'BioShock 2' game review

Developer: 2K Marin, 2K Australia, 2K China, Digital Extremes
Publisher: 2K Games
Available On: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Reviewed On: Xbox 360

With Jedi-like powers, an engaging, philosophically-driven story and a gorgeous but waterlogged art deco setting, 2007's “BioShock” wasn't just one of that year's best first-person shooters, or one of this generation's best looking games, it was also one of the most unique games of that or any year.

Needless to say, anyone expecting this sequel to be as big a leap forward as the original will be sorely disappointed. But if you're expecting more of the same, plus a little bit more, you'll find that this return trip to Rapture is almost as eventful and fun as the first.

In the original, you explored a vast underwater city that had been built to be a utopia, but had fallen into disrepair after gene splicing and other problems caused a civil war and mass insanity. Set 10 years later, the game casts you as a Big Daddy, one of those diving suit-wearing behemoths that were the bane of your existence in the first game. Except that, unlike the rest of them, you're not single-minded, but have free will, as well as the ability to use plasmid powers and other weapons.

For the most part, much of “BioShock 2” plays like the original. The controls are just as smooth, the combination of powers and pistols makes this more interesting than your average shooter, and the inhabitants are just as nuts. More importantly, the game has the same creepy vibe—courtesy of its beautiful combination of art deco design and water-logged decay—which makes this, like the original, freaky in a “Silent Hill” kind of way.

But while this looks and feels much like the original, there are some new twisted bits, such as the ability to two-fist Plasmids and a weapon at the same time. This makes it easier to toss a one-two punch of a lightning bolt and a gun shot at such new adversaries as the Big Sisters, who are like Big Daddies on speed. Also, your diving suit means we can now stroll outside, on the ocean floor, or in areas of Rapture that have been flooded (though, unlike your brethren, you can thankfully move faster than a slow amble).

Another addition, and a rather welcome one, is online competitive multiplayer, which was the only feature the original lacked. Even better, this multiplayer takes a cue from “Call of Duty” by including an experienced-based upgrade system. Which means that every game of “Civil War” (a.k.a. “Team Deathmatch”), “Capture the Sister” (“Capture the Flag”), and “Turf War” (where teams work together to grab and control points on the map) you play makes your character that much stronger.

Even with this and the other additions, though, “BioShock 2” won't be as big a, well, shock, as the original. Especially not in the story department (though the story is still interesting). But with everything else working just as well, this second Rapture vacation ends up being almost as scarily fun as the first.

Bottom Line: To paraphrase Blondie (as we often do): you'll have a great time, hanging each night in Rapture.