One of the best things about the original Bioshock was its focus on exploring Rapture, discovering what made Rapture tick and how it had become such a cesspit.

At the start of the game you knew nothing about your character, let alone how you had just discovered a massive underwater city in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The problem with the first Bioshock was that the story was more entertaining than the actual gameplay itself. Bioshock 2 addresses this by adding depth to the combat and the upgrading systems while still giving you an interesting narrative and more moral choices than ever before.

Perhaps the biggest question on everybody’s mind is how a Bioshock game where you play as a Big Daddy could actually work? Your character in the sequel is an advanced prototype of a Big Daddy called Subject Delta. Playing as the Big Daddy in Bioshock was probably the weakest section in the game yet 2K Marin have decided to build a game around that premise. That can’t possibly work can it? But yet somehow it does. Although there are many different sub stories to be seen and heard in Bioshock 2, the main story revolves around the Big Daddy and their relationships with the little sisters.

Despite the change in the development team from the last game, nothing feels out of place or contradictory to the Bioshock mythology. Everyone that loved the originals rich back-story will not be disappointed. With over one hundred audio logs to find, any Bioshock fanboy will feel right at home. Newcomers need not feel daunted either. The clever introductory level in Ryan’s amusements also serves as a reminder of Raptures history and some of the first games main plot points. The level design for the most part is impeccable and the atmosphere from the original is turned up a notch. Many rooms which you don’t necessarily have to explore contain little easter eggs which you most gamers never see. For example, you walk into a room where a female splicer strapped to bed all tied up and gagged. All of sudden the door slams shut and you notice two splicers watching you from viewing chambers! Kinky to say the least and just one of many events like this.

Bioshock 2’s script is amazingly one of its biggest success stories. Without spoiling the ending, it’s true that Bioshock 2 does a much better job of reflecting the consequences of your actions than its predecessor. Subject Delta’s decisions; unlike Jack’s are entirely up to the player. This adds a far greater weight to your choices in the game. In Bioshock 1, you felt duped at times, but in 2, you only have yourself to blame if things don’t turn out like you would have wanted them to.

The familiar game play mechanic of Bioshock 1 is back again in the sequel. I am speaking about the little sisters of course. Killing a rival Big daddy will allow you to take their little sister and either harvest them or in a new addition, adopt them. Holding down the X button while carrying a little sister will bring up an on screen trail to lead you to an Adam filled splicer. One of the most surprising aspects of Bioshock 2 is how they managed to make these escort missions not feel like escort missions. Most other games see you desperately trying to defend an ai teammate while he shoots at a wall. If they go down it’s game over. However in Bioshock you are not punished by death. There’s a little Adam filled meter that will fill up over a period of time. For this period you have to defend the sister from incoming splicers. Setting up turrets and traps before you drop your sister is vital success. It also makes you feel smug as you watch endless splicers being killed without you even having to fire a single bullet. If you die you are sent back to the nearest vita chamber and the Adam bar is emptied. No big deal!

Combat has been taken up a notch for your return to Rapture. One of the best new additions to the game is the drill. Probably the most fun I’ve had with a melee weapon since the chainsaw in Gears of War. Holding down the right trigger lets you bore a hole through any thing that gets in your way. It’s the definitive Big daddy weapon and it never failed to bring a smile to my face while using it. The drill has a fuel gauge however so you can’t just run through the game spamming the right trigger. The addition of dual wielding brings a new depth to the combat system. Most of the old favourites return like incinerate electro shock and telekinesis. This time around though combining them with other plasmids and weapons increases their effectiveness. Tonics are also back although many of them feel needless seeing as you never have enough Adam to buy them all and you can only equip a certain amount of them at a time.

There are also a few new enemies this time round. Brutes are splicers the size of big daddy’s that use their strength to batter you against every wall in Rapture. There are also a few new types of Big daddies which I’ll let you see for yourselves. The biggest and most terrifying enemy in the sequel is definitely the Big Sister. Once you’ve dealt with every little sister on a particular level you trigger a Little Sister. Even though you know they are coming they are still scary none the less. The wail of a Big Sister sneaking up on you is truly terrifying. You can try and run but she will hunt you down until you defeat her.

Even with all the positive changes longetivity is still an issue. If you take your time looking for every audio tape and escorting every little game you’ll probably get 15-20 hours out of the game. If you just treat it as a straight up shooter you’ll breeze through it in 10 hours. The multiplayer is different from the likes of COD and Halo to stand out but early impressions suggest it won’t keep too many people enticed for long.

Bioshock 2 has taken me and I suspect many gamers by surprise. It irons out some of the previous game’s flaws while maintaining a mysterious story which fans of the first will be used to. Objectively speaking, it may even be better than the first. But the freshness of the first game’s settings was a huge part of Bioshock’s appeal. You can’t help but feel that Rapture has lost some of its atmosphere and appeal. It’s like going to the same place on holiday every year. Eventually you will become sick of it. Here’s hoping bioshock 3 does something drastic.