Thanks to Steam's Summer Sale generosity I am currently working my way through Bioshock 2. Initial thoughts: It feels very like the original so far (about two hours in). Although this story is set 10 years after the original the city of Rapture doesn't look any better or worse than it did in the first game The setting and ambience are almost identical. Even the story line has a familiar feel. Just as in the first game you are trawling through the ruins of an undersea city seeking to undermine an evil overlord (who happens to be a woman this time) while getting advice from a benefactor by intercom. At this rate I fully expect them to try and replicate the famous storyline twist!
More of a good thing is not necessarily bad however so I am enjoying the game. I do have one gripe though. The main novelty in this second game is that you the protagonist get to play as a Big Daddy. When I discovered this I expected to be a near unstoppable pounding grinding force of destruction. You do do plenty of pounding and grinding but sadly you are far from unstoppable and your attacks are no more powerful than those of your enemies. Playing on Hard mode I was disappointed to realise that three or four splicer bullets will kill me while I still need to pump dozens of bullets into the real big daddy's to kill them. I know that makes for a more interesting challenging game but I just don't feel like a big daddy.
EDIT: Re-reading this post I realised that it sounds pretty silly to be complaining about the difficulty of a game and at the same time admitting to playing it on hard mode. I have since lowered the difficulty level to medium and I am enjoying it more. In hard mode you have to plan every fight carefully and rely on careful use of the environment (security cameras, oil spills, rubble etc) to win difficult fights. This gets tedious after a while. Even at medium difficulty the game is still reasonably challenging but you can still blast your way through most situations. I tested all the difficulty levels in a fight with another big daddy. In easy mode was about as strong as my opponent and beat it in a one on one melee by using health potions. On medium you are a good deal weaker and have to use powers and the terrain to beat another big daddy. On hard mode you are as weak as the regular splicers and need careful planning, the help of security bots and a whole lot of luck to beat another big daddy.
More of a good thing is not necessarily bad however so I am enjoying the game. I do have one gripe though. The main novelty in this second game is that you the protagonist get to play as a Big Daddy. When I discovered this I expected to be a near unstoppable pounding grinding force of destruction. You do do plenty of pounding and grinding but sadly you are far from unstoppable and your attacks are no more powerful than those of your enemies. Playing on Hard mode I was disappointed to realise that three or four splicer bullets will kill me while I still need to pump dozens of bullets into the real big daddy's to kill them. I know that makes for a more interesting challenging game but I just don't feel like a big daddy.
EDIT: Re-reading this post I realised that it sounds pretty silly to be complaining about the difficulty of a game and at the same time admitting to playing it on hard mode. I have since lowered the difficulty level to medium and I am enjoying it more. In hard mode you have to plan every fight carefully and rely on careful use of the environment (security cameras, oil spills, rubble etc) to win difficult fights. This gets tedious after a while. Even at medium difficulty the game is still reasonably challenging but you can still blast your way through most situations. I tested all the difficulty levels in a fight with another big daddy. In easy mode was about as strong as my opponent and beat it in a one on one melee by using health potions. On medium you are a good deal weaker and have to use powers and the terrain to beat another big daddy. On hard mode you are as weak as the regular splicers and need careful planning, the help of security bots and a whole lot of luck to beat another big daddy.
Comments
My biggest gripe now is with the save game system. The quick save and quick load buttons are right beside each other. With only one quicksave slot and quick save and quick load right beside each other is a recipe for disaster and a few times I have accidentally quick saved when I meant to load. I guess the vita chambers are supposed to do away with the need for quick saving but it feels like a cheat to be able to resurrect half way through a fight.