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4 Reasons Why BioShock 2 Will Pwn!
Hanso Reveals His Love for BioShock By Hanso
February 01, 2010
4 Reasons Why BioShock 2 Will Pwn!
© Mania/Bob Trate
It’s been a little over two years since Apollo Air Flight DF – 0301 crashed into the mid-Atlantic setting up the events that saw its only survivor, Jack, climb aboard the bathysphere and descend into the city of Rapture. While Jack’s journey is over, the story of Rapture continues. Following on the steps of its predecessor, BioShock 2 is set to pwn this February and here is why:
4. I Love It When You Call Me Big Poppa
The first time you dove into Rapture you battled your way through the city as the silent plasmid wielding hero Jack. In the sequel, Jack is out the window and the level of badassness is raised to Chuck Norris level as you get the opportunity, nay, the privilege to walk through Rapture as the one and only Mr. Bubbles. That’s right ladies and gentlemen; BioShock 2’s hero is none other than the Big Daddy himself. Not just any Big Daddy but the very first one, code named Subject Delta, and unlike the Big Daddies from the first game, he’s the only one with free will.
As you know, no Big Daddy is complete without his Little Sister but don’t worry because during the game you will get a chance to adopt one. When it comes down to the decision of saving or harvesting a Little Sister, you can choose to bring her along and use her to extract ADAM from the bodies lying around the city. Being a Big Daddy means you are one of the toughest bastards in all of Rapture but don’t think the ADAM extraction will be a walk in the park. As the extraction is taking place you have the task of protecting the Little Sister from the nasty tweaking citizens of Rapture, the Splicers. They know you won’t go down easy so when they go at you it won’t be one or two at a time. The Splicers are betting the farm on the strength in numbers concept and will be hitting you up in packs to get that ADAM.
Incidentally this is around the time you will be running out of bubblegum and the only thing left to do will be to kick ass. In order to bring the pain, you have at your disposal Big Daddy’s trusty drill, rivet gun and the new ability to use plasmids. As matter of fact, Subject Delta has the ability to simultaneously wield a plasmid and a weapon, making Delta a whole new level of awesome.
3. Noob Hunting Season
If you love pwning noobs online then get ready for the hunt because BioShock 2 comes with a multiplayer mode. An online component to a BioShock game sounds like blasphemy right? The original thrived without one, developer Irrational Games chose to focus everything on the single player campaign and successfully delivered one of the greatest gaming experiences to date. Looking to up the ante for the sequel, 2K Marin took the reins from Irrational Games and has decided to expand the single player experience by adding multiplayer.
The multiplayer mode, like everything in the BioShock series, is story driven and serves as a prequel to events of the original BioShock. The events of multiplayer let you experience firsthand the Rapture Civil War that pitted Andrew Ryan against Frank Fontaine. You get to choose between eight characters, and go at it in five different multiplayer modes including variations of such online staples like deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag. Similar to other first person shooters, BioShock 2’s multiplayer also offers the ability to level up via experience points gained from online play. Leveling up not only grants you access to new plasmids and weapons, it also progresses the Civil War storyline ensuring you will be hooked with online play as much as with the single player campaign.
2. New Kids on the Block
The first game introduced you to great characters like Sander Cohen, Frank Fontaine and Andrew Ryan. BioShock 2 continues the tradition with its new cast of memorable characters and excellent villains.
The game’s main villain is a psychologist by the name of Sofia Lamb and she is a lovely lady. Missing in action during the events of the first game, Sofia Lamb has risen like the phoenix to take advantage of Andrew Ryan’s death and cease control of Rapture putting in practice her ideology. She was a political rival to Ryan and is a “utilitarian altruist that believes your moral duty is not to your own interests but to the world at large”. Rapture is currently her town which she runs with her very own cult thanks to the help of another new character called Father Wales. Fear not, Father Wales won’t molest you but he’s still an evil guy looking to screw you worse than NBC did Conan. Father Wales is the man responsible for spinning Lamb’s beliefs into a religion, used to recruit Splicers into Lamb’s army, and he is prepared to die for the cause.
Sofia Lamb is the brain of the operation but BioShock 2’s most significant new addition is Sofia’s enforcer, the Big Sister, a character that makes Big Daddy look like Princess Peach. She was formerly a Little Sister and has ADAM running through her entire body that makes her faster, stronger and more agile than a Big Daddy, effectively making her the game’s most powerful character. She doesn’t take too kindly of you messing with the Little Sisters so if you start doing it, she will use her very particular set of skills; skills she has acquired over a very long career. Skills that make her a nightmare for people like you. If you leave the Little Sisters alone, that’ll be the end of it. She will not look for you, she will not pursue you. But if you don’t, she will look for you, she will find you, she will kill you!
Don’t worry though; it isn’t just villains down in Rapture. Returning to aid you is Dr. Tenenbaum, who introduces you to a character that was only heard about the first time around, Augustus Sinclair. Yes, it’s the Sinclair from Sinclair Solutions, the man responsible for creating the plasmids you all know and love is on your side to give you guidance and a fighting chance against Big Sister.
1. I Chose…Rapture
The BioShock franchise is and always will be about Rapture and BioShock 2 is no exception. Picking up 10 years after the events of the first game, Rapture serves as the backdrop for BioShock 2. It is now 1970 and someone is kidnapping young girls around the world to bring them to Rapture. These kidnappings trigger the return of Dr. Tenenbaum where she finds Subject Delta waking up for the first time with no memory of what has taken place in the last 10 years. After Delta wakes up the fun begins.
You assume control of Delta and start your journey to find what occurred in the city during the time you were offline. The journey across Rapture takes you through familiar territory but your Big Daddy suit also allows stepping outside the city to explore the ocean floor and gain access to areas not seen in the first game. The sense of discovery returns in the sequel as you visit new Rapture locations like Adonis Luxury Resort, Ryan’s Amusement Park, Siren Alley and the infamous Pauper’s Drop. This last area is proof that Rapture is a city with many secrets. Pauper’s Drop is essentially the ghetto of Rapture, a hidden area that was built by the poor without Andrew Ryan’s knowledge. This area gives you a glimpse into one of the shadier sides of Rapture and put you in a position to make a moral choice that has consequences across the remainder of the game.
Pauper’s Drop is only the beginning, a city filled with so many secrets and characters with their own agenda means there are choices to make and much to learn about Rapture and its history in BioShock 2. Rapture’s history is so rich that it provides game developers enough material not just for a sequel but possibly up to three more entries in the BioShock franchise. But before those entries arrive there is BioShock 2, a game destined to match the greatness of the original, so would you kindly circle February 9, 2010 on your calendars and get ready to embark once again into the dystopian city of Rapture to discover why BioShock 2 pwns.
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ALL HAIL HANSO!!!...SON!!!