BioShock 2 Review

Down where it’s wetter, still where it’s better… Rupert gives the verdict on the Xbox 360 version of 2K Marin’s return to Rapture.

By Rupert Higham, February 12, 2010

Little Sisters need to be defended while they drain off the juice.

BioShock’s universe lends itself wonderfully to the online FPS template, offering original features like traps, researching, hacking and plasmids. It adopts a few other tricks from leading competitors – Modern Warfare 2-style levelling and the Left 4 Dead Tank-style Big Daddy upgrade. Only long-term play will determine whether the huge array of options can be balanced effectively, but initial results are encouraging.

BioShock 2 is difficult to be level-headed about. The peerless art direction and ambitious storytelling were all aspects that the original covered to perfection, and their reappearance here is a small evolutionary step rather than real innovation. In the three years since BioShock however, there has been little in the way of plagiarism, meaning that a return to Rapture still feels like a breath of fresh air in an industry so crippled by inward-looking design. Jordan and his team have been very respectful to Levine’s vision, creating a sequel that expands on the universe without undermining the original.

It’s unlikely the idea could survive another sequel without stretching the universe too far, but for now BioShock 2 is an unmissable journey back into a suffocating, intoxicating world. Now let’s get da Vinci on the case with that long overdue Mona Lisa follow-up…

9 out of 10