Atmosphere is a word which game reviewers love to throw around, and gamers lap it up, without too much thought. An appropriate description is that atmosphere in games is the combination of writing, visuals, and sound to create a living world around the player. Of course, you don’t need all three and sometimes if a game excels in just one of those elements it can be highly atmospheric. Bioshock 2 had a lot to live up to as the first game, which excelled in visuals, sound, and most of all writing, had an abundance of atmosphere. Unfortunately this sequel fails to live up to high expectations.

The format is near identical to the original with your character wandering around Rapture trying to make sense of what’s going on around them. In the original you fought your way through many foes before finally climbing inside the huge metal Big Daddy suit. In Bioshock 2 you are a Big Daddy throughout and this slightly cheapened the experience for me as unlike the first game I didn’t feel as though I had earned the right.
Through most of the game you find yourself alone, apart from the lunatics trying to separate your head from the rest of your body, while various voices guide you on your journey for better or worse. The original title was defined by its great twist and because of this I was paranoid all the way through. I believed everyone was out to get me, including myself. This meant that when the inevitable twist happened, which isn’t as good as the one in the first game anyway, the impact was minimal.

Many of the better features in the game were already in the original such as hacking security cameras and droids. The plasmids are pretty much the same as before but there is a better selection of weapons on offer this time around. Despite better weaponry available to me my preferred attack was freezing enemies before smashing them to pieces with my drill. The regular splicers are joined by a couple of new enemies in the shape of larger, more powerful, splicers and Big Sisters who are much more agile than their male counterparts. These additions pose a different challenge to the regular enemies but nothing which can’t be solved by freezing and beating them to death.

The graphics and sound, despite no improvements from the original, are perfectly adequate but are somewhat spoiled by laziness from the developers. Much to the dismay of many PC gamers the original Bioshock had no widescreen support until, as a result of many complaints from the community, a patch was released. You would hope the lesson would be learned and Bioshock 2 would cater for a true 16:9/10 aspect ratio but, and I find this quite incredible, that is not the case. People who want to play the game in widescreen, which means all laptop and most desktop users, have to make-do with a cropped version of a 4:3 image. This may seem a minor issue but it causes two problems. For a game which relies so heavily on atmosphere the amount of visual information directly available to the player is important. Having to constantly look up and down in order to appreciate the intended visuals is frustrating. The cropped image also gives a slight advantage to those playing multiplayer on a 4:3 monitor as they can see more of what’s going on. As it happens this is not be a widespread issue as apparently very few people play the multiplayer anyway.

The atmosphere in this game, with its cinematic feel, relies heavily on the music. In order to feel immersed in the action suitable music must compliment the visuals. Dramatic fight music thumping out the speakers as a character casually wanders around with no enemies nearby is ridiculous. Thanks to a nasty glitch this is exactly what I experienced and it’s no exaggeration to say the dramatic music played for a full twenty minutes after it should have stopped. These issues should never make it past the testing phase for such a huge title.

Another annoyance is a lack of support for the Xbox 360 controller. The developers say this was intentional and they apparently took the decision in order to focus on making the mouse and keyboard controls as tight as possible. I do not buy that excuse for one second. I find this particularly frustrating as the game allows Xbox Live users to sign into their account and earn achievements. Anyone who wants to use an Xbox 360 controller while playing the PC version should download Xpadder. While I’m on the subject I am sick and tired of idiots on the Internet who feel the need to jump on anyone who would like the option to use a 360 controller as though these morons are offended by choice.

I preferred the overall story and twist in the original but this did earn some kudos by having a more well-rounded and satisfying finale. There are multiple endings depending on how you play through the game. I was really impressed with the very last scene I was shown which, for the first time in the game, made me question my actions. As far as I’m concerned this was too little too late. A lack of care and attention stops this from being a great game like its predecessor. Rapture is ripe for some great stories and if a third Bioshock is planned I really hope the developers ensure glitches are kept to a minimum and make better use of this rich environment.

7/10

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