BioShock 2
No matter how you look at it, trying to make a sequel to Bioshock, which was a masterpiece of a game in itself, is a very difficult undertaking.
The game takes us 10 years after the events of the first one (in 1970). This time you are not a simple human (Jack), but Subject Delta, one of the first, original Big Daddies (Alpha Series).
Andrew Ryan is dead, and the reins of Rapture have been taken over by a psychiatrist, Sofia Lamb. Here there is a terrible ideological conflict. While Ryan believed in absolute individualism (Objectivism), Lamb preaches the exact opposite: extreme collectivism (collectivism - the sacrifice of the individual for the good of the whole), creating an almost religious cult, "The Family".
Subject Delta awakens after years, and the only thing he is looking for, due to his biological bond (Pair Bond), is his Little Sister, Eleanor, who has now grown up and is a prisoner of her mother (Sofia Lamb).
No matter how you look at it, trying to make a sequel to Bioshock, which was a masterpiece game in itself, is a very difficult undertaking.
Certainly, one area where it performs better than even the first one is its gameplay. The ability to have 2 weapons, the action which is faster and of course more violent. The... Little Sisters have grown up and now we have the Big Sisters who are very agile and have that shriek that literally makes your blood run cold.
Something that for me marked the game was that 2K wanted a game to be released relatively soon, and the discussions they had then with the "father" of the project, Ken Levine (showrunner of the first, see his profile on playview) did not go very well, resulting in it being given to a new Studio, 2K Marin (rumors said that Levine was secretly working on Bioshock Infinite since then).
Another point that caused discussions then was the existence of multiplayer. Almost all gamers hated it, but the company did something clever, it made it essentially a prequel to the game, showing the civil war of Rapture in 1959, on New Year's Eve, where citizens tested the Plasmids of Sinclair Solutions and destroyed the city!
BioShock 2 was unfairly treated in its time because everyone was asking for a second "miracle". However, if you look at it purely, it is the perfect example of a sequel that respected the player: it kept the creepy atmosphere, corrected every flaw in the gameplay, and gave us some of the most intense survival horror moments of its generation. If you haven't touched it since then, do yourself a favor and dive back in. Lamb may promise the good of the whole, but the personal experience this return offers is simply invaluable.
BioShock 2 was unfairly treated in its time because everyone was asking for a second "miracle". However, if you look at it purely, it is the perfect example of a sequel that respected the player: it kept the creepy atmosphere, corrected every flaw in the gameplay, and gave us some of the most intense survival horror moments of its generation. If you haven't touched it since then, do yourself a favor and dive back in. Lamb may promise the good of the whole, but the personal experience this return offers is simply invaluable.
