You would never think returning to Rapture would be this beautiful.
You start off the game watching a very creepy intro. I must say the presentation in this game is fantastic. The Little Sisters feel more alive this time around, and that can be seen in the video. As you know by now you play the first Big Daddy. Rest assured this Big Daddy plays almost identical to the first game. You wield either an awesome drill or a gun in one hand, and plasmids in the other. Both are controlled by the trigger buttons, and to change them you just hold the bumpers.
Playing as the Big Daddy has it's advantages of course; you are stronger and can wield massive amounts of damage in a hurry. The main disadvantage are you are slow. You make an impressive thumping noise when you jump or fall to compliment your size too. Taking down other Big Daddies seems a little easier in this game, maybe because the mystique is gone, or you're more powerful earlier, but you won't have as much trouble.
The real trouble is the Big Sisters. They are fast, extremely powerful and can turn a one sided battle around in seconds. They like to throw fireballs and other objects, jump at you at blinding speed and grab nearby splicers and harvest them for health. They usually appear at the end of levels and are harrowed by a shrivling scream as they get closer to you.
As always, when you die you reappear in Vista Chambers. You won't use them often on normal until either a Big Sister fight who catches you off guard (no ammo or health packs) or near the end of the game when they throw multiple baddies at you often. They still record damage you have done before you died which is really nice when you have no weapons or plasmids and are taking down a Big Sister very slowly.
The story in the game is great. You are attempting to reconnect with your Little Sister you protected when you first got made. Along the way you pick up the usual voice recorders (I didn't get my achievement for getting 100 even though I collected 118!) which offer great voice acting. You learn more about characters from the past game and introduce some new ones. The game really awards exploring Rapture with goodies, recorders and various upgrades.
Exploring Rapture is one of the best part of the game. The creepy writing on the wall returns, you often hear very unusual conversations with the Splicers and experience some truely freaky stuff. My only real beef with Rapture is not being able to go back to previous areas ("levels") as you progress through the game. So just make sure you found all your loot before you leave, the game gives you a nice head's up too as a reminder at end of levels.
For those of you wondering about the last boss, well it's alot more satisfying than the end of the first Bioshock. The story wraps itself up nicely and you can only hope that the great developers at 2K (and other studios who helped) will feel obligated for a return trip underwater in the future. A nice prequel would be very interesting!
Overall, it is everything it needed to be. It combined all the best aspects of the first while offering a robust multiplayer and single player experience. Don't be afraid to dive back into one of the most memorable cities in all of videogames!