Little sister, don’t you do what your big sister does?
Denizens of the deep, aquatic Atlus citizens, cream of the genetic crop – please allow me to be the first to welcome you back to the underwater paradise turned horrid genetic freak show that is Rapture. Bioshock 2, the sequel to the game that gave more popularity to the writings of Ayn Rand than Ayn Rand ever did, is still a few months away and it’s got a lot to live up to. We recently got some hands-on time with the latest single-player and multiplayer demo and thought you folks might be interested in what we saw. Even though it goes against my self-worshiping nature to share anything of great value with others, I’m gonna go ahead and fill you in on some of the finer details.
[image1]The first thing you may notice about Bioshock 2 is the giant drill where your hand used to be. It should look familiar to those of you who played the first game. But wait, aren’t Big Daddies the bad guys? Well, yes they are. But you’re not one of those Daddies; you’re the prototype that they were built from, and as such, are the black sheep at the family reunion. You’ve got free will and the ability to use plasmids, those fancy genetic add-ons for the discriminating socialite who needs to be able to light things on fire with his mind or tear things apart in a whirlwind. (And really, you have to show everyone who the real Big Daddy is.)
It’s been ten years since the hero of our first story has come and gone and a lot has changed in the old fallen paradise. The place has really let itself decay even further into ruin it would seem. The demo that was shown to us before we got our own hands-on time showed a section that had become a red-light district that Sting could’ve never imagined Roxanne working in. And since you are stuck in a diving suit, it would be kind of a waste if you didn’t get a chance to explore the ocean floor. That’s right, at certain points in the game you will actually leave the walls of the great underwater city and check out some very fresh seafood, like some ADAM-sucking sea slugs and such.
Just like before, you’re after the little sisters and their ADAM-harvesting/carrying abilities. Of course, they have daddies of their own who don’t take too kindly to those who would take over their role of guardian to these disturbingly creepy children by force and are more than happy to kick the crap out of you. If you are able to beat the big guys and affirm yourself as a figure of authority to these young, impressionable abominations of god, you’ll then have to use them to track down ADAM rich corpses for harvest.
[image2]Before you get down to the business of corpse robbing, you’ll get a chance to set up traps for those who try to claim the ADAM for themselves – traps that you can concoct using multiple plasmids at once, such as explosive hurricanes along with some automated turrets. But the fun of preparing your defenses for an all-out assault isn’t limited to harvesting.
The newest and greatest enemy that you’ll face throughout the game is the Big Sister and she’s a total fucking bitch. You’ll get a bit of a warning before she shows up, which should give you time to set up a few defenses, but once the timer reaches zero, be ready for a serious fight. Twice as mean and tough as a Big Daddy, she’s worse than Rosie O’Donnell on a heavy flow day when she’s all out of chocolate. Throughout your adventure in Rapture, she will antagonize you and try to stop you at every turn.
All the new additions look to improve upon the award-winning formula of the first. A lot of complaints from the original will be addressed in the upcoming sequel. Most notably would have to be the addition of the highly-demanded multiplayer.
[image3]Multiplayer will work very similarly to the quasi-ROG leveling system that was made popular by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. You’ll play as a citizen of Rapture who has been given an apartment by one of the many corporations within the city. As you progress through online combat modes, from the traditional deathmatch to the more franchise specific Capture the Sister mode – which finds you and your team hunting down the little angels while fighting of Daddies and another team of domed dwellers – you’ll earn experience which will grant you access to new weapons and various plasmid abilities.
If you played the first BioShock, you’ve probably already been waiting patiently for the sequel to drop ever since you finished playing number one. Well, the big wait is almost over and you can expect to see BioShock 2 hit the store shelves on February 9th, 2010 on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Until then, read The Fountainhead to get yourself in the right mood.
