BioShock 2 is the first-person shooter sequel to BioShock, set eight years after the events of the original game and following the story of a Big Daddy on his quest to save his daughter, the girl the Little Sisters were based on. Back in the underwater city of Rapture, Subject Delta fights his way through Splicers and Big Sisters to find his daughter and break free of the city. At the time, riding off the popularity of the first game, this game did extremely well, and many still refer to it as an incredible must-play game despite its age. However, I found, as with the first one, there was a great lack of emotional depth or reason to care due to the first-person POV of the game and the lack of real cutscenes. 

In my review, I’m going to recap the game and discuss why I feel you’re not actually missing out if you haven’t played. If you want to read my review of the first game, you can find it here. This is NOT a spoiler-free review!

So what’s the story of BioShock 2? Though the first game follows a sleeper agent trying to escape Rapture (a plot twist that lacked emotional impact), this game follows a more relevant story with Subject Delta, a Big Daddy, who needs to find his Little Sister Eleanor in order to survive. They’re connected in a way that the longer he is separated from her the more damaged he becomes. Guided by Tenenbaum once again, the player must face a multitude of enemies and morally right-or-wrong-based decisions that directly affect the outcome of the game. Though you eventually find Eleanor, your bond is severed as she’s smothered, and you have to work together to stop Lamb and free yourselves from Rapture. Eleanor turns herself into a Big Sister, a part of Rapture sinks, and you two escape together, only to have her kill you and take your energy and memories, justifying it as being together at last. 

This is where the story really took a negative turn. The innocent girl you spent the whole game trying to save turns out to be just as insane as her mother, Lamb, and is willing to do whatever it takes for her survival. There was really no build-up to her becoming like this, and in the end to have her just kill her father and act like it was a gift completely ruined any story the game had. She didn’t deserve to escape, and it took away from the ending of the game, making the entire game feel like a big waste of time. It also implied she took pity on her mother towards the end, so one has to wonder if this was the plan all along. The ending would have been more impactful if she hadn’t gone completely insane and they had escaped together, even if he died in the end, because it would have been for her, not because of her. 

Originally released on PS3, PC, and Xbox 360, the game has since been remastered for PS4, PC, and Xbox One and can be played on compatible systems. There is a significant, positive difference in the visuals from the first game to this one, which may be due to the creators finding a new studio to produce the game. They also released DLCs that supported multiplayer mode and a single-player campaign expansion for more story. I did not play those though because I didn’t want to give the game any more of my time. 

Both BioShock games seem to lack in the storytelling aspect, throwing in curves and twists to utilize that shock factor so you don’t notice the evident flaws in the games. While I’m sure for the time they did have more impact, looking at them now compared to the vast library of story-based games there are, it’s hard to even compare. These games didn’t age well, and if you really want to play, I’d suggest watching a playthrough instead. The only really cool thing from this game was that you briefly play in the perspective of a Little Sister and see how altered the view of reality is.

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