Return to Rapture

by ERIK LEIJON

Making an engaging sequel is hard enough, but BioShock 2 (Multi/2K Games, Irrational) finds itself in the unenviable position of being the sequel to an incredible game without an obvious need for an encore. It’s similar to the Jurassic Park movie series, where the financial windfall of the first necessitated a follow-up. Even though no one in their right mind would want back on the island—except for Jeff Goldblum.

Fast forward eight years from the previous BioShock—with Rapture’s Jeff Goldblum being played by a recently reactivated Big Daddy (the mechanical beast from the first)—and suddenly you have a sensible reason to return to underwater dystopian kingdom Rapture. The BioShock series is all about ambience and evoking a constant sense of uneasiness and malaise, so even though the first-person magic in left hand, gun in right hand action remains unchanged, BioShock 2 is a fresh re-entry into the disturbing lost city.

After the death of Rapture’s Atlas Shrugged-loving creator Andrew Ryan, the city’s Plasmid-tripping mutant Splicer population fell under the spell of smooth-talking cult leader Sofia Lamb, who rejects Ryan’s libertarianism for a more communal view of how society should run. As a result, Lamb barks orders at her psychotic followers through an intercom, and those messages typically involve putting bullets in your hulking frame. It may sound like another Ameri-centric right vs. left debate, but thankfully it plays out more as a classic reflection on human nature.

Playing as the first game’s main enemy is an effective way of seeing Rapture with a new set of eyes. The Big Daddies are responsible for the protection of their adopted Little Sisters, actual possessed little girls charged with extracting ADAM energy from human corpses. An oft-repeated scene in BioShock 2 is the minute or so where the girl is hunched over a body with her oversized syringe, sucking out ADAM while attracting the attention of nearby Splicers. These battles take the game’s ever-present tension to even more frightening levels; you begin by surrounding yourself and blocking every possible entrance with traps, landmines and turrets, then hold watch over your Little Sister, killing any Splicer that cuts through your defences. Serious amounts of firepower are required to fend off the hordes, and these fights also succeed in forcing one to use their Plasmid left-hand powers.

The new level designs are as colourful and weird as ever, this time with more pseudo-religious imagery. Water continues to play a big role, as Big Daddy (referred to as Subject Delta) gets to take advantage of his oversized scuba suit with some ocean floor walking. At first, it may seem like an unadventurous sequel, but because BioShock is so much about getting carried away in the environments, it really does take some time to let the new quirks and minor alterations sink in. If anything, BioShock 2 is a winner because it so cleverly sticks to its unified vision. It’s a simple FPS with no cover system and with most battles devolving into chaotic running and shooting (especially against the shifty new Big Sisters). Over the course of the game, you’ll amass more weapons and specialty ammo than you’ll know what to do with, but it accurately reflects the nihilistic, every-man-for-himself possession-hoarding world Ayn Rand might have been proud of.

More sequel madness

Perhaps the biggest news in sequel land is last week’s launch of the StarCraft II closed beta for battle.net users. Too late to get in on the Terran v. Zerg v. Protoss action, but at least there will be plenty of online reports forthcoming on this highly anticipated strategy game.