BioShock 2
Encyclopedia
BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter
video game developed by 2K Marin
for Microsoft Windows
, PlayStation 3
and Xbox 360
. The sequel to the 2007 video game BioShock
, it was released worldwide on February 9, 2010.
The game is set in the fictional underwater dystopia
of Rapture, in a biopunk
/dieselpunk 1968, eight years after the events of BioShock. The protagonist and player-controlled character is a Big Daddy
, a being that has had its organs and skin grafted into an atmospheric diving suit
. Among the first of its kind, the player-controlled Big Daddy, named Subject Delta, reactivates with no recollection of the past decade's events, and scours the city in an attempt to relocate the Little Sister that he was paired with. Fearing this reunion will ruin her plans for the city, Sofia Lamb sends out her spliced up followers that she calls "The Rapture Family" and new Big Sisters in an attempt to deter Delta.
In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die
.
approximately 8 years after the events of the first game. As with BioShock, the player explores Rapture and fights off Splicers, the remaining psychotic human population of the city, using a combination of the environment, weapons, Plasmids and Tonics. Plasmids and Tonics are special genetic-reencoding liquids that grant the user active or passive abilities, respectively, and include both those introduced in BioShock and new ones for this game. For example, Plasmids can give the player the ability to use telekinesis or evoke fire, while Tonics can improve the player's movement speed, attack damage, or damage resistance. Several of the weapons in BioShock 2 are those that were previously seen carried by Big Daddies from the first game, including a powerful drill and a rivet gun. The player can use each weapon in a close-range melee attack. Unlike the first game, the player is able to equip both one weapon and one Plasmid at the same time, which they can use in quick succession to destroy foes; for example, by first freezing a foe, they can be shattered into pieces using a spear gun. If the player is killed, they are revived in the nearest "Vita-Chamber".
As the player explores Rapture, they will collect ammo, health and EVE (a liquid used to power Plasmid use), recovery items, and money. Money can be used to purchase more items at vending machines across the city. The player will also encounter security systems which can be hacked through a mini-game. This requires the player to stop a quickly-moving needle one or more times in the correctly-colored marked area of a gauge. Stopping it within the green area progresses the sequence and or potentially ends it while stopping in the blue area may grant a bonus to the hacking attempt; landing in a white area shocks the player (dealing a small amount of damage) while landing in red-colored areas can lead to the start of a security alert. The player also gains access to a research video camera; in BioShock 2, once the player begins recording an enemy, the player has a short time to damage that enemy in creative ways in order to score a number of points, which are then added towards the total research of that enemy type. At various levels of research, the player is then rewarded with new abilities in general or towards that specific type of foe. Certain areas of the game take place entirely underwater, limiting the actions the player can perform.
As a Big Daddy, the player can attempt to defeat other Big Daddies escorting Little Sisters. Should the player succeed, they can then either choose to Harvest or Adopt the Little Sister, gaining appreciable ADAM to be used for buying new Plasmids, gene tonics, slots or the option to Adopt them. While adopted, the Little Sister will lead the player to corpses where she can extract more ADAM. While she does this, the player must defend her from Splicer attacks. Once the Little Sister has collected enough ADAM, the player can then return her to an escape vent, again allowing the player to choose to Rescue the Little Sister, receiving a modest amount of ADAM but with the possibility of beneficial gifts later, or harvest her for a large ADAM boost. ADAM can then be spent at Gatherer's Garden machines throughout Rapture. Once the player has either Rescued or Harvested each of the Little Sisters on the level, the player will be attacked by a Big Sister. The Big Sister's agility and resourcefulness will task the players with a difficult fight before they can proceed with the game.
The player can choose among 6 characters to be their in-game avatar. The characters are: a welder named Jacob Norris, a housewife named Barbara Johnson, a football star named Danny Wilkins, a businessman named Buck Raleigh, a pilot named Naledi Atkins, and an Indian mystic named Suresh Sheti. Two additional characters were available as a pre-order bonus from 12game, GameStop
, EB Games or Game
, or through the purchase of a DLC pack: a fisherman named Zigo d'Acosta and an actress named Mlle Blanche de Glace. Another two characters were made available by downloading the Sinclair Solutions Tester pack: a criminal named Louie McGraff and a smooth-talking playboy named Oscar Calraca.
Multiplayer comes in 7 different modes, two of which have a single and team based mode. The modes are:
Survival of the Fittest : A 'free-for-all' mode where each player gets points for killing each of the other players. Whichever player has the most kills or 20 kills at the end of the match wins.
Civil War : Similar to 'Survival of the Fittest,' but in this mode players are divided into two teams and the team with the most collective kills at the end of the match wins.
Last Splicer Standing : A variation of 'Civil War' in which players do not respawn after being killed. Each match consists of several rounds in which players attempt to outlive the players on the enemy team.
Capture the Sister : A 'Capture the Flag' style mode where players are divided into two teams. One team has to protect a Little Sister while the other team tries to steal her and place her in a vent on the other side of the map. The team protecting the little sister will have a randomly chosen player be a Big Daddy. After a pre-determined amount of time, the teams switch roles. Whichever team has the most captures at the end of the match wins.
ADAM Grab : In this mode there is one Little Sister on the map and the player must seek her out and maintain possession of her as long as possible. The first person to hold onto the Little Sister for 3 minutes wins.
Team ADAM Grab : A variant of 'ADAM Grab' where players are divided into two teams. The objective is the same, but victory is determined by a collective score rather than individual scores, and the first team to hold the little sister for 3 minutes wins.
Turf War : Players are split into two teams and each team must reach pre-determined points on the map to capture that point. The team with the most control points over the longest time wins.
In 'Survival of the Fittest', 'Civil War' and 'Turf War', a Big Daddy suit will spawn at a random location in the level. If a player can find the suit, the choice is given to become the Big Daddy, which will give the player greater strength and endurance, but prohibits the use of plasmids and hacking and expels any previously held damage bonuses against other players. The Big Daddy can stomp, shoot a rivet gun, melee attack and throw proximity mines. All damage dealt to the Big Daddy is permanent, and can't be replenished. Once the Big Daddy is defeated, the suit disappears, spawning in another location on the map two minutes later. In 'Capture the Sister' one member of the defending team is chosen at random to be the Big Daddy. After the player's death, the Big Daddy suit disappears for the rest of the round.
in 1968, 8 years after the events of the first game. Tenenbaum has briefly returned to Rapture once she realizes that someone is continuing her work by enslaving new Little Sisters. It is shown through flashbacks and audio recordings that the player character, Subject Delta (the fourth Big Daddy created), is forced to commit suicide in 1958 by Sofia Lamb, through the use of a mind-controlling
plasmid. This was done in part because Delta's Little Sister, Eleanor, is actually Lamb's daughter. Lamb, originally brought to Rapture to help psychologically-stressed citizens of the underwater city cope with the lack of sunlight, used persuasion to entice her patients into a cult called "The Rapture Family", and attempted to spread her altruistic ideals throughout Rapture. Andrew Ryan discovered this through a mole, Stanley Poole, and had Lamb thrown in prison, leaving Eleanor in the care of Grace Holloway. Eleanor eventually confronted Poole about his betrayal of her mother, and Poole panicked, kidnapping Eleanor and leaving her in a Little Sister's Orphanage, eventually leading to her conversion into a Little Sister. Lamb later returned to the city, reclaimed her daughter from Delta, and gained control of Rapture after Ryan's death. Lamb guided the development of the aging Little Sisters into more dangerous Big Sisters, and sent them out to the Atlantic coastline to kidnap little girls for conversion into new Little Sisters in Rapture.
In 1968, Eleanor, now a teenager, has gained control over many of the Little Sisters, and uses them to revive Subject Delta at a Vita Chamber. Delta is drawn towards Eleanor by their past Daddy/Sister connection. Brigid Tenenbaum encounters Delta, and explains that unless Delta reunites with Eleanor, a Fail-safe
device will trigger that will put him into a coma. With the help of the Little Sisters under Eleanor's control and Tenenbaum's ally, Augustus Sinclair, Delta makes his way towards Lamb's stronghold, encountering both Poole and Holloway en route. As Delta progresses, it becomes clear that Lamb is seeking to use ADAM to transform Eleanor into a perfect embodiment of her altruistic ideals. Lamb's ultimate goal is to have all the collected minds and memories of everyone in Rapture become a part of Eleanor, through the use of the genetic memory in ADAM, thus making her an "Embodiment of the Family", which Lamb believes will put an end to "The Self".
Delta arrives at a containment chamber where Eleanor is held, but Lamb captures him and severs his bond with Eleanor by temporarily stopping her heart. Though Eleanor survives, Delta is now slowly dying, as the bond cannot be re-established. Eleanor uses a Little Sister to bring Delta a plasmid which allows him to control the Sisters, thus enabling him to bring Eleanor a complete Big Sister suit, and allowing Eleanor to become a Big Sister. Eleanor escapes with it, rescues Delta, and together they head for an escape pod that Sinclair has arranged to leave Rapture. The two find that Lamb has converted Sinclair into a Big Daddy, and Delta is forced to finish him off. After a final climactic showdown with the remnants of The Rapture Family, Eleanor and Delta make it to the escape pod, but a final trap set by Lamb mortally wounds Delta and starts to send the entire building into the deep ocean rift. Eleanor teleports out of the explosion to the rising escape craft, but Delta is trapped on the outside. Using the last of his strength, he manages to grab onto the side of the escape pod and climb to its top as it rises. Trapped in the flooded escape pod with her mother, Eleanor makes the choice to either kill or save Sofia Lamb based on what she has learned from the player's actions.
There are several possible endings depending on how the player has performed during the game; these are based on whether the player has rescued all the Little Sisters or harvested them, and if they have spared the lives of certain non-player characters (like Holloway and Poole) within the game. If a certain number of these non-player characters have been spared, Eleanor will save Lamb. If the player killed all, or not saved enough, of these non-player characters, she will allow Lamb to drown. When the pod reaches the surface, Eleanor finds a dying Delta barely hanging onto the pod. Depending on how the player has chosen to deal with the little sisters, the ending will change. If the player has rescued all of the Little Sisters, Eleanor will absorb the ADAM from Delta, taking his mind and memories into herself, and leaving Rapture behind forever, accompanied by a group of rescued Little Sisters. If the player has chosen to harvest all of the Little Sisters, Eleanor will absorb Delta's power and use it to make herself even stronger to dominate the world alone. A mix of harvesting and rescuing of the Little Sisters will leave Eleanor to opt against absorbing Delta's ADAM and mourn Delta's passing.
magazine, around the same time that the "viral" site "There's Something in the Sea" was revealed. This site documents a man named Mark Meltzer's investigation into the disappearances of girls from coastline areas around the Atlantic, along with a mysterious red light that accompanies each kidnapping. On April 9, 2009 on the Spike TV
show GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley
the first BioShock 2 gameplay video was shown featuring the Big Sister. This demo showed many features including the ability to walk under water.
The story received major changes over the course of development, with two of the most important relating to the player's character and the Big Sister. Initially there was only going to be one Big Sister who would continually hunt the player down throughout the course of the game and then retreat once she was defeated. This Big Sister was written as a Little Sister who, as she grew up on the surface, could not leave the memory of Rapture behind and eventually returned. The reason for the change, as explained by Zak McClendon, Lead Designer for 2K Marin, "If you have a single character that the player knows they can't kill because they're so important to the story you're completely removing the triumph of overcoming that encounter with them." Jordan Thomas explains however, "The soul of the original Big Sister character still exists, but in the form of somebody you get to know over the course of the game." The other major change is that the player's character, Subject Delta, is no longer the first Big Daddy, but rather the fourth prototype. He is, however, the first to be successfully 'pair-bonded' to a single Little Sister.
Digital Extremes
produced the multiplayer component of the game. In the multiplayer portion, players are put in a separate story where civil war has broken out in Rapture prior to the events of the first game. In the multiplayer mode the player acts as a plasmid test subject for a company called Sinclair Solutions. As the player progresses through the multiplayer maps like Mercury Suites and Kashmir Restaurant they will either have the ability to hack turrets and vending machines or search for the Big Daddy
suit.
, who recorded his score with a 60-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony
at Capitol Studios
. Additionally, the Special Edition of Bioshock 2 included the orchestral score from the game on a CD, as well as the orchestral score from the original BioShock on a vinyl 180g LP.
Anyone who wishes to download the soundtrack without purchasing the hard copy can download it digitally.
, reveal hidden messages), the orchestral score from the game on CD, the orchestral score from the original BioShock on a vinyl 180g LP, and a hardbound, 164-page art book. It is packaged in a 13"×13" premium case with special art on both the slipcase and the box cover.
A smaller limited edition, titled BioShock 2 Rapture Edition, was officially announced on December 2, 2009. Its contents are the game and a smaller, 96-page art book, which are packaged together in a special slipcover. As with the Special Edition, the Rapture Edition was limited to a single production run. The BioShock 2 Rapture Edition is available in Europe, New Zealand and Australia, in addition to the BioShock 2 Special Edition.
(DLC) for BioShock 2. The pack focuses on the multiplayer element of the game, increasing the leveling rank to 50 as well as unlocking 2 new playable characters, 20 new trials, 5 new masks, the 2 new players' special melee weapons and a third upgrade for each weapon. The DLC was released on March 11, 2010 for 400 Microsoft points, and was also available for purchase on the PS3 entertainment system for $4.99.
Shortly after the release of the DLC it was discovered that the "downloadable" content was already stored on the retail disc, and players were actually paying for a small file that unlocked content they already owned. This was later confirmed to be the case by 2K Games, who also claimed that this was so that all players would have the same files on the disc and so that the DLC would not split the playerbase.
Since its release, many players of the new DLC have complained to 2K, saying that the odds of playing the new maps from the Metro Pack are extremely low, with many players commenting that since purchasing the pack, they haven't played a single new map. 2K responded and said the design decision was made in order to stop "base-splitting"; where the player lobbies are split up, so that all players can still play together, regardless of whether they have purchased the DLC or not.
However, players still voiced further complaints, citing that the odds of 10 people in one match all having the DLC, and then still having a 10 in 16 chance of striking an old map, means that overall, one is unlikely to be able play the new maps in a non-private match (which is required for 2 out of 3 of the new achievements/trophies). Some players suggested adding a "playlist" to feature only the new maps, so that players with the DLC could play together, rather than having to set up private matches. However, 2K Games later stated that they had no plans to add playlist functionality to the multiplayer.
Another complaint surfaced shortly after, regarding the DLC new "Rebirth!" feature. Players reported that once activating the feature at Rank 50, all leaderboard stats and ADAM scores are reset too, effectively sending the player to the bottom of the rank globally.
2K Community Manager, Elizabeth Tobey responded with the following statement:
The story introduces the characters of Charles Milton Porter, who guides the player (with Brigid Tenenbaum), and Reed Wahl, who acts as the antagonist. Porter and Wahl were once partners working on a computer with advanced artificial intelligence
dubbed "The Thinker", but Wahl framed Porter for treason and stole the machine. Porter, realizing that he would be taken away and that Rapture was crumbling, left instructions for the machine on how to get to the surface, in order to ensure that his creation would benefit mankind.
The add-on also features new weapons, a new plasmid as well as a new Big Daddy type. It was released August 31 for PS3 and Xbox360. It costs $10/ 800 Microsoft Points. Work on the PC version of this downloadable content was resumed on 28 October 2010. The DLC was released on PC on 31 May 2011.
and downloadable content shortly after release, 2K Games announced in October 2010 that they would not provide a final patch to fix remaining issues with the game. Furthermore, 2K Games announced they would not offer the "Protector Trials" or "Minerva's Den" content on the platform, citing "Timing and technical issues" that they had encountered but could not work around. 2K apologized to the players, as they had promised that this content would be forthcoming to the Windows platform, and that if the situation changed, they would offer it in the future. 2K later explained that in trying to prepare additional patches with support for the additional content, they encountered bugs under specific circumstances that they felt would not be acceptable to the Microsoft certification process, and while they had tried to correct those bugs, they were unable to do so in a timely manner, leading to their decision to abandon the attempt. The announcement was met with heavy criticism from some players, having felt that 2K Games took advantage of their "goodwill" in the promised game and DLC updates. In late October, 2K Games reversed their decision based on the players' responses, and have recommitted resources to complete the game patch and support for both content packs on the Windows version; the patch and "Protector Trials" would likely be available in Spring 2011, while more work is necessary to complete the "Minerva's Den" content. Protector Trials DLC for the PC version of BioShock 2 was made available pre-maturely via Games for Windows Live on February 20, 2011. Users find that the download pack, which was yet to officially arrive on PC, was available for the price of 400 MS Points. But when users paid for and downloaded the 964mb update, they were completely unable to access it. On March 12, 2011 it was announced that Protector Trials would be released for PC on March 14, 2011. The patch to the main game which enabled the DLC to run was released after the DLC itself, though the new content was playable by March 15, 2011.
Though 2K was originally reluctant to confirm a release date for the Minerva's Den DLC, eventually they confirmed that it would be released at the end of May 2011.
for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions. PSM3
awarded it 93%, saying that it "tops the original in terms of storytelling and combat". PC Gamer
was also positive, awarding the game 90%, and commenting that "it's still better written than pretty much anything else out there". Xbox World 360
rated it 90%, stating that the return to the underwater dystopia of Rapture is "every bit as engrossingly mysterious [as the original] ... if not more so", and that the two titles are "as inseparable as Daddy and Sister". PlayStation: The Official Magazine
awarded BioShock 2 a perfect score of 5/5. Official Xbox Magazine
awarded the game a 9.5/10, stating that the game is "Dripping with atmosphere and quality; good story
with a terrific ending; good gameplay tweaks".
IGN
scored the game a 9.1/10 and said that "anyone looking for a first-person shooter that offers more than flat, stereotypical characters and copy-and-paste supersoldier plots, one that attempts to establish a sense of right and wrong and loops you into the decision making process, and one that's set in one of the most vividly realized settings around should pick up BioShock 2. It's a game in which story, setting, and gameplay are expertly blended to create an experience that's as thought-provoking as it is entertaining." IGN's review also stated that the game does not look as visually impressive as its predecessor, but it is still one of the best-looking games around because of its unique art style. In a round-table style video chat, IGN editors said that Rapture was less mysterious because players have seen it before, and that was a major strike against the game. Since the original had such an eerie mysterious feel to it, the twists and turns seen in the sequel seemed less surprising.
Gaming Evolution scored the game a 9.4/10 and said that "BioShock 2 is not a departure from the original game as it takes a lot of the gameplay mechanics, tweaks them, and improves on what was already there. The new storyline is a lot less complex compared to the original game, giving you more playing time and less time trying to understand what’s going on."
In its first week of release, BioShock 2 was the best-selling Xbox 360 game in the UK and North America. In the U.S., NPD
recorded it as the top selling game of February with 562,900 units sold on the Xbox 360, and 190,500 on the PS3. Gamasutra
state a possible reason for the Xbox 360's greater sales was the original Bioshock's 14 month exclusivity on the platform. It also managed to hold both the first and second positions on the Steam release charts.
In its first month of release, BioShock 2 was number 1 in sales for the Xbox 360 and number 12 for the PlayStation 3. PC sales are not tracked by NPD for top 20 results, and is therefore unknown.
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
video game developed by 2K Marin
2K Marin
2K Marin is an American and Australian video game developer based in Novato, California and Canberra, Australia. The studio's main focus according to press releases is to develop new intellectual property and co-develop products with other 2K studios....
for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. The sequel to the 2007 video game BioShock
Bioshock
BioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007...
, it was released worldwide on February 9, 2010.
The game is set in the fictional underwater dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
of Rapture, in a biopunk
Biopunk
Biopunk is a term used to describe:# A hobbyist who experiments with DNA and other aspects of genetics.# A technoprogressive movement advocating open access to genetic information....
/dieselpunk 1968, eight years after the events of BioShock. The protagonist and player-controlled character is a Big Daddy
Big Daddy (BioShock)
A Big Daddy is a fictional character in the BioShock series of video games. Designed by 2K Boston/2K Australia, they first appeared in BioShock and were promoted heavily...
, a being that has had its organs and skin grafted into an atmospheric diving suit
Atmospheric diving suit
An atmospheric diving suit or ADS is a small one-man articulated submersible of anthropomorphic form which resembles a suit of armour, with elaborate pressure joints to allow articulation while maintaining an internal pressure of one atmosphere...
. Among the first of its kind, the player-controlled Big Daddy, named Subject Delta, reactivates with no recollection of the past decade's events, and scours the city in an attempt to relocate the Little Sister that he was paired with. Fearing this reunion will ruin her plans for the city, Sofia Lamb sends out her spliced up followers that she calls "The Rapture Family" and new Big Sisters in an attempt to deter Delta.
In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die
Quintessence Editions Ltd.
Quintessence Editions Ltd. is a publishing company based in London which is the originator of the "1001 Before You Die" series. Typically, the titles in this series are intended as reference books. They are illustrated books authored by multiple contributors...
.
Gameplay
BioShock 2 is presented as a first person shooter, with the player taking on the role of Subject Delta, a prototype for the Big DaddiesBig Daddy (BioShock)
A Big Daddy is a fictional character in the BioShock series of video games. Designed by 2K Boston/2K Australia, they first appeared in BioShock and were promoted heavily...
approximately 8 years after the events of the first game. As with BioShock, the player explores Rapture and fights off Splicers, the remaining psychotic human population of the city, using a combination of the environment, weapons, Plasmids and Tonics. Plasmids and Tonics are special genetic-reencoding liquids that grant the user active or passive abilities, respectively, and include both those introduced in BioShock and new ones for this game. For example, Plasmids can give the player the ability to use telekinesis or evoke fire, while Tonics can improve the player's movement speed, attack damage, or damage resistance. Several of the weapons in BioShock 2 are those that were previously seen carried by Big Daddies from the first game, including a powerful drill and a rivet gun. The player can use each weapon in a close-range melee attack. Unlike the first game, the player is able to equip both one weapon and one Plasmid at the same time, which they can use in quick succession to destroy foes; for example, by first freezing a foe, they can be shattered into pieces using a spear gun. If the player is killed, they are revived in the nearest "Vita-Chamber".
As the player explores Rapture, they will collect ammo, health and EVE (a liquid used to power Plasmid use), recovery items, and money. Money can be used to purchase more items at vending machines across the city. The player will also encounter security systems which can be hacked through a mini-game. This requires the player to stop a quickly-moving needle one or more times in the correctly-colored marked area of a gauge. Stopping it within the green area progresses the sequence and or potentially ends it while stopping in the blue area may grant a bonus to the hacking attempt; landing in a white area shocks the player (dealing a small amount of damage) while landing in red-colored areas can lead to the start of a security alert. The player also gains access to a research video camera; in BioShock 2, once the player begins recording an enemy, the player has a short time to damage that enemy in creative ways in order to score a number of points, which are then added towards the total research of that enemy type. At various levels of research, the player is then rewarded with new abilities in general or towards that specific type of foe. Certain areas of the game take place entirely underwater, limiting the actions the player can perform.
As a Big Daddy, the player can attempt to defeat other Big Daddies escorting Little Sisters. Should the player succeed, they can then either choose to Harvest or Adopt the Little Sister, gaining appreciable ADAM to be used for buying new Plasmids, gene tonics, slots or the option to Adopt them. While adopted, the Little Sister will lead the player to corpses where she can extract more ADAM. While she does this, the player must defend her from Splicer attacks. Once the Little Sister has collected enough ADAM, the player can then return her to an escape vent, again allowing the player to choose to Rescue the Little Sister, receiving a modest amount of ADAM but with the possibility of beneficial gifts later, or harvest her for a large ADAM boost. ADAM can then be spent at Gatherer's Garden machines throughout Rapture. Once the player has either Rescued or Harvested each of the Little Sisters on the level, the player will be attacked by a Big Sister. The Big Sister's agility and resourcefulness will task the players with a difficult fight before they can proceed with the game.
Multiplayer
BioShock 2 features a story driven multiplayer mode where the player takes on the role of a citizen of Rapture. Set in 1959, just before the events of BioShock, the player chooses to take on the role of a splicer fighting in Rapture's civil war. The player is being sponsored by Plasmid manufacturer, Sinclair Solutions, to test out their weapons, Plasmids, and Tonics in a consumer reward program. As the player progresses through the multiplayer experience, new weapons, Tonics, and Plasmids will be unlocked (provided by Sinclair), in addition to the story of the Rapture civil war being told.The player can choose among 6 characters to be their in-game avatar. The characters are: a welder named Jacob Norris, a housewife named Barbara Johnson, a football star named Danny Wilkins, a businessman named Buck Raleigh, a pilot named Naledi Atkins, and an Indian mystic named Suresh Sheti. Two additional characters were available as a pre-order bonus from 12game, GameStop
GameStop
GameStop Corporation is an American video game and entertainment software retailer. The company, whose headquarters is in Grapevine, Texas, United States, operates 6,500 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New...
, EB Games or Game
GAME (retailer)
The Game Group plc is a British video games retail company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index....
, or through the purchase of a DLC pack: a fisherman named Zigo d'Acosta and an actress named Mlle Blanche de Glace. Another two characters were made available by downloading the Sinclair Solutions Tester pack: a criminal named Louie McGraff and a smooth-talking playboy named Oscar Calraca.
Multiplayer comes in 7 different modes, two of which have a single and team based mode. The modes are:
Survival of the Fittest : A 'free-for-all' mode where each player gets points for killing each of the other players. Whichever player has the most kills or 20 kills at the end of the match wins.
Civil War : Similar to 'Survival of the Fittest,' but in this mode players are divided into two teams and the team with the most collective kills at the end of the match wins.
Last Splicer Standing : A variation of 'Civil War' in which players do not respawn after being killed. Each match consists of several rounds in which players attempt to outlive the players on the enemy team.
Capture the Sister : A 'Capture the Flag' style mode where players are divided into two teams. One team has to protect a Little Sister while the other team tries to steal her and place her in a vent on the other side of the map. The team protecting the little sister will have a randomly chosen player be a Big Daddy. After a pre-determined amount of time, the teams switch roles. Whichever team has the most captures at the end of the match wins.
ADAM Grab : In this mode there is one Little Sister on the map and the player must seek her out and maintain possession of her as long as possible. The first person to hold onto the Little Sister for 3 minutes wins.
Team ADAM Grab : A variant of 'ADAM Grab' where players are divided into two teams. The objective is the same, but victory is determined by a collective score rather than individual scores, and the first team to hold the little sister for 3 minutes wins.
Turf War : Players are split into two teams and each team must reach pre-determined points on the map to capture that point. The team with the most control points over the longest time wins.
In 'Survival of the Fittest', 'Civil War' and 'Turf War', a Big Daddy suit will spawn at a random location in the level. If a player can find the suit, the choice is given to become the Big Daddy, which will give the player greater strength and endurance, but prohibits the use of plasmids and hacking and expels any previously held damage bonuses against other players. The Big Daddy can stomp, shoot a rivet gun, melee attack and throw proximity mines. All damage dealt to the Big Daddy is permanent, and can't be replenished. Once the Big Daddy is defeated, the suit disappears, spawning in another location on the map two minutes later. In 'Capture the Sister' one member of the defending team is chosen at random to be the Big Daddy. After the player's death, the Big Daddy suit disappears for the rest of the round.
Plot
BioShock 2 takes place in RaptureRapture (BioShock)
Rapture is an underwater city that is the setting for the games BioShock and BioShock 2. The game's back-story describes the city as envisioned by business tycoon Andrew Ryan in the mid-1940s as a means to create a utopia for mankind's greatest thinkers to prosper in a laissez-faire environment...
in 1968, 8 years after the events of the first game. Tenenbaum has briefly returned to Rapture once she realizes that someone is continuing her work by enslaving new Little Sisters. It is shown through flashbacks and audio recordings that the player character, Subject Delta (the fourth Big Daddy created), is forced to commit suicide in 1958 by Sofia Lamb, through the use of a mind-controlling
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
plasmid. This was done in part because Delta's Little Sister, Eleanor, is actually Lamb's daughter. Lamb, originally brought to Rapture to help psychologically-stressed citizens of the underwater city cope with the lack of sunlight, used persuasion to entice her patients into a cult called "The Rapture Family", and attempted to spread her altruistic ideals throughout Rapture. Andrew Ryan discovered this through a mole, Stanley Poole, and had Lamb thrown in prison, leaving Eleanor in the care of Grace Holloway. Eleanor eventually confronted Poole about his betrayal of her mother, and Poole panicked, kidnapping Eleanor and leaving her in a Little Sister's Orphanage, eventually leading to her conversion into a Little Sister. Lamb later returned to the city, reclaimed her daughter from Delta, and gained control of Rapture after Ryan's death. Lamb guided the development of the aging Little Sisters into more dangerous Big Sisters, and sent them out to the Atlantic coastline to kidnap little girls for conversion into new Little Sisters in Rapture.
In 1968, Eleanor, now a teenager, has gained control over many of the Little Sisters, and uses them to revive Subject Delta at a Vita Chamber. Delta is drawn towards Eleanor by their past Daddy/Sister connection. Brigid Tenenbaum encounters Delta, and explains that unless Delta reunites with Eleanor, a Fail-safe
Fail-safe
A fail-safe or fail-secure device is one that, in the event of failure, responds in a way that will cause no harm, or at least a minimum of harm, to other devices or danger to personnel....
device will trigger that will put him into a coma. With the help of the Little Sisters under Eleanor's control and Tenenbaum's ally, Augustus Sinclair, Delta makes his way towards Lamb's stronghold, encountering both Poole and Holloway en route. As Delta progresses, it becomes clear that Lamb is seeking to use ADAM to transform Eleanor into a perfect embodiment of her altruistic ideals. Lamb's ultimate goal is to have all the collected minds and memories of everyone in Rapture become a part of Eleanor, through the use of the genetic memory in ADAM, thus making her an "Embodiment of the Family", which Lamb believes will put an end to "The Self".
Delta arrives at a containment chamber where Eleanor is held, but Lamb captures him and severs his bond with Eleanor by temporarily stopping her heart. Though Eleanor survives, Delta is now slowly dying, as the bond cannot be re-established. Eleanor uses a Little Sister to bring Delta a plasmid which allows him to control the Sisters, thus enabling him to bring Eleanor a complete Big Sister suit, and allowing Eleanor to become a Big Sister. Eleanor escapes with it, rescues Delta, and together they head for an escape pod that Sinclair has arranged to leave Rapture. The two find that Lamb has converted Sinclair into a Big Daddy, and Delta is forced to finish him off. After a final climactic showdown with the remnants of The Rapture Family, Eleanor and Delta make it to the escape pod, but a final trap set by Lamb mortally wounds Delta and starts to send the entire building into the deep ocean rift. Eleanor teleports out of the explosion to the rising escape craft, but Delta is trapped on the outside. Using the last of his strength, he manages to grab onto the side of the escape pod and climb to its top as it rises. Trapped in the flooded escape pod with her mother, Eleanor makes the choice to either kill or save Sofia Lamb based on what she has learned from the player's actions.
There are several possible endings depending on how the player has performed during the game; these are based on whether the player has rescued all the Little Sisters or harvested them, and if they have spared the lives of certain non-player characters (like Holloway and Poole) within the game. If a certain number of these non-player characters have been spared, Eleanor will save Lamb. If the player killed all, or not saved enough, of these non-player characters, she will allow Lamb to drown. When the pod reaches the surface, Eleanor finds a dying Delta barely hanging onto the pod. Depending on how the player has chosen to deal with the little sisters, the ending will change. If the player has rescued all of the Little Sisters, Eleanor will absorb the ADAM from Delta, taking his mind and memories into herself, and leaving Rapture behind forever, accompanied by a group of rescued Little Sisters. If the player has chosen to harvest all of the Little Sisters, Eleanor will absorb Delta's power and use it to make herself even stronger to dominate the world alone. A mix of harvesting and rescuing of the Little Sisters will leave Eleanor to opt against absorbing Delta's ADAM and mourn Delta's passing.
Development
Initially, media reports suggested that the subtitle, "Sea Of Dreams", would accompany the second entry in the series. However, this subtitle was supposedly dropped, before 2K withdrew the statement, stating that the "Sea Of Dreams" subtitle would still be part of the full title. However, a later statement from 2K spokesman Charlie Sinhaseni clarified that the "Sea Of Dreams" title was for the trailer, and not for the game itself. The first appearance for BioShock 2 came in the form of a teaser trailer that was available in the PlayStation 3 version of the game. The first major details on the gameplay and plot of the game were revealed in the April 2009 issue of Game InformerGame Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
magazine, around the same time that the "viral" site "There's Something in the Sea" was revealed. This site documents a man named Mark Meltzer's investigation into the disappearances of girls from coastline areas around the Atlantic, along with a mysterious red light that accompanies each kidnapping. On April 9, 2009 on the Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
show GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley
Game Head
GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley is a television show about video games hosted by video game journalist Geoff Keighley. Originally titled Game Head, on January 25, 2008, the show relaunched under its current name with a slightly different format and further incorporation of GameTrailers hosts,...
the first BioShock 2 gameplay video was shown featuring the Big Sister. This demo showed many features including the ability to walk under water.
The story received major changes over the course of development, with two of the most important relating to the player's character and the Big Sister. Initially there was only going to be one Big Sister who would continually hunt the player down throughout the course of the game and then retreat once she was defeated. This Big Sister was written as a Little Sister who, as she grew up on the surface, could not leave the memory of Rapture behind and eventually returned. The reason for the change, as explained by Zak McClendon, Lead Designer for 2K Marin, "If you have a single character that the player knows they can't kill because they're so important to the story you're completely removing the triumph of overcoming that encounter with them." Jordan Thomas explains however, "The soul of the original Big Sister character still exists, but in the form of somebody you get to know over the course of the game." The other major change is that the player's character, Subject Delta, is no longer the first Big Daddy, but rather the fourth prototype. He is, however, the first to be successfully 'pair-bonded' to a single Little Sister.
Digital Extremes
Digital Extremes
Digital Extremes is a Canadian computer and video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz, specifically noted for its part in the highly successful Unreal series of games...
produced the multiplayer component of the game. In the multiplayer portion, players are put in a separate story where civil war has broken out in Rapture prior to the events of the first game. In the multiplayer mode the player acts as a plasmid test subject for a company called Sinclair Solutions. As the player progresses through the multiplayer maps like Mercury Suites and Kashmir Restaurant they will either have the ability to hack turrets and vending machines or search for the Big Daddy
Big Daddy (BioShock)
A Big Daddy is a fictional character in the BioShock series of video games. Designed by 2K Boston/2K Australia, they first appeared in BioShock and were promoted heavily...
suit.
Music
The score to BioShock 2 was composed by Garry SchymanGarry Schyman
Garry Schyman is an American film, television, and video game music composer. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in music composition in 1978, and began work in the television industry, writing music for such television series as Magnum, P.I. and The A-Team. By...
, who recorded his score with a 60-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony
Hollywood Studio Symphony
The Hollywood Studio Symphony is the credited name of the symphony orchestra behind many major soundtracks, including The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Sucker Punch, Jurassic Park 3, Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean, We Are Marshall, Spider-Man 2, Lost and The...
at Capitol Studios
Capitol Studios
The Capitol Studios complex opened in the Capitol Records Building, a futuristic new building in the heart of Hollywood, in 1956. It has since hosted some of the most treasured recordings in music history, from Frank Sinatra to the Beastie Boys. It is owned by Capitol Records whose parent company...
. Additionally, the Special Edition of Bioshock 2 included the orchestral score from the game on a CD, as well as the orchestral score from the original BioShock on a vinyl 180g LP.
Anyone who wishes to download the soundtrack without purchasing the hard copy can download it digitally.
Track listings
- Disc length 47:58
- Disc length 35:10 - Regular
- Disc length 52:08 - Special Edition
- Disc length 37:47
Retail versions
A Special Edition of the game was announced on November 19, 2009. This edition, which was limited to a single production run, contains the game along with three posters featuring fictional advertisements from Rapture (all of which, when looked under a black lightBlack light
A black light, also referred to as a UV light, ultraviolet light, or Wood's lamp, is a lamp that emits ultraviolet radiation in the long-wave range, and little visible light...
, reveal hidden messages), the orchestral score from the game on CD, the orchestral score from the original BioShock on a vinyl 180g LP, and a hardbound, 164-page art book. It is packaged in a 13"×13" premium case with special art on both the slipcase and the box cover.
A smaller limited edition, titled BioShock 2 Rapture Edition, was officially announced on December 2, 2009. Its contents are the game and a smaller, 96-page art book, which are packaged together in a special slipcover. As with the Special Edition, the Rapture Edition was limited to a single production run. The BioShock 2 Rapture Edition is available in Europe, New Zealand and Australia, in addition to the BioShock 2 Special Edition.
Sinclair Solutions Test Pack
"Sinclair Solutions Test Pack" is the first installment of downloadable contentDownloadable content
Downloadable content is official additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similarly to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes,...
(DLC) for BioShock 2. The pack focuses on the multiplayer element of the game, increasing the leveling rank to 50 as well as unlocking 2 new playable characters, 20 new trials, 5 new masks, the 2 new players' special melee weapons and a third upgrade for each weapon. The DLC was released on March 11, 2010 for 400 Microsoft points, and was also available for purchase on the PS3 entertainment system for $4.99.
Shortly after the release of the DLC it was discovered that the "downloadable" content was already stored on the retail disc, and players were actually paying for a small file that unlocked content they already owned. This was later confirmed to be the case by 2K Games, who also claimed that this was so that all players would have the same files on the disc and so that the DLC would not split the playerbase.
Rapture Metro Map Pack
The Rapture Metro Map Pack launched on May 11, 2010, for $9.99 (800 Microsoft Points) and on May 25, 2010 for PC. The DLC includes 6 new maps, an increased level cap (up to level 50 for those who did not purchase the Sinclair Solutions DLC), 2 new masks, a new "rebirth" gene tonic, and a new "Kill 'Em Kindly" game mode. This DLC also adds 3 more achievements for the Xbox 360 and PC versions and 3 more trophies for the PlayStation 3 version.Since its release, many players of the new DLC have complained to 2K, saying that the odds of playing the new maps from the Metro Pack are extremely low, with many players commenting that since purchasing the pack, they haven't played a single new map. 2K responded and said the design decision was made in order to stop "base-splitting"; where the player lobbies are split up, so that all players can still play together, regardless of whether they have purchased the DLC or not.
However, players still voiced further complaints, citing that the odds of 10 people in one match all having the DLC, and then still having a 10 in 16 chance of striking an old map, means that overall, one is unlikely to be able play the new maps in a non-private match (which is required for 2 out of 3 of the new achievements/trophies). Some players suggested adding a "playlist" to feature only the new maps, so that players with the DLC could play together, rather than having to set up private matches. However, 2K Games later stated that they had no plans to add playlist functionality to the multiplayer.
Another complaint surfaced shortly after, regarding the DLC new "Rebirth!" feature. Players reported that once activating the feature at Rank 50, all leaderboard stats and ADAM scores are reset too, effectively sending the player to the bottom of the rank globally.
2K Community Manager, Elizabeth Tobey responded with the following statement:
"I don't have much to tell you currently, but whenever I do, I'll update here. For now, I want you to know that the dev team is looking in to solutions for both the DLC map playlist request and the leaderboard reset issue. I hope to have more information for you early next week, but that depends on the devs and when they can provide us some good info. For now, please know that the team is aware and they are looking in to what they can do to make you happy - and all your requests have been forwarded to them."
Kill 'Em Kindly
Kill 'Em Kindly is a new game mode for BioShock 2 multiplayer, free for download for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. In this game mode, players can only use golf clubs to melee attack enemies, a reference back to the first game where Andrew Ryan forces the player-character Jack to kill him with a golf club. This pack is also included in the "Rapture Metro Pack".Character pack
The character pack adds two characters that were exclusive to the pre-order version of BioShock 2, Zigo d'Acosta and Mlle Blanche de Glace. This pack is also available alongside the "Rapture Metro Pack" on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for 160 MS Points ($1.99).The Protector Trials Pack
Released on August 3, the Protector Trials pack is a single-player downloadable content which has the player defend Little Sisters against swarms of enemies in a variety of challenge rooms. The content contains six maps based on locations from the main game, alongside three difficulty levels, seven Achievements/Trophies, and new concept art and videos to unlock. The pack is available on Xbox 360 for 400 Microsoft Points (£3.40) and PlayStation 3 for $4.99 (£3.19). This downloadable content was released for free on the PC on March 14, 2011. As of March 15, the DLC is playable after a patch to the main game.Minerva's Den
Minerva's Den is a downloadable single-player campaign with a plot completely separate from that of the main campaign. The player assumes the role of Subject Sigma, another Alpha Series Big Daddy, as he travels through Minerva's Den, home to Rapture's Central Computing. The campaign adds three new levels (with around four hours of gameplay) and provides deeper insight into Rapture's inner workings.The story introduces the characters of Charles Milton Porter, who guides the player (with Brigid Tenenbaum), and Reed Wahl, who acts as the antagonist. Porter and Wahl were once partners working on a computer with advanced artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
dubbed "The Thinker", but Wahl framed Porter for treason and stole the machine. Porter, realizing that he would be taken away and that Rapture was crumbling, left instructions for the machine on how to get to the surface, in order to ensure that his creation would benefit mankind.
The add-on also features new weapons, a new plasmid as well as a new Big Daddy type. It was released August 31 for PS3 and Xbox360. It costs $10/ 800 Microsoft Points. Work on the PC version of this downloadable content was resumed on 28 October 2010. The DLC was released on PC on 31 May 2011.
Windows version DLC
Though the Windows version of BioShock 2 had received some patchesPatch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
and downloadable content shortly after release, 2K Games announced in October 2010 that they would not provide a final patch to fix remaining issues with the game. Furthermore, 2K Games announced they would not offer the "Protector Trials" or "Minerva's Den" content on the platform, citing "Timing and technical issues" that they had encountered but could not work around. 2K apologized to the players, as they had promised that this content would be forthcoming to the Windows platform, and that if the situation changed, they would offer it in the future. 2K later explained that in trying to prepare additional patches with support for the additional content, they encountered bugs under specific circumstances that they felt would not be acceptable to the Microsoft certification process, and while they had tried to correct those bugs, they were unable to do so in a timely manner, leading to their decision to abandon the attempt. The announcement was met with heavy criticism from some players, having felt that 2K Games took advantage of their "goodwill" in the promised game and DLC updates. In late October, 2K Games reversed their decision based on the players' responses, and have recommitted resources to complete the game patch and support for both content packs on the Windows version; the patch and "Protector Trials" would likely be available in Spring 2011, while more work is necessary to complete the "Minerva's Den" content. Protector Trials DLC for the PC version of BioShock 2 was made available pre-maturely via Games for Windows Live on February 20, 2011. Users find that the download pack, which was yet to officially arrive on PC, was available for the price of 400 MS Points. But when users paid for and downloaded the 964mb update, they were completely unable to access it. On March 12, 2011 it was announced that Protector Trials would be released for PC on March 14, 2011. The patch to the main game which enabled the DLC to run was released after the DLC itself, though the new content was playable by March 15, 2011.
Though 2K was originally reluctant to confirm a release date for the Minerva's Den DLC, eventually they confirmed that it would be released at the end of May 2011.
Reception
BioShock 2 received positive reviews. Currently, it holds an 88 on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions. PSM3
PSM3
PSM3 is a video game magazine specialising in all Sony video game consoles and handheld gaming platforms. PSM3 is published by Future Publishing, a UK-based publishing company....
awarded it 93%, saying that it "tops the original in terms of storytelling and combat". PC Gamer
PC Gamer
PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries...
was also positive, awarding the game 90%, and commenting that "it's still better written than pretty much anything else out there". Xbox World 360
Xbox World 360
Xbox World 360 is a British Xbox and Xbox 360 magazine published by Future Publishing.- History :Xbox World 360 began life as Xbox World, with issue one released in early 2003, over a year after the Xbox's release...
rated it 90%, stating that the return to the underwater dystopia of Rapture is "every bit as engrossingly mysterious [as the original] ... if not more so", and that the two titles are "as inseparable as Daddy and Sister". PlayStation: The Official Magazine
PlayStation: The Official Magazine
PlayStation: The Official Magazine is a magazine originally known as PlayStation Magazine . After Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine was canceled, Sony Computer Entertainment announced on October 1, 2007 that PSM would become "PlayStation: The Official Magazine"...
awarded BioShock 2 a perfect score of 5/5. Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine is a monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released for E3 2001, with another preview issue for November 2001. The magazine is bundled with a disc that includes game demos, preview videos and...
awarded the game a 9.5/10, stating that the game is "Dripping with atmosphere and quality; good story
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
with a terrific ending; good gameplay tweaks".
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
scored the game a 9.1/10 and said that "anyone looking for a first-person shooter that offers more than flat, stereotypical characters and copy-and-paste supersoldier plots, one that attempts to establish a sense of right and wrong and loops you into the decision making process, and one that's set in one of the most vividly realized settings around should pick up BioShock 2. It's a game in which story, setting, and gameplay are expertly blended to create an experience that's as thought-provoking as it is entertaining." IGN's review also stated that the game does not look as visually impressive as its predecessor, but it is still one of the best-looking games around because of its unique art style. In a round-table style video chat, IGN editors said that Rapture was less mysterious because players have seen it before, and that was a major strike against the game. Since the original had such an eerie mysterious feel to it, the twists and turns seen in the sequel seemed less surprising.
Gaming Evolution scored the game a 9.4/10 and said that "BioShock 2 is not a departure from the original game as it takes a lot of the gameplay mechanics, tweaks them, and improves on what was already there. The new storyline is a lot less complex compared to the original game, giving you more playing time and less time trying to understand what’s going on."
Sales
Prior to the game's release, the chairman of Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick stated that he expected the game to sell 5 million copies across all platforms.In its first week of release, BioShock 2 was the best-selling Xbox 360 game in the UK and North America. In the U.S., NPD
NPD Group
The NPD Group, Inc. is a leading North American market research company. The NPD Group consistently ranks among the top 25 market research companies in the independent Honomichl Top 50 report, which the media and the research industry acknowledge as a credible source of information on the market...
recorded it as the top selling game of February with 562,900 units sold on the Xbox 360, and 190,500 on the PS3. Gamasutra
Gamasutra
Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...
state a possible reason for the Xbox 360's greater sales was the original Bioshock's 14 month exclusivity on the platform. It also managed to hold both the first and second positions on the Steam release charts.
In its first month of release, BioShock 2 was number 1 in sales for the Xbox 360 and number 12 for the PlayStation 3. PC sales are not tracked by NPD for top 20 results, and is therefore unknown.