Unlike most beloved video games, the regard so many players have forBioShock 2wasn’t immediate; it crept up on everyone and only years after the game’s release. Usually, time isn’t kind to “older” games, what with the many advances in graphics and game engine capabilities made every year, but the passing years have actually doneBioShock 2a favor–sometimes, hindsight is a boon.
With the recent news that not only is a newBioShockgame in development, but ithas been for years now, many eager fans are wondering what direction the next game will take the franchise. While that remains to be seen, the direction taken inBioShock 2made this game the true heart of theBioShockfranchise thus far.
RELATED:BioShock Sequel Confirmed in New 2K Studio Announcement
When it first released, the response toBioShock 2was lackluster at best. The firstBioShockoffers an unforgettable introduction to the underwater city of Rapture, andBioShock: Infiniterockets players high into the clouds of Columbia; next to the striking newness of those games,BioShock 2’s reintroduction to a ruined Rapture–a city they had already explored–seemed anticlimactic to players at the time. But going back intoBioShock 2years down the road has led many players to the conclusion that it’s actually the best entry in theBioShockfranchise,surpassing the other twofor a number of reasons related to both story and gameplay.
BioShock 2does have an obvious flaw: yes,returning to Rapturecan never be as exciting to players as that first descent, and the game’s tutorial level plays like a copy of the first game. But get past that first level and into the game proper, and players will see the remarkable perspective thatBioShock 2brings to Rapture. It helps that the game is just more fun to play in terms of combat, as fighting as a Big Daddy rather a little human allows for the use of some new moves, including wielding the famous Big Daddy drill-arm in melee. Between that and the ability to dual-wield plasmids and weapons, the game presents a more satisfying type of shooter than the firstBioShockmanaged with Jack.
But of course, the magic ofBioShock 2goes deeper than that: this adventure has players taking on the role of a Big Daddy (not a human) unique in the sense that this one is an early, experimental version who can think for himself: Subject Delta. As Delta, players also get to explore theseedier side of Rapture, through dingy locales like Pauper’s Drop and Siren Alley, both designed to be low-class areas fraught with all the vices a city’s underbelly can offer.
So even thoughBioShock 2can’t entirely shake the fact that it’s treading the same ground asthe firstBioShock, its main character is in many ways more human than the other two (actually human) protagonists ofBioShockandInfinite; the nuance of his journey and the enemies he encounters make the deepest and most emotional experience in the franchise. Delta is a Big Daddy prototype, but his story is one of fatherhood–his Little Sister, Eleanor, does have biological parents, but Delta is the one to protect her, shape her own developing moral compass. Yes, he’d die without her due to their bond, but his determination to find and remain with her is rooted in more than that: he views her as his daughter, and that’s the driving force behind Delta’s progress.
RELATED:Rumor: BioShock Sequel to Be a Live Service Game
InBioShock, players are given a blank slate and play the game without any chances to define the player-character for themselves. But inBioShock 2, defining Delta through player choice is the game in a nutshell; the game’s greatest virtue is its giving players identity and a choice at every major fork in the road, even if they’re all filling the role of “Delta.” The rough progression ofBioShock 2is Delta’s mission to confront three people who have wronged him in the past: Grace Holloway, Stanley Poole, and Gil Alexander.
At the end of each confrontation, Delta can choose to forgive them or take his revenge in blood–and Eleanor, too, is shaped by those decisions. When put in a similar place, deciding the fate ofBioShock 2’s ultimate villain(and Eleanor’s mother) Sophia Lamb, she’ll base her decision on the example Delta set, and when she strikes out into the world, she’ll take her cues from Delta and either his goodness or his ruthlessness.
Another gripe players originally had withBioshock 2was the fact that its villain, the aforementioned Sophia Lamb, wasn’t as great asBioShockvillain Andrew Ryan. Years later, however, that opinion has shifted: she isjustas greatas Ryan (if not more intriguing), and it’s their differing ideologies that shape the very opposing themes of each game. WhereBioshockplays with the philosophies of Ayn Rand and libertarianism,BioShock 2takes on Karl Marx and theories of collectivism; Sophia, over the years that pass between games, builds up a twisted cult of emotionally invested people around her while being a strikingly cold and removed personality herself. While Eleanor is her daughter, Sophia considers herself merely Eleanor’s “intellectual progenitor”.
Then, there’s the difference between side characters: Eleanor Lamb versus Elizabeth ofBioShock Infinite. Eleanor’s willingness to take her fate into her own hands, through assisting Delta with her Little Sisters and later becoming a Big Sister to create a new future and take responsibility for her mother, makes her a female character arguably more compelling than Elizabeth. Both begin the game in a state of captivity, but where Elizabeth keeps getting captured over the course of the game and relies on Booker for everything, Eleanor always retains her agency. Out of theentireBioShockseries, Eleanor’s character is a breath of fresh air.
No,BioShock 2isn’t perfect, but the same could be said for any game. What the game lacks inits slow startand limited technology, it makes up for and then some in its beautifully designed narrative and the new dimensions it adds to the city of Rapture. When considering which of the threeBioshockgames is truly the best, it’s worth keeping the wildly underratedBioShock 2in mind.
