BioShock 2: Bigger, Better, Wetter

Posted by Andrew On February - 8 - 2010

2kGames will launch BioShock 2 on Tuesday, just one of a class of highly anticipated early 2010 titles. The second sequel to a blockbusting original to launch this year (looking at you, Mass Effect 2), BioShock 2 looks to build on the award-winning 2007 shooter of the same name with added features and a new, interesting perspective. Fans of the original will remember exploring the underwater dystopia of Rapture as Jack, intent on confronting the city’s founder, Andrew Ryan, and escaping the shady depths of the city. This week’s trip back to Rapture will be much different, however, with players assuming the protagonistic role of Subject Delta, a prototype model of the Big Daddies, robotic bodyguards of the city’s ADAM-harvesting Little Sisters.

The purpose of this post is to prepare you for the awesomeness that will be launch day by rounding up all the hype associated with BioShock 2 and pulling it into one giant, hard-to-swallow bite. But before we dig into the good stuff, screens and video clips from the last few months of a running marketing campaign , it’s important to call out the changes and new additions to the sequel. After all, knowing is half the battle, and it looks like we’re all in for quite the battle when we revisit Rapture.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend – 2kGames have done something a bit unconventional with BioShock 2, they’ve crafted a sequel that follows a new character and seems to ignore the desire to continue the story arch of the original. In many ways, BioShock 2 is more of a spin-off than a sequel. This is made most evident by the switch of perspectives from the original protagonist, a human named Jack unwillingly forced into a dangerous depths of Rapture, to a new main character from the other side of the tracks. After spending much of the first BioShock figuring out how to drop a Big Daddy, the sequel puts the gamer right in the helmet of a prototype Daddy model. This will make for a new story within the BioShock canon and the change-up is an interesting one, to say the least.

I’ll just step outside for a moment - There are a few serious perks to being a Big Daddy. They include super strength and the ability to wield a giant drill. In BioShock 2, Subject Delta’s underwater suit allows the gamer to venture outside the walls of Rapture and onto the sea floor, where you can recover health, ogle over views of the city, and pick up special items. We’re not sure how this new accessible area will work into the overall game mechanic, but it just sounds cool.

You remind me of an ex-girlfiend’s mom – Where once you played a human battling Big Daddies, now you’ll play a Big Daddy fighting Big Sisters. BioShock 2′s baddies are something of an evolutionary combination of Big Daddies and Little Sisters – a sick, scary, and twisted combination. As you’ll see by one of the trailers below, Big Sisters are spry, quick, and seemingly deadlier versions of their bulky male counterparts. If the nearly indestructible Big Daddies of yesteryear scared you, these creepy robotic representations of every evil in-law you’ve ever had will surely give you nightmares.

Even Big Daddies have social circles – Perhaps the biggest addition to BioShock 2 is a multiplayer mode. The FPS will now open up and let you and your friends duke it out against the backdrop of Rapture. This mode is more than just deathmatch and CTF, though, its actually story-based. Even more interestingly, this story is a prequel to the events of the first BioShock. Players will assume the roles of Rapture citizens during Rapture’s Civil War, tasked by the Sinclair Corporation to test out new weapons, plasmids, and tonics amongst the underwater urban warfare setting.

And now on to the good stuff – From the original teasing debut trailer to the action-packed launch trailer that hit just last week, check out a selection of video clips from the last few months below. Don’t forget to peep a gallery of screenshots at the bottom of this post for your viewing pleasure as well.

The MMOMFG take – If you played the first BioShock, how can you miss out on the sequel? If you didn’t play the first BioShock, you are a heathen and your one chance at redemption hits store shelves tomorrow. But seriously, the beautiful yet deadly underwater realm of Rapture is set to be revisited with new weapons, plasmids, characters, and bad guys; it seems impossible for these changes to be for the worse, especially when you consider the way BioShock 2 looks to expand on its predecessor with a multiplayer mode and exterior Rapture access. This one’s a must-buy, folks, and we can’t wait for Tuesday. It should be rapturous.

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