Wha… what’s missing?! But it has multiplayer, plasmid/weapon dual-wielding, new enemies, a sweeter hacking system and you’re a Big Daddy! If you’re thinking these things, you’re completely right. To be fair, I haven’t even finished BioShock 2 yet (my excuse is I’m playing on hard without Vita-Chambers), and I hear the story towards the end will totally sweep me off my feet. But is it just me, or are there a certain hollowness to the game? Read on plz, but THERE MAY BE SPOILERS.

So the more I play games, the more it becomes obvious to me what matters most, and that is environment. Environment can make or break a game, but when it makes it, that game is bound to be bursting at the seams with success. Environment is music, voice acting, scenery, the developers’ attention to detail, occasional Easter Eggs, and most importantly how much the game can keep you locked inside its world. Borderlands did it… Silent Hill did it… World of Warcraft does it… and very certainly, BioShock did it. Once you entered that Bathysphere it was easy to spend the next 6+ hours entertained under the Atlantic wrapped up in Rapture’s mystery.

I’m not saying BioShock 2 has no environment. It’s still in Rapture, still features your favorite characters (Andrew Ryan and Frank Fontaine are still in the story through audio logs) and will still have you searching through every storage crate and piece of luggage for every Eve Hypo possible (and trust me, you’ll need them in this one). BioShock 2 definitely has its merits and is still easily up for GotY, but I miss the qualities of the original. For example, while I was playing around on my Mac last night, Joshua sat next to me and started playing the first BioShock on his iMac. After playing the sequel for the last week, we realized we forgot about a lot of the charm the first one had; he was walking through a hallway before you enter the Medical Center, and through the empty, eerie hallways you could hear whispers, crying and splicers chattering nervously. I just don’t hear that in this new one.

The idea of the waters of the powerful Atlantic hugging the opposite side of the window you were looking out of was incredible, and in the second one you get to feel that force first hand. In fact, shortly after meeting a Big Sister for the first time, she decides to bust open one of the giant windows, leaving you to navigate underwater to your next destination. Walking along the sea floor is neat, and seeing the little barnacles coat the furniture throughout the seawater filled zones is pretty, but there was something special about exploring a slightly still intact Rapture. I understand ten years have passed since the first BioShock and damage is likely, but I would give anything to see more flashbacks of Rapture in its golden days.

BioShock 2 does a good job (especially considering an entirely different team of developers worked on this one) of staying in sync with and even giving the player throwbacks to the first game. For example, I just finished a part of Fontaine Futuristics where one of the audio logs was talking about “Ryan’s prodigal son” (Jack from the first game) and his predisposition to follow any command after hearing “some W-Y-K phrase” (“Would you kindly?…”). But something about BioShock (praaaahhhbably the theatricality) really lured me in quicker than almost any other game I can think of, and BioShock 2 only satisfies me about 90% of the way.

Related posts:

1. Bioshock 2 Pushed Back
2. Returning to Rapture
3. Geekend Updates – February 12th, 2010