par with many of the other popular multiplayer titles out right now.
My only issue with the feature so far has been a small margin (approx. 5-10%) of matches which were cripplingly laggy. I’m sure this could merely be the rush on the servers for being the first day of release, or an early bug that will be quickly resolved. Time will tell, but for now I think that the inconvenience is minor enough to ignore for the sake of such a fresh multiplayer dynamic.
One of the other main differences in the first two titles is the ability to dual-wield plasmids and weapons. This allows players to execute a quick left trigger freeze plasmid followed by a right trigger shotgun blast moments later, causing the splicer on the receiving end to shatter into pieces. The hacking mini-game has been replaced as well, with focus on mid-combat hacking being a very viable option. Instead of completing series of tubes, you’re now tasked with stopping a moving needle on green zones instead of red zones. The rest of the action will not be paused however, requiring you to dive into cover in order to turn a sentry gun against your enemies.
All things considered, I think the game is innovative enough to warrant some more accolades to be piled onto 2K Marin’s titan shoulders. It remains to be seen if and when the lag issues will be dealt with, so unless you’re the type that doesn’t mind the occasional setback, you may want to wait a bit before dropping any money on the title. Otherwise, I think the innovative multiplayer is more then ample enough to warrant a solid regret-free purchase. One more thing, if you can still manage to get the swag-riddled Collector’s Edition, don’t make my mistake of missing out on it. Buy the damn thing, the multitude of goodies are more than worth the cash.
Thank you for putting this up I just have one question what is the difference between the special edition and the normal edition? The reason why im asking this is because I bought the normal edition and im getting a second chance to exchange it for the special edition. So what is your answer should I get it or not?
By all means, exchange it. If you can, exchange my copy as well =P The difference is a lot of extra swag. Some expertly designed Rapture-style advertisements, an art book, a vinyl LP of the soundtrack for the original Bioshock. Just a whole bunch of goodies.