Bioshock 2

My friend bought me the limited edition of Bioshock 2 which was, quite frankly, a pleasant surprise. The edition is nothing short of epic, and was the catalyst in getting me into the vinyl game. A hardcover book was the icing on the cake, and then the game, of course. Every day that I didn't play the game was slightly guilt-ridden, but there is a flood of high quality, must play games in line that were taking precedence. And of course, you have to switch it your gaming genres to keep things fresh. So after finally completing the arduous grind of (the story mode of) Lego Rock Band, I could finally move on. Perusing the shelves of games beckoning at me, my hand went towards Bioshock 2. With one finger, I pulled on the top, angling it out. The slightly exposed title had me thinking: do I tackle this? The original had me hooked for a week straight; I couldn't pull my hands off the controller. Would the sequel have the same effect?

Without a doubt this I have high expectations for this game, and in my casual reading over the past year I see a general sentiment of disappointment. What is it? The game just didn't live up to the first one in terms of character, story, atmosphere. Is that such a bad thing? What if these elements was only 95% of the original game? Considering how stellar the first one is, 95% of that would still be epic. In fact, if the game is only half as good I think we have a solid experience on our hands. And I'm glad to report that so far, this game is an awesome experience, and definitely not a disappointment. Perhaps I'm just being too realistic; I don't expect the exact same game, or even something of the same quality. And perhaps because of that, I'm allowed to enjoy the game more. Really though, why justify all this? There's a lot to enjoy here, but I want to share a quick story with you that had me in awe.

Part of the game is adopting Little Sisters and having them harvest bodies for adam. The harvesting process can take a couple of minutes, and inexplicably while this is happening, splicers (bad folk, for the uninitiated) come out of the woodwork to attack the little girl and get the adam for themselves (because the are all addicts). So it's your job, as the Big Daddy, to protect the Little Sister while she's doing this. I performed a few "gatherings" successfully: I would lay traps in all the entry points I could see, make sure my guns are loaded and ready for action. Sometimes there would be a turret nearby: you can hack it and make it work for you. But this one gathering was a bit different, because it was a little bit in the open. Flanked by a large open area and multiple halls, there were a lot of traps to lay but I knew the battle would be hard. After a couple of minutes setting up my traps I could hear the thud, thud, of another Big Daddy approaching. I saw in the distance a little girl prancing around him. But just as I had noticed where they were, I put my girl down to begin the harvest.

Other Big Daddy's are initially neutral to you; they only attack you if you attack them first. Which is nice, because they can be tough to kill and can be avoided. The pair were now travelling directly towards me, yet no splicers had appeared yet. The other little girl ran up to the body that my girl was harvesting. She stopped, put her hands on her hips and looked on in what seemed like disappointment as the body was already taken. Her Big Daddy caught up to her and started doing the moaning thing they always do. At this point I was ducking behind a counter watching this happen: hiding, thinking that perhaps the Big Daddy wouldn't see me. I wasn't sure what to expect, then the splicers poured in. And the Big Daddy was not pleased: he started killing them with deadly efficiency as I continued to hide. He was protecting his Little Sister and unknowingly (?) protecting mine too. I let out a couple of blasts whenever I could, making sure not to hit my new partner (he would instantly turn on me if I did). Before I knew it, my Little Sister was jumping up and down: she was done and wanted to get back onto my shoulders.

When I retrieved her the achievement popped: not taking damage during a gathering. Sweet! Then the splicers stopped, and the Big Daddy continued about his business lurching about. The final task after gathering is either rescuing the Little Sister or harvesting her; of course I rescued her and she went about her way. I turned around and my buddy was still thumping about. I needed another Little Sister to do more gatherings to complete the level, but do I take his? He was right there. So yes, I killed him. It wasn't an epic duel by any means; he was grossly overpowered. As he lay slumped on the floor, his Little Sister cried. I walked up to her, and she started jumping up and down in a complete change of emotion: she wanted to be adopted now. I pressed the X button the gamepad and she jumped up onto my shoulders, ready for another gathering adventure.