Hey there. It's that time again.

Over the last few days I've completed both Bioshock 2, and Dante's Inferno, so I just though I'd share my feelings on them.

Bioshock 2... where do I begin. The game is fantastic, in my opinion, and so far has been fairly underrated receiving mostly 8's from review sources (which while good, aren't good ENOUGH for a game of this caliber). The story is improved significantly in a few key respects, one being predictability. Right from the onset of the first Bioshock, I knew where it was headed. Atlas was just... fishy. The whole thing reeked. And in the end, those notions ruined the twist for me utterly, and sucked the wind right out of the impact the story had on me. This one kept me guessing until the end with it's eccentric cast of character and moral choices. It's also got quite a tear jerker ending, if that matters to you.

The gameplay has been tweaked to perfection, and the new weapon assortment was vastly more creative and interesting to me, yet on the other hand the plasmid assortment was moderately underwhelming. The few new plasmids they tossed in had extremely limited applications, and possibly none at all depending on how you play. Underwater portions seemed like a no brainer to me, and thankfully Bioshock 2 delivers. They are just the right length, and provide a unique way to break up the action. The new fights with Brute Splicers, Alpha Series Big Daddies, and Big Sisters provided a much needed enhancement to the combat aspect of Bioshock. Exploring every nook and cranny of the fabulously spooky Rapture for audio logs and hidden gear is just as compelling this time around.

In the end, I'd give it a 9.0. It's originality still shines, even being a sequel. I'm wondering If I will ever get tired of revisiting Rapture...

Dante's Inferno on the other hand is definitely a mixed bag. On one hand, I love the sickeningly twisted art style and level design, the theme, stunning cutscenes, the score, and the atmosphere (something it's supposed source of inspiration, God of War, lacks entirely in my opinion). And on the other, the in-game graphics themselves lack detail, and just in general look like something from early 2006 at best, the gameplay feels stale and derivative, the story starts of good, then completely nosedives towards the mid point, and it's got one of the most anti-climactic, obvious sequel milking (Were talking EA here....no surprsise) endings I've ever seen. Still, this game is a solid weekend rental or bargain bin purchase if the subject matter interests you.

If you've played either of these, please share your feelings.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work on a research paper/class presentation I've got to do before long. Hope everyones doing well.