pickhut's BioShock 2 review

I'm glad you didn't use the lazy old "more like an expansion pack than a sequel" routine here; that's a phrase I've already seen in several reviews for this game alone, and it's one I'm frankly sick of. I like the conclusion you came to about BioShock working better as a standalone game, and that a multiplayer expansion was really all it needed. I liked the game more than you did, but while I'm seeing some improvements most people apparently aren't, I agree that it by and large does nothing for the franchise, at least until the end, like you said. Good review, overall.

Myself... honestly, the fact that you can now turn off vita chambers and dual-wield weapons and plasmids has really made the combat more enjoyable for me. It's still got a lot of the same problems the first one had (namely the awful pacing), but the underwhelming plot and recycled environments are canceled out by the entertaining combat, in my mind. If these tiny adjustments had been made for the first BioShock, it would have been a much better game.

Although I hear the people would played it on PS3 had the option to turn vita chambers off. Lucky them.

Hmm, I never really did have any issues with the Vita Chambers in either game, since I would just reload my recent save after dying. But I guess I can see the convenience for some players to have it disabled.

Thanks for the comments on the review.

"raging gorillas that used to be black men"

Where in the blinking crikey did you get this from?

Suskie: But it does feel more like an expansion pack than a sequel.

Your feelings kinda echo mine, Pikhut. For me, the excellent final couple of hours made me more enamoured to the game than you seem to be, but those first five or six were such an underwhelming slog. The combat, though, I did find to be better, particularly when doing the harvest missions. I gave it a 7 at the place I reviewed it, which I'd stick by.

One of the Brutes had a diary on him, who happened to be black. Also, one of the concept art shows a black Brute in a bellhop suit.

Great review pickhut. Great insights delivered in the most succinct and no-frills manner possible. I also agree with everything you said. ^_^

Thanks!

I didn't think I would get this many comments. Or any. >_>

Big picture stuff--I liked this review too.

Cranky RotWer-proofreader sentence-level stuff:

The only thing about this review that made me grumble was the over-colloquialism e.g. "a hell of a sight" combined with fluffy words and sentences like "The actual gameplay isn't that bad, because it, too, retains the original's to a t." or "It really does try to mimic the first game in nearly every aspect." "Gameplay" is one of those abstract nouns that give a general idea but it's more like a rating than a feel for the game, and "to a t" is the sort of thing I dislike. The second sentence has 2 adverbs that can just GO, and it seems better broken down into a few examples (which you already have) and ways in which BioShock 2 doesn't imitate it. The next paragraph sort of destroys the meaning of this sentence as you point out some differences and why you don't think that's enough.

The editor's pen probably comes down too heavily here, but my impression is that it'd work even better to say straight out that you're glad you stuck around the mediocre game til the end. There's a bit of "he said she said" pong between what you don't like and like, and that's important to observe, but a series of observations will make for a good review if not a great one. That said, your claim that multiplayer is what makes BioShock work, and that the $60 expansion pack is not worth it, is good. Maybe you could have a teaser for that in the first paragraph?

I really don't see the added benefit of mentioning it in the beginning, since it works either way, so I'm fine the way it is.