Talk Is Cheap – 2/15/10

The foursome of Joel, Erika, Ian and Justin recognize the high hurdles in front of theBioshock sequel and come away rather satisfied, as well as ponder the late-to-the-party Level 5 RPG, White Knight Chronicles.  Erika brings Chibi Knight and One Button Bob to the Indie Compendium, while Joel shares Choker and Hit Monkey for this week's glance at the comic side of things.  The team wraps things up with a rather epic discussion on how gamers and developers ought to rethink their positions on the tiresome struggle between Eastern and Western developed games.  

Bioshock 2

Have you ever had a game that stuck out in your mind as being better kept a singular experience, instead of relying on quick, cash in sequels to bring more attention to the series? The first Bioshock was that game to me. While the gameplay wasn't exactly groundbreaking, the story and unique setting definitely were, standing out in my mind as one of the most interesting game experiences I've had. Upon learning they were going to make a sequel to that experience, I immediately shot it down. There was no way in my mind that they could recreate the atmosphere they crafted in the first game and keep it fresh enough to warrant a sequel. Although my heart believed it could be done, my brain scoffed at what I thought was a huge mistake.

I'm glad the underdog won.

Bioshock 2, developed this time around by 2K Marin, is set ten years after the first. You take control of Rapture's very first Big Daddy, codenamed Delta. After an unfortunate series of events that separate you from your Little Sister, you awaken with the sole purpose of reuniting with her. Standing in your way is a woman by the name of Sofia Lamb, an active detractor of Andrew Ryan's during his lifetime in Rapture and the new leader of the underwater city. While Ryan sought a utopia through self-preservation and extreme open-mindedness, Lamb believes a perfect society can only be achieved by losing the concept of self and working towards bettering the community as a whole. Although she is the polar opposite of Ryan in every way, Rapture's population latched onto her every word, going as far as creating a cult based around her philosophies called The Rapture Family. As Delta makes his way through Rapture to reunite with his Little Sister, he'll have to deal with various members of The Family while struggling with deep moral choices.

Like in the first game, much of the story in Bioshock 2 is revealed through audio diaries scattered throughout the ruinous corridors of Rapture. While the story is a bit simpler than before, it is no less fascinating, and I found myself deeply connected with its characters as the game progressed. Huge plot twists have been traded in for an emotional roller coaster that in some ways is better than the first. Each character introduced is memorable, and I was instantly interested in their story. One of my favorite sequences in the game was following a set of audio diaries left by a man named Gil Alexander, left behind when he was still sane enough to think clearly. As you follow his diaries through a portion of the game, he taunts you through a security bot, offering an odd series of events as his sane recordings help you bypass certain obstacles on your way to finding him, insane in the present.

Moral choices also play a large part in the sequel. Little Sisters can still be harvested, thus killing the child in the process and harvesting a ton of ADAM, or saved, which yields less ADAM but returns the girl to normal. Added to these choices are three important characters in The Rapture Family who, when you finally reach their hiding places, you are allowed to kill or spare. Little bits of the following story and even the ending change to reflect your choices. These choices were some of the most compelling parts of the story, as you learn bits and pieces of these characters' stories in the moments leading up to finally meeting them. These people have not made choices that are exactly good or bad, and you are forced to look at their actions from multiple perspectives while making your decision. While other games offer similar moral choices, few match Bioshock 2 in the way they make you agonize over killing or sparing another human being.

Bioshock emphasized story above all else, but also offered a rather unique twist to the usual FPS-style controls. Bioshock 2 continues this trend while also streamlining the plasmid and weapon usage to provide smoother enemy encounters. Instead of having to switch between your two arsenals, both plasmids and weapons can be used in conjunction. This helps speed up combat situations by removing the second or two between switching the first game had and relieves a bit of confusion when things get frantic. New plasmids help you plan new combat strategies, and some of the returning powers come with a charge capability, which you can use to unleash a more powerful attack. There are also a few new weapons, namely the drill and rivet gun, that were seen on Big Daddies in the first game but never used. Another new ability that helps immensely in battle situations is the ability to mix plasmid powers together into traps. Once you acquire the second level of the cyclone trap, the swirl of air can be upgraded with another plasmid to add additional effects the damage dealt. Along with new mini-turrets, trap rivets, and electrical spear traps, Bioshock 2 makes it incredibly easy to set up a defensive position.

Defensive positions come in handy during one of Bioshock 2's new events. Upon finding a Little Sister in this game, you are allowed to adopt her as your own. While carrying the little sister, you can have her extract ADAM from special dead bodies you find before saving or harvesting her, thus maximizing the amount of ADAM you receive from the ordeal. But, waves of Splicers will attack as she's extracting, so it's your job to protect her. These events are fun at first, but soon become tedious as the game goes along and you figure out the best way to set up traps and obstacles for the ensuing Splicers. There is one change, though, that fixes a bit of repetitiveness from the first game: hacking. Instead of being treated to a Pipe Dream style mini-game to hack cameras, vending machines, and turrets, there's a short quick time event where you try to time your button presses to stop a needle in green zones. The only hindrance you gain is that the game doesn't pause while you're hacking, making you vulnerable to any wandering Splicers. That's a small problem however, because this new way of hacking makes the game flow a lot better than the first by not taking you out of the action and speeding things up.

While it isn't the main course, Bioshock 2's multiplayer mode offers an interesting perspective on the Rapture story. Upon starting, you're given a choice between six different characters to play as. The choice is merely an aesthetic one in terms of gameplay, but the story you receive while playing is the real reward. After choosing your character, you start out in their home on New Year's Eve, 1958, the night the Rapture Civil War started in earnest. You are soon greeted by a video of Andrew Ryan, wishing you a happy New Year. The apartment acts as a sort of interactive menu, where you can choose your loadout, change your outfit, or set up multiplayer matches. There are a variety of modes to choose from, all with a Rapture twist.

The multiplayer itself is fun, but not mindblowing. The use of plasmids and weapons together make for an interesting twist, as does the random appearance of a Big Daddy suit that powers up the lucky player to find it first. Like other multiplayer games, there's a rank system that allows you to level up over time. By ranking up you are given access to new plasmids for your character, as well as new clothes and melee weapons. The most interesting thing about the multiplayer are the audio logs you can listen to as you rank up, which offer insight into the backgrounds of the various characters and expand the story of the Rapture Civil War.

Bioshock 2 is an interesting entry in the series. The first felt fresh and new, with a deep and complex story to match the unique atmosphere and visuals. Bioshock 2 does a great job of keeping the same ambiance as the first, while improving the combat system to make it a more well rounded game. The story is much simpler this time around, but has a surprising emotional weight that spurs you on towards the conclusion. I was once a skeptic of the need for a sequel, but Bioshock 2 has done an amazing job of changing my mind.

Likes

• Combat is streamlined and serves to strengthen gameplay.
• Emotional storyline makes it difficult to make some tough moral choices.
• New plasmids and weapons feel new, without seeming tacked on.

Dislikes

• Seems to take Rapture for granted by not revealing much new information about the city.
• Some gameplay elements (acquiring ADAM, a couple of endgame sequences) get repetitive.
• Multiplayer is a fun distraction, but was ultimately unnecessary.

Review Score

/

The review scale at LevelFortyTwo is between 1 and 5. A score of 5 is considered an amazing game, 4 is a well-done game with only minor issues, 3 is in the middle; not great, but not bad, 2 is a very problematic game, and 1 is absolutely terrible.

The State and Effect of Multiplayer

MMOs need it, RPGs ignore it, shooters always attempt it and Major League Gaming broadcasts it. Multiplayer won’t make or break a game outright, but it can define the experience so completely that it obscures other important factors. This can be a saving grace for some games as players are still able to get a good experience out of a bad game (I’m looking at you, Tony Hawk: Ride). Though the execution of multiplayer has certainly changed with the rise of the internet, the dynamics have only changed with the number of people that can fit on the internet, rather than how many can fit in your living room.

Talk Is Cheap – 1/18/10

Erika is out sick this week, so Matthew O'Mara joins Joel and Michael as they talk about some of the games they are looking forward to in the next couple of months, including Final Fantasy XIII, Bioshock 2, Yakuza 3, No More Heroes 2 and more. Michael also talks a bit about Bayonetta and his review of the game.

With Erika away there is no Indie Compendium, but look for it next week. Instead the guys discuss Joel's latest Geekdom feature, as well as Michael's article "What's in a mascot?". To wrap things up they talk about comics and everyone's favorite train wreck: Jersey Shore.

Send us your most anticipated games of 2010 to podcast@levelfortytwo.com. You can direct download the episode here, or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes here.