GamesRelay

Name: BioShock 2

If you're not familiar with the first game then allow us to give you a little history; Rapture is an underwater city originally envisioned by Andrew Ryan who strove to create a city free from the interference of the rest of the world and was built in 1946 on the Atlantic seabed. Scientists flocked to the city where they were free to indulge themselves in their research, soon developments in biotechnology were at the forefront of much of the research taking place in Rapture.

One of the most successful advancements to come from the minds of the scientists, mainly Dr. Bridgid Tenenbaum was ADAM, the stem cells from a previously undiscovered species of sea slug could be used to regenerate damaged tissue in the human body and also completely rewrite the human genome. Soon after the discovery of ADAM Dr. Tenenbaum joined forces with the mobster known as Frank Fontaine and created the Plasmid industry, offering superhuman abilities such as Telekinesis and the ability to create ice or fire from the air. As the demand grew for the abilities so did the need for ADAM, Dr. Tenenbaum quickly discovered that the process could be speeded up for mass production if the sea slug was implanted in the stomach of young girls, Fontaine would supply these girls who were taken from orphanages and they would become known as Little Sisters.

Fontaine became rich and powerful from the Plasmid business and soon Ryan's idealistic view of Rapture was under threat, a class system which he had hoped to avoid began to emerge and the rich became to see themselves as being better than the poor lowly workers of the city. Seeking a final thrust for power Fontaine sought to overthrow Ryan but was stopped in his tracks, supposedly killed by Ryan himself. Not long after Fontaine made his move then a leader from the lower class citizens, Atlas, led yet another revolt against Ryan. Seeking to save his utopian ideals Ryan was forced to start building his own army, his paranoia against his attackers began to drive him over the edge causing him to kill many innocent people within Rapture. As the cities ADAM supplies dwindled the Little Sisters were conditioned to traverse the city and remove ADAM from the fallen dead, in order to protect these Dr. Suchong created the Big Daddies in order to protect them. These big Daddies would be humans who have been genetically modified with their skin and organs directly transposed to diving suits; their only mission is to protect the Little Sisters at all costs.

BioShock 2 starts its tale in 1958, two years before the events of the first game, the player takes on the role of Subject Delta, a prototype for the Big Daddies seen in the first game and the first Big Daddy to be successfully paired with a Little Sister. You're little sister is named Eleanor, she's delighted to see you and soon has you chasing her through the streets of Rapture, while you catch glimpses of yourself bounding through the underwater corridors. Soon you encounter psychologist Sofia Lamb, the new leader of Rapture. She tells you that your little Sister is actually her daughter and that she has full control over both you and her. Displeased and wanting to show her authority she forces you to remove your helmet and places a gun in your hand, she then instructs you to take the gun and point it at your head before forcing you to pull the trigger and kill yourself. Eleanor is upset and screams for Dr. Lamb to stop, not wanting to see her friend and protector fall. Ten years later and Subject Delta is revived, oblivious to the events that have taken place since his death, soon after his awakening Eleanor begins to communicate with Delta via the psychic link that bonds them, Eleanor needs help and it's up to the player as the Big Daddy to save her.

Delta receives help from Dr. Bridgid Tenenbaum who brings Delta up to speed with the events he has missed. Rapture is now under the rule of Dr. Lamb who has turned Rapture into her own version of Utopia, a vision more or less the exact opposite of Andrew Ryan's original concept of the city. Whereas Ryan had championed the individual, Lamb see's power in the group mentality; in her own mind the fact that Rapture fell under the guidance of Ryan is proof that her own way of thinking is indeed the correct one, the Little Sisters from the first game have now grown up and are now known as Big Sisters. The Big Sisters are very aggressive, very agile and have the ability to use the Plasmids they gathered as children. Dr. Tenenbaum tells Delta that in order to save Eleanor and stop the reign of Lamb he must make his way across Rapture, should he not do this then eventually he will die due to the failsafe device implanted into him which would usually stop him from straying to far from his Little Sister and thus Delta's quest begins. We don't want to spoil the story to much for you, so, we'll kind of gloss over the rest of the details of the story and let you discover those for yourselves, suffice to say that along the way you'll be in for all kinds of surprises and revelations, it seems that almost everyone with money in Rapture had an idea that they deemed better than Ryan's original intentions for the underwater city.

It's never hard to find your way round Rapture, once you've been given an instruction then the direction you need to travel is highlighted by an arrow in the top centre of the display, should you get truly lost then a map of the area is also accessible and any items you should be interacting with give off an ominous glow so you can find them easily. Splicers in various shapes and sizes roam the city looking for there next dose of ADAM, they can normally be found scavenging among the ruins or arguing amongst themselves and will attack you if they see you, but with a little cunning you can avoid them or sneak up on them to maximise your chances against them. Of course you can still find the Little Sisters making their way round Rapture, accompanied of course by their own Big Daddies, these won't attack you outright as they see you as one of there own, but once attacked the Big Daddies will defend their Little Sister just as ferociously as in the first game. Should you manage to defeat the Big Daddy then the Little Sister will be upset, but, you can choose to adopt her as if she was your own and she can then bring the ADAM she harvests from corpses' to you.

The Diaries which you come across lying around add weight to the games story and fill Delta in on more of what has been happening in his ten year gap, some of the diary entries are incidental but some are more poignant to the story and give you clues as to an items location or how best to deal with an enemy, or provide the access code you'll need to get through a locked door. If you're following the story closely and you don't quite catch something on one of the diary entries then it can always be replayed at a later date when things are less hectic and you've time to take in what was being said, it certainly adds to the atmosphere of the game to keep up with what's happened while you've not been around.

The city itself is very much how you remember it, a strange hybrid world of the past with echoes of modern technology looking strangely familiar and yet out of place; graffiti has been daubed in many areas and to varying degrees around the city, again offering insight into the world you're occupying. Some areas of the city are now flooded or have been damaged making some passages impassable, although being a Big Daddy and being essentially a huge diving suit this is less of a problem as it was in the original game, you can now explore the outside of Rapture to a degree, collecting ADAM directly from the slugs on the seabed floor and swimming with the fish. At various points in the game you'll be asked to make a moral decision, from whether or not to harvest the Little Sisters to get yourself more ADAM and therefore quicker access to the Plasmids, or you'll choose to kill a character or not; all of these decisions will have an impact on the game in some way, even allowing for multiple endings depending on just how you've played the game. The choice to be completely out for yourself or to try and be a force for good in Rapture is entirely your decision.