The Good: Great story, fun gameplay, awesome RPG elements, sweet atmosphere.
The Bad: Story feels weak compared to other Bioshock titles, annoying escort missions, moments of serious repetition, too similar to the original.
If you've read some of my past reviews, you'll know that I love Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite. They both have great stories, fun gameplay, and an amazing atmosphere. I got Bioshock 2 about a month ago, for about 9 bucks (score!). I played it recently I learned that it's a great game, but it's my least favorite in the series.
In this game, you play as a Big Daddy named Delta. You're little sister, Eleanor, has been kidnapped by Sofia Lamb, who's the games' antagonist. You need to find her. As simple as it may seem, it's a great story. You really develop with the characters and is really cool to see them grow. I also like the morale choices. The decisions you make in this game have a more profound effect on the ending, making it a more "choose your own adventure" style. I like this, because it gives you more freedom on how you want to play your game. My problem with the story is that, compared to the other Bioshock games, it seems weak. The other titles have complexity and layers and really compelling narratives that make you think. This is more like, "My only family got kidnapped. Gotta go get her". I'm not saying it's bad, I just expected more from a Bioshock title. On a plus, you are a Big Daddy. Playing as a Big Daddy is so satisfying, even when you jump, because when you land, a huge thud sound happens and the controller vibrates. It's really cool.
That brings me to my next point; the combat. It's still really satisfying and still really fun. Just going around and shooting everybody and using magic powers on them is just cool. The weapons do feel pretty unbalanced, but it's still awesome. One of my gripes with the gameplay also affects the story, and that is trying to be a good guy. See, like the last Bioshock games, you have the choice of rescuing or killing your Little Sisters. The difference in this game is that if you choose to rescue them all the way through, you have to go through two long escort missions so that your Little Sister can take ADAM from a corpse. During this, a swarm of enemies comes to attack you and your little demonic child and you have to fend them off. It's kind of annoying. And no matter what you do with the Little Sisters, there's a chance that a Big Sister might come (They're basically like Big Daddies, but tougher (It's because they're girls. Girls are always the scariest enemies in games)). They're really hard to kill.
My other gripe with the game is the moments of repetitiveness. There are some parts of the game where you just want to get through the level and enemies just keep respawning, and you're like, "Go away, I'm low on ammo! Get lost!" It kind of pulls you out of the experience when it happens. It doesn't happen a lot, but you'll know when it does.
The RPG elements are still awesome. You can upgrade weapons, upgrade plasmids, get new traits to power you up, and get a whole bunch of awesome crap. They're really cool and can make you very powerful.
The atmosphere is still great. It's a very intense and scary return to Rapture. Everything is out there to kill you and you never feel safe. This comes at a cost, because that's where another draw to the game is. It's familiar territory and it may feel like you've played this before. It's kind of like Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter being similar to Drawn to Life, except Bioshock 2 has the nerve to change significant things, like the story.
Overall, this was a great return to Rapture. It's got a good story, albeit not as good as the others. It's got fun gameplay, when it's not spitting escort missions and repetitiveness at you. It's got awesome RPG elements and the amazing atmosphere we all know and love. It may not be the best Bioshock game, heck, it's not even the best FPS out there, but it's still a very fun and solid sequel.