5/5 ★ – Xelstrin's review of BioShock® 2.

Since its release back in 2010, I've had a weird love/hate relationship with Bioshock 2. On one hand, the game did quite a few things to improve upon the original, which was, and still is, my absolute favorite game of all time. On the other are a couple irritating things that, even after doing 7 complete playthroughs, still have me shaking my head with gritted teeth. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗜 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗡𝗶𝘁𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘀. [𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘆] ✪ Bioshock 2 gets playing as a Big Daddy right, which, to me, is its finest accomplishment. There was never a moment where I felt like less than a big, genetically modified super dad, willing and able to keep his little girls safe from a cult of corrupted addicts. Enemies felt appropriately aggressive, their tactics made sense for the threat they were facing and the power crawl is satisfying. Assuming you play your cards right, you will continue getting stronger as you progress, which is how being a Big Daddy who can think for himself *should* feel. In addition to this, he's no Jack, but the mystery behind Subject Delta and how he fits into the world's lore is my favorite storyline in the game. It's a shame Sofia Lamb and her nonsensical schemes were so much louder. ✪ While on the subject of being a super dad, Little Sisters have been improved in every possible way. When I'm not enjoying their quips in response to my combat choices, or how great of a Daddy I am simply for carrying them around, I'm having fun fighting off waves of Splicers to make sure their precious little heads remain unscathed. If you're somehow not fond of having Little Sisters gather ADAM, you can skip these segments entirely by taking them straight to a Vent, or you can simply do one defense segment instead of the two that are suggested. All you'll miss out on is the chance to become a bit *too* powerful, and of course a few achievements, if you care about that kind of thing. ✪ Combat is the same delicious entrée we had in Bioshock 1, with a couple new sides and a tasty dessert. The sides include our ability to use plasmids and weapons at the same time, more Tonic slots, Plasmid upgrades that allow you to mix them up a bit better and a dedicated melee option. The dessert is a complete overhaul of the hacking systems present prior. You could hack cameras, turrets and security bots before, but now you can do so from a distance thanks to the Hacking Tool. You even unlock Auto Hack bullets eventually, taking Hacking from a strategic way of manipulating the map to a faster paced way of getting and keeping an advantage. Depending on your Tonics, you can even heal your robot companions and give them names. ✪ One thing I wish the original Bioshock had were more moments with oldies music playing in the background. Bioshock 2 not only does this much more often, but they allow a few of the songs to loop instead of just playing once, then leaving you with the unsettling ambiance of the world around you. What makes this better is how each of the songs were carefully selected, matching the current vibes for the area you're in or what you're experiencing in the story. Bioshock Infinite kind of does this too, but you mostly have to go out of your way to experience those moments. Bioshock 2 holds them right to your ears. ✪ Bioshock 2's cast isn't always likable, especially Sofia Lamb, who I despise even beyond her character, but they're at least interesting enough to make the game feel a bit more alive than the original did. They also help Bioshock 2 be the only game in the series where it feels like your choices actually matter, and you, as the player, get to question what is morally correct or not. There's a lot more going on than simply choosing whether or not you decide to Save Little Sisters, and the outcome actually effects how the rest of your playthrough goes, even if minimally. ✪ It's technically not canon, but the lot of new information we get about Rapture is really nice for those like myself who fell in love with the city and wanted to learn more in the first game. More history, more areas, more environmental story-telling; there's just so much more Rapture that any fans of the original can't help but appreciate it, even if none of it matters in the grand scheme of things. ✪ Minerva's Den is worth playing through, regardless of whether or not you liked the base game. Its story is fantastic, new gameplay additions make it feel fresh and it's duration is perfect (about 4 hours). [𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗺𝗲] ✘ The game's main plot still manages to irritate me, regardless of how many times I've seen its attempts to justify itself. In short, the main story for this game is: [SPOILER START] A psychologically manipulative mother strives to take her frustrations out on a man for crimes he didn't commit, even though *she knew* he didn't. Why? Because he has a genetically forced bond with her daughter, which only happened because of the people she chose to trust, and her plans to turn her into a Utopian stripped of free will became a pipe dream. She essentially wanted to turn Rapture, "the world's fastest growin' pile'a junk" (read as Atlas for the best effect), into a Garden of Eden. [SPOILER END] And that, especially when you look back at everything, is just... Oof, to me. This game had so many better ideas to focus on, yet they went with a sloppily executed and unjustifiable revenge plot, which is self aware of its silliness, as the main line. To make matters worse, Sofia Lamb is, without a single doubt in my mind, at the very bottom of my antagonists list. She has absolutely no redeeming qualities, and every time I'm forced to hear her speak, I like the game less. [𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗶𝘁𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘀] • One of my favorite things about Bioshock 1 was the ability to revisit the majority of the game's locales. There wasn't much waiting for you in the areas you returned to besides some Splicers and collectibles you missed, but simply having the freedom to go back whenever I wanted, up until the final encounter, was nice. In Bioshock 2, you can't do this. Once you leave an area, you're done with it and can't return. [𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹] Bioshock 2 Remastered is solid, with fun gameplay and fantastic stories that make its few inconveniences easy to overlook. [𝗘𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼] ■ Platforms Played: PS5, PC ■ Playtime: About 40 hours between each platform. ■ Post-Story Free Roam: Nope. Can't even revisit old areas. ■ Chapter Select: Nope. ■ New Game+: Nope. ■ DLC: Technically The Protector Trials and Minerva's Den, but they are bundled with this edition. ■ Photo Mode: Nope. ■ Optional Content: The Protector Trials and Minerva's Den. ■ Update Frequency: Finished; shouldn't be anymore updates for this game. ■ Accessibility Options: None. ■ Plan to 100%: I've done so thrice already.