Bioshock 2 is an amazing game from 2K Games. It improves on its predecessor, but still suffers from many of the same problems as the original Bioshock—like graphics. Gameplay, emersion, environment, and sound are very well done and make up for the game’s problems. The story is confusing and lacking in certain areas, but overall does a great job in making the player want to finish the game.

GRAPHICS: 7/10

My main gripe with Bioshock 2 is the same problem I had with the original Bioshock. It uses Unreal Engine 2.5 (a heavily modified version of Unreal Engine 2 from 2002). Because of this, a lot of the effects are dated, and the engine (drivers and software) is really showing its age. 2K games did a fine job of covering this up by adding amazing Parallax Mapping (an advanced form of Bump Mapping and Normal Mapping used to give textures shape) They also used a lot of Anistrophic Filtering (process of making the edges of surfaces a little blurry to make them look less jagged). It also has very high quality shaders, on par with those from Unreal Engine 3 (Mass Effect 2 and Gears of War 2), especially since it can use DirectX 10’s Shader Model 4.0 on the PC.

The game uses Simple Global Lighting (static lighting placed directly into the map), which does well, except it doesn’t affect the environment or other characters. The shadow effects, while complex, are still difficult and show their age. The lack of any Anti-aliasing (using the video card to simulate an increase in resolution in order to make edges look smooth) on any of console and PC versions of the game is appalling, especially in 2010, but the engine can’t really be blamed for that. Unreal Engine 3 doesn’t even use Anti-aliasing unless you force it to.

The local water effects (pools and puddles) are just astounding, but the splashes look like they’re from 2002. This could have been fixed with a stronger physics engine (Havok or Aegia), and definitely with a more power graphics engine. Many of the textures look cheap and flat. They are very low resolution, especially on the Xbox 360; the PS3 does a better job of rendering the textures, but its lighting is much worse than the Xbox 360. The PC gets the best of both worlds and more with DirectX 10.

The game is beautiful and amazing considering it is using an 8 year old engine. I think most gamers would have been willing to wait the extra 6 months it would have taken for 2K Games to code in Unreal Engine 3 and have graphics comparable with Mass Effect 2. 2K Games also added support for Nvidia’s 3D Vision on PC, provided you have a video card that was made in the last 3 generations (8-00, 9-00, 1--, and 2-- series) and a monitor that can run at 120 fps.

SOUND: 10/10

The sound is amazing, all of the gun fire and melee combat effects sound real and really draw the player into the game. The Splicers’ voices are astounding, and all of the journals do a very good job at conveying emotion. The game utilizes 3D sound, and if you have a surround sound system, will use 5.1 Dolby Audio. The game sounds perfect.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10

The first time you Drill Dive a Splicer in Bioshock 2 or the first time you kill a Splicer with a Cyclone trap enhanced with the Incinerate plasmid, you will know that the gameplay is astounding. 2K Games listened to gamers this time around and made all of the weapons actually feel powerful.

My personal favorite was the upgrade from the monkey wrench to the drill. The drill was probably the most fun and most powerful weapon in the game. The hacking system has also been overhauled, and is much more intuitive and actually feels like hacking, not like playing pipes.

The bosses are amazing and quite difficult to defeat. The other Big Daddies and the Big Sisters are actually a challenge, and you will always want to save before deciding to take on one. I haven’t found any glitches in the gameplay. It is in perfect working order, and I am quite happy with it.

STORY: 8/10

The story was hit and miss. It wasn’t nearly as well polished as the original Bioshock’s was, but it was pretty good, and kept me wanting more. Some of the elements were confusing, and some of them just felt like there were tacked on, but it worked. The introduction blew my mind, as did the ending. Like the last game, the main story is confusing if you don’t explore Rapture and collect all of the audio diaries that are strewn throughout the city. Otherwise, you are a hulking Big Daddy rummaging through a defunct city for no reason. I would recommend taking your time and exploring each level in order to figure out what is happening. This means of storytelling is very well done, and I personally enjoy it more than being smacked in the face with endless cinematics. You can keep playing the game as you are being told the story.

MULTIPLAYER: 7/10

I could have done without the multiplayer. It’s not that it was bad, it just wasn’t on par with the singleplayer, but no one, I think, is going to buy the game for the multiplayer anyway. On PS3, I had problems with actually finding a game, and PC had a lot of connection problems. Xbox Live did very well this time around, provided you can find a game with more than 2 or 3 people playing. This game is definitely all about the singleplayer. The multiplayer is set when Adam and plasmids were first being developed while you and everyone else playing, are test subjects. It’s a weak story, but it works for the most part.

OVERALL: 8/10

While not the prettiest game ever, it makes up for a lot of its flaws with its definite strengths. The gameplay and story were strong enough to make up for any problems the caused by the programming. The game gets to be addictive and challenging.

I would strongly recommend this game to anyone, even if they haven’t played the original Bioshock. Seriously, go out and get Bioshock 2 now, and support 2K Games. I just pray that the next installment will use Unreal Engine 3.

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