First Bioshock 2 Reviews are coming in

[Taustin Powers]

And they are mainly positive. Seems like a solid, albeit uninspired, sequel. Nothing radically new, but what is there is still great.

Seeing how I just finished Bioshock an hour ago (finally!) , I can wait a little while before I go back to Rapture. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but a break from Rapture will be good. I'll probably pick it up later this year in the bargain bin.

[Dont Hurt Me]

And they are mainly positive. Seems like a solid, albeit uninspired, sequel. Nothing radically new, but what is there is still great.

Seeing how I just finished Bioshock an hour ago (finally!) , I can wait a little while before I go back to Rapture. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but a break from Rapture will be good. I'll probably pick it up later this year in the bargain bin.
Did you play it both ways?

[Taustin Powers]

Nope, only the "good" way, saved all the little sisters.

I have to say, the ending was a little....short.

Is it worth it to replay and harvest them? If it's just a different 30 second ending sequence, I may not bother. :confused:

[JackAxe]

I'll buy it when it drops to $5 on STEAM. :)

[stainlessliquid]

I liked the first one but I think I had enough of Rapture, there doesnt seem to be much else to experience, its not that big of a world.

[sikkinixx]

meh. I'll wait for the Steam sale.

[Dagless]

I'll wait too. Wasn't keen on the first one and had to drag my way to my current location. I'll get it when it hits £3 in the Steam sale though.
A side note - I don't get how all these new mini-sequels are all okay to people, but when L4D2 did it people screamed that it should be DLC! People!

[Dagless]

Gah! double post!

[2nyRiggz]

I'm glad they didn't change much of the formula and just tweaked it a bit. They can keep the multiplayer though...I'm not looking forward to it at all.

I really wish these reviewers would stay on course though...if this wasn't a hyped up game it would of gotten a lower score because theres nothing new. Too much flip flopping for me with these "professional reviewers"



Bless

[MacRumorUser]

I'll probably end up getting it.....


Nice to see they have brought the ps3 version up to par with the 360 this time. 2KMarlin deserve a mention of that seeing as though the original port wasn't so great.

(Bioshock port ran at 640p, had poorer frame rate, worse textures on the big daddies and had the blur/vaseline filter applied to 'improve' things).

I got the good ending on the original, and remember the last couple of hours of the original - heck the second half of the original began to grate on my nerves a bit. Repetition kicked in a lot, Plasmids were ineffective and you ended up only using the same couple over and over again.

Also Rapture as great as a venue to be in - after the first hour or two, it's just repetitious area's that lacked anything new to see the further you got.

The story and twists were good though and that's what I ended up finishing for, and that's probably why I'll buy the sequel.

Multi-player seems like a pointless waste.

[Shotgun OS]

I will try to pick it up at the end of the week when I get paid. I really loved Bioshock; the atmosphere and setting really pulled me in. Hoping for a good sequel for the second one!

[Huntn]

My confession: I never finished the original. The reason was although I view the level design and overall atmosphere brilliant, it was too oppressive for me to finish. The first chance some other game grabbed my attention, I was outta there. :)

[pcypert]

That's a short attention span man... this game is in the single digits hour-wise for a playthrough. I don't have much time for gaming and Bioshock was a breeze to blast through.

I found the first one really well done. The atmosphere, story, etc. Lots of games for me are kind of guilty vices... I'm embarrassed if peers are in the room and I'm playing as the acting is cheesy, dialogue bad, etc (Bayonetta comes to mind :D ) but not so with Bioshock... can't wait for the sequel.

Paul

[JackAxe]

I didn't finish it ether, but primarily because I had prior expectations of the game's name sake, which BioShuck didn't remotely live up to. So compared to what I had expected and what I got, I found the game overly repetitive and really just another FPS, when it should have been much MUCH more than just that. :mad: :o

I need to find a review written by a curmudgeon like me, that didn't like the first either. I don't trust any reviewer that A) uses only on gamepad, B) gave BioShock a rating higher than a B.

[Abyssgh0st]

I loved Bioshock, and will be picking this up at midnight tonight for PC. I have it on 360 (it hit NewsBin around 4 PM Saturday, had it burned by the end of the night), and I'm impressed thus far.

With my new XFX ATI Radeon HD 5750, this game should look great on my 32"er.

[MacRumorUser]

Saw my local games shop has it on special for the first week. Reduced from usual €55 to €40. Also 10% off for loyalty = €36...... Thats cheaper than I can buy it online, so I will end up buying this tomorrow.

[ManhattanPrjct]

I'll probably pick it up later this year in the bargain bin.

Isn't it amazing how inexpensive games get if you just wait a bit?

I find (at least on PS3) that if you wait about 3 months, the game becomes $10 cheaper, then crossing 6 months it's half-price. During that time, the developer usually issues about 3 patches for stability/features, so generally you're getting a good finished project. Granted, I am not into any multiplayer games, so I guess popularity can wane, but I don't think I'll ever pay $60 for a brand new title!

[ManhattanPrjct]

I liked the first one but I think I had enough of Rapture, there doesnt seem to be much else to experience, its not that big of a world.

The challenge rooms were fun (DLC).

[dscuber9000]

I'm getting this game today. I'm so excited. If I really like the single-player, I might renew my gold membership to Xbox Live to play some multi-player. :D

[MacRumorUser]

Got it on the PS3....

[2nyRiggz]

^Me too...yayy?

I haven't open it as yet but I'll get to it later today.



Bless

[Huntn]

That's a short attention span man... this game is in the single digits hour-wise for a playthrough. I don't have much time for gaming and Bioshock was a breeze to blast through.

Actually I think I was pretty close to the end. :)

[JackAxe]

LOL. I'm buying this game for one reason. It's a GFWL game that does not support the gamepad. :D

Maybe this will be like Shrek 2. I was disappointed by the first Shrek based on what I had seen from the previews, but I liked the second one, because I lowered my expectations so much and waited for it to come to HBO.

[MacRumorUser]

LOL. I'm buying this game for one reason. It's a GFWL game that does not support the gamepad. :D

Really are you sure ? Strange the first did and the sequel would not?



First impressions....... its much like Bioshock ;)

Interestingly it runs at 1080p on the PS3 without having to de-select 720p ? Does that mean it's native ? Framerate is very good so far, however some textures look weak (like posters) until you get very close to them. Obviously a LOD balance.

[JackAxe]

Yep (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=BioShock+2+PC+%2B+gamepad&aq=f&aqi=&oq=). Not in a million years would I have ever thought that this would've been the case, especially since it's GFWL. :o

[pcypert]

The Kotaku review said it was a few hours in before you started feeling the refinement. That at first blush it would really seem like more of the same, but they guy who reviewed said he didn't really dig the first one and really liked the second one. Can't wait.

Paul

[MacRumorUser]

Finished single player campaign (on easy) and it was a good 8-9 hour ride.

Pretty much all the criticisms i had with the first game are still there, but the atmosphere and story kept me going.

Enjoyed rescuing & adopting the little sisters. However it's a shame that they are not given much individualism, they are all identikit.

Good game, haven't tried multiplayer and if im honest, can't be bothered to.

[MorphingDragon]

I'll wait too. Wasn't keen on the first one and had to drag my way to my current location. I'll get it when it hits £3 in the Steam sale though.
A side note - I don't get how all these new mini-sequels are all okay to people, but when L4D2 did it people screamed that it should be DLC! People!

Is it me or does Valve ignore their biggest user base? Half Life.

--

Bioshock was bug free for once! (PS3 version)

[Piarco]

Finished single player campaign (on easy) and it was a good 8-9 hour ride.

Pretty much all the criticisms i had with the first game are still there, but the atmosphere and story kept me going.

Enjoyed rescuing & adopting the little sisters. However it's a shame that they are not given much individualism, they are all identikit.

Good game, haven't tried multiplayer and if im honest, can't be bothered to.

I finished it last night on medium. For a long time it felt more like Bioshock 1.5, not more than a mere add-on, but the story kept going and I got more involved. All in all I enjoyed it a lot, not as much as the original, but it is a good ride. I've got a work colleague who has gone down the "evil" route and is harvesting left right and centre and killing off the characters you have to make a choice over. Let's just say Eleanor is a different daughter under his mentorship! It'll be interesting to see how his game ends...

And it lines up again nicely for a 3rd Bioshock :spoiler white text alert:
Eleanors line about it not being the end of Raptures story, just the beginning? I took the nice guy path: saved every little sister, didn't kill the old woman, but did off the reporter (no merit in saving that weasel) and gave Gil his final sane wish. I was looking forward to my character getting out with Eleanor and being able to take off the damn suit instead of dying and being "stored" and being reduced to "break in the case of emergencies"...but then I'm a softy at heart.

[MacRumorUser]

^ Yeah I basically ended up with exact same outcome.

As you say it felt more Bioshock 1.5 really than a sequel.

Not sure about another trip to Rapture. I really have had my fill now.

oh... tried multiplayer. Nice lobby home idea, but everything else.. pass.

[Piarco]

^ Yeah I basically ended up with exact same outcome.

As you say it felt more Bioshock 1.5 really than a sequel.

Not sure about another trip to Rapture. I really have had my fill now.

oh... tried multiplayer. Nice lobby home idea, but everything else.. pass.

Forgot there was a multiplayer with this one. Can't say I'm tempted, I would have much preferred if they'd sunk the time taken to produce an MP element into the SP campaign...