BioShock 2

BioShock 2
Developer(s)	2K Marin and 2K Australia Additional work by: 2K China 2K Boston Digital Extremes (Multiplayer) Arkane Studios Feral Interactive (OS X)
Publisher(s)	2K Games
Distributor(s)	Take-Two Interactive
Director(s)	Jordan Thomas
Producer(s)	Melissa Miller
Designer(s)	Zak McClendon
Programmer(s)	Christopher Kline
Writer(s)	Jordan Thomas
Composer(s)	Garry Schyman
Series	BioShock
Engine	Unreal Engine 2.5
Platforms	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 OS X
Release date(s)	Win, PS3, X360 February 9, 2010 OS X March 29, 2012
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K Games, and a sequel to the 2007 video game BioShock. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on February 9, 2010. The OS X version of the game was released by Feral Interactive on March 30, 2012.

The game is set in the fictional underwater dystopian city of Rapture, eight years after the events of the first BioShock. The game features refinements to the gameplay of the BioShock series, as well as a multiplayer mode.

Synopsis

Setting

BioShock 2 is set in the fictional city of Rapture, hidden from the rest of the world underwater. Rapture was the realized vision of Andrew Ryan, who built the city to escape the tyranny of governments. Tension came to a head on New Year's Eve of 1958, when Atlas ordered an all-out attack on Ryan. The battle left many dead, and the few sane survivors barricaded themselves away. What once was a beautiful utopia had fallen into a crumbling dystopia.

Despite the apparent utopia, class distinctions grew, and former gangster and businessman Frank Fontaine used his influence of the lower class to plan a coup of Rapture. Fontaine created black market routes with the surface world, and together with Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum, created a cheap plasmid industry by mass-producing ADAM through the implanting of the slugs in the stomachs of orphaned girls, nicknamed "Little Sisters". Fontaine used his plasmid-enhanced army to attack Ryan, but reportedly was killed in the battle. Ryan took the opportunity to seize his assets including the plasmid factories. In the months that followed, a second figure named Atlas rose to speak for the lower class, creating further strife. Atlas led attacks on the factories housing the Little Sisters, and Ryan countered by creating "Big Daddies", plasmid-enhanced humans surgically grafted into giant lumbering diving suits who were psychologically compelled to protect the Little Sisters at all costs. Ryan also created his own army of plasmid-enhanced soldiers, named "Splicers", which he controlled using pheromones distributed through Rapture's air system.

Plot

See also: List of characters in BioShock and List of characters in BioShock 2

BioShock 2 begins in 1958, as Subject Delta patrols Rapture with his Little Sister, Eleanor. Delta is separated from Eleanor by Lamb, Eleanor's mother, and forced to kill himself using a mind-controlling plasmid. Ten years later, Delta awakens, revived by Little Sisters under the control of Eleanor. Delta is drawn towards Eleanor by their past Big Daddy-Little Sister connection. Brigid Tenenbaum encounters Delta, and explains that unless Delta reunites with Eleanor, mental and physical conditioning will cause Delta to fall into a coma. With the help of the Little Sisters under Eleanor's control and Tenenbaum's ally, Augustus Sinclair, Delta makes his way towards Lamb's stronghold, encountering members of the Rapture family as he goes, and uncovering Lamb's plans: she seeks to use ADAM to transform Eleanor into a perfect embodiment of her altruistic ideals. Lamb's ultimate goal is to have the collected minds and memories of everyone in Rapture become a part of Eleanor through the use of the genetic memory in ADAM, thus making her an "Embodiment of the Family" which Lamb believes will put an end to "The Self".

Delta arrives at a containment chamber where Eleanor is held, but Lamb captures him and severs his bond with Eleanor by temporarily stopping her heart. Though Eleanor survives, Delta begins to slowly die as the bond cannot be re-established. Using a Little Sister, Eleanor transforms herself into a Big Sister and breaks Delta from confinement. Together they head for an escape pod that Sinclair has arranged to leave Rapture. The two find that Lamb has converted Sinclair into a Big Daddy, and Delta is forced to finish him off. After a final climactic showdown with the remnants of The Rapture Family, Eleanor and Delta make it to the escape pod but a final trap set by Lamb mortally wounds Delta. Eleanor reaches the escape craft, while Delta manages to grab onto the side of the escape pod and climb to its top as it rises.

The game's ending depends on how the player interacted with the Little Sisters, and the fates of non-player characters Holloway, Poole and Alexander within the game. Eleanor can save Sofia Lamb or allow her to die, depending on whether the player spared or executed Holloway, Poole and Alexander. If Delta rescued all of the Little Sisters then Eleanor will absorb his personality and memories and leave Rapture with the Little Sisters to change the world for the better. If Delta harvested all of the Little Sisters then Eleanor will absorb Delta's personality and become bent on world domination, as the corpses of Rapture's inhabitants float to the surface. If Delta rescued some and harvested some then the player is given a choice, either Eleanor can absorb his personality and become evil, or Delta can refuse her offer and die, in which case Eleanor will mourn his death and make her own way in life.

Gameplay

See also: Gameplay in BioShock

BioShock 2 is presented as a first-person shooter, with the player taking on the role of Subject Delta, a prototype for the Big Daddies 8 years after the events of the first game. As in BioShock, the player explores Rapture and fights off splicers, the remaining psychotic human population of the undersea city, using a combination of the environment, weapons, plasmids, and tonics. Plasmids and tonics are special genetic-reencoding liquids that grant the user active or passive abilities, respectively, and include many of those introduced in BioShock as well as new ones. For example, plasmids can give the player the ability to use telekinesis or to invoke fire, while tonics can improve the player's movement speed, attack damage, or damage resistance. Several of the weapons in BioShock 2 were previously seen carried by Big Daddies in the first game, including a powerful drill and a rivet gun. The player can use each weapon in a close-range melee attack, unlike in the first game, and is able to equip a weapon and a plasmid at the same time, which they can use in quick succession to destroy enemies. For example, the player might freeze a foe using a plasmid then shatter it using a spear gun. If the player is killed, they are revived in the nearest "vita-chamber."

As the player explores Rapture, he will collect ammo, health, recovery items, money and EVE (a liquid used to power plasmid use). Money can be used to purchase more items at vending machines scattered around the city. The player will also encounter security systems which can be hacked through a mini-game; this requires the player to stop a quick-moving needle one or more times in the correctly colored areas of a gauge. Stopping it within a green area progresses the sequence or potentially ends it; stopping in a blue area may grant a bonus to the hacking result, landing in a white area shocks the player (dealing a small amount of damage); and landing in a red area causes a security alert. The player also gains access to a research video camera. In BioShock 2, once the player begins recording an enemy, the player has a short time to damage that enemy in creative ways in order to score a number of points, which are then added towards the total research points of that enemy type. At various levels of research, the player is rewarded with new abilities. Certain areas of the game take place entirely underwater, limiting the actions the player can perform.

As a Big Daddy, the player can attempt to defeat other Big Daddies who are themselves escorting Little Sisters. Should the player succeed, they can then choose to either harvest or adopt the Little Sister. While adopted, the Little Sister can lead the player to corpses from whom she can extract more ADAM. While she does this, the player must defend her from splicer attacks and other foes. Once the Little Sister has collected enough ADAM, the player can then return her to an escape vent, where the player must choose to either rescue or harvest the Little Sister. Rescuing her gives the player a modest amount of ADAM but also the possibility of beneficial gifts later; harvesting her yields a large ADAM boost. ADAM can then be spent at Gatherer's Garden machines throughout Rapture to buy new plasmids, gene tonics, slots, or health/eve upgrades. Once the player has either rescued or harvested each of the Little Sisters on the level, the player will be attacked by a Big Sister. The Big Sister's agility and resourcefulness will task the player with a difficult fight before the player can proceed further in the game.

Multiplayer

BioShock 2 features a story-driven multiplayer mode called Fall of Rapture in which the player takes on the role of one of Rapture's citizens before the events of BioShock, during Rapture's 1959 civil war. The player is sponsored by the plasmid manufacturer, Sinclair Solutions, to test out their weapons, plasmids, and Tonics in a consumer reward program. As the player progresses through the multiplayer experience, new weapons, tonics, and plasmids will be unlocked (provided by Sinclair) in addition to the story of the Rapture civil war being told through audio diaries available in the player's apartment.

The player can choose from among 6 characters to serve as an in-game avatar. The characters are: Jacob Norris the welder, Barbara Johnson the housewife, Danny Wilkins the football star, Buck Raleigh the businessman, Naledi Atkins the pilot, and Suresh Sheti the Indian mystic. Two additional characters were available as a pre-order bonus from 12game, GameStop, EB Games or Game, or through the purchase of a DLC pack: a fisherman named Zigo d'Acosta and an actress named Mille Blanche de Glace. Another two characters were made available by downloading the Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack: a criminal named Louie McGraff and a smooth-talking playboy named Oscar Calraca.

Multiplayer comes in 7 different modes, two of which have a single-player and team-based mode. The modes are:

Survival of the Fittest

A 'free-for-all' mode in which each player gets points for killing each of the other players. Whichever player accumulated the most kills or 20 kills by the end of the match wins.

Civil War

Players are divided into two opposing teams, and the team with the most collective kills of members of the other team at the end of the match wins.

Last Splicer Standing

A variation of 'Civil War' in which players do not respawn after being killed; each match consists of several rounds in which players attempt to outlive the players on the enemy team.

Capture the Sister

A 'Capture the Flag'-style mode in which players are divided into two teams, one of which must protect a Little Sister while the other tries to steal her and place her in a vent on the other side of the map. The team protecting the Little Sister will have a randomly chosen player to be a Big Daddy. After a predetermined amount of time, the teams switch roles. Whichever team has the most captures at the end of the match wins.

ADAM Grab

In this mode there is one Little Sister on the map and the player must seek her out and maintain possession of her as long as possible. The first person to hold onto the Little Sister for 3 minutes wins.

Team ADAM Grab

A variant of 'ADAM Grab' in which players are divided into two teams. The objective is the same as 'ADAM Grab', but victory is determined by a collective score rather than individual scores, and the first team to hold the Little Sister for 3 minutes wins.

Turf War

Players are split into two teams and each team must reach a number of predetermined points on the map to capture that point. The team with the most control points over the longest time wins.

In the multiplayer modes 'Survival of the Fittest', 'Civil War', and 'Turf War', a Big Daddy suit will spawn at a random location in the level. The choice is given to the player who finds this suit to become the Big Daddy, which will give the player greater strength and endurance but prohibits the use of plasmids and hacking, as well as expelling any previously held damage bonuses against other players. The Big Daddy can stomp, shoot a rivet gun, melee attack, and throw proximity mines. All damage dealt to the Big Daddy is permanent, and cannot be replenished. Once the Big Daddy is defeated, the suit disappears and spawns in another location on the map two minutes later. In 'Capture the Sister' one member of the defending team is chosen at random to be the Big Daddy; after the player's death, the Big Daddy suit disappears for the rest of the round.

Development

Initially, media reports suggested that the subtitle, Sea Of Dreams, would accompany the second entry in the series. However, this subtitle was supposedly dropped, before 2K withdrew the statement, stating that the "Sea Of Dreams" subtitle would still be part of the full title. However, a later statement from 2K spokesman Charlie Sinhaseni clarified that the Sea Of Dreams title was for the trailer, and not for the game itself. The first appearance for BioShock 2 came in the form of a teaser trailer that was available in the PlayStation 3 version of the first game. The first major details on the gameplay and plot of the game were revealed in the April 2009 issue of Game Informer magazine, around the same time that the "viral" site "There's Something in the Sea" was revealed. This site documents a man named Mark Meltzer's investigation into the disappearances of girls from coastline areas around the Atlantic, along with a mysterious red light that accompanies each kidnapping. On April 9, 2009, on the Spike TV show GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley the first BioShock 2 gameplay video was shown featuring the Big Sister. This demo showed many features including the ability to walk under water.

The story received major changes over the course of development, with two of the most important relating to the player's character and the Big Sister. Initially there was only going to be one Big Sister who would continually hunt the player down throughout the course of the game and then retreat once she was defeated. This Big Sister was written as a Little Sister who, as she grew up on the surface, could not leave the memory of Rapture behind and eventually returned. The reason for the change, as explained by Zak McClendon, lead designer for 2K Marin, is "If you have a single character that the player knows they can't kill because they're so important to the story you're completely removing the triumph of overcoming that encounter with them." Jordan Thomas explains however, "The soul of the original Big Sister character still exists, but in the form of somebody you get to know over the course of the game." The other major change is that the player's character, Subject Delta, is no longer the first Big Daddy, but rather the fourth prototype. He is, however, the first to be successfully 'pair-bonded' to a single Little Sister.

Digital Extremes produced the multiplayer component of the game. In the multiplayer portion, players are put in a separate story where civil war has broken out in Rapture prior to the events of the first game. In the multiplayer mode, the player acts as a plasmid test subject for a company called Sinclair Solutions. As the player progresses through the multiplayer maps like Mercury Suites and Kashmir Restaurant they will either have the ability to hack turrets and vending machines or search for the Big Daddy suit.

Originally, the PC version lacked gamepad support and the community created a petition supporting the addition of this feature in the hopes that it would change the developers' minds. The gamepad support was eventually added in the Steam update in October 2013.

Audio

Garry Schyman reprised his role as BioShock's composer to create the score for BioShock 2. He wrote that "scoring a sequel to a major hit game is always a challenge," and the the praise his BioShock score received made things even more difficult. He decided to retain some elements and motifs from the first game—use of the solo violin, and compositional techniques common in the mid-20th century setting—while creating "something uniquely different".

The score was recorded with a 60-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at Capitol Studios. Additionally, the Special Edition of Bioshock 2 included the orchestral score from the game on a CD as well as the orchestral score from the original BioShock on a vinyl 180g LP.

Track listings

Sounds From The Lighthouse
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Pairbond — BioShock 2 Theme"	2:33
2.	"Waking Up In 1959 (Multiplayer Main Menu)"	1:31
3.	"Ten Years Later"	1:46
4.	"Protecting His Charge"	1:07
5.	"Welcome Back"	2:20
6.	"Cult Of Lamb"	1:18
7.	"Out The Airlock"	1:42
8.	"How She Sees The World"	2:46
9.	"Grace Under The Ocean"	1:51
10.	"The Abyss"	1:24
11.	"Big Sister on the Move"	2:00
12.	"Send Him Howling Back To Hell"	2:07
13.	"Eleanor's Darkness"	1:42
14.	"That Symbol On Your Hand"	2:00
15.	"Drained Memories"	2:40
16.	"Entrance To Eden"	1:38
17.	"Persephone"	1:07
18.	"Cell Block"	1:14
19.	"Lockdown March"	1:29
20.	"Welcome to the Drop (Alt. with Vocal)"	1:38
21.	"Under The Tracks (Unused with Vocal)"	2:44
22.	"Research"	1:11
23.	"Destroying The Lobby"	1:10
24.	"Gil's Entertainment"	1:49
25.	"Escape"	3:32
26.	"Eleanor's Lullabye"	1:39

• Disc length 47:58

Bioshock 2 – The Official Soundtrack
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Boogie Man"	Todd Rollins	3:03
2.	"(How Much Is) That Doggie In the Window"	Patti Page	2:38
3.	"20th Century Blues (Live)"	Noël Coward	3:34
4.	"Nightmare"	Artie Shaw & His New Music	2:49
5.	"Daddy, Won't You Please Come Home?"	Annette Hanshaw	2:58
6.	"Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition"	Kay Kyser and His Orchestra	2:32
7.	"Dawn of the New Day (Song of the World's Fair)"	Horace Heidt & His Musical Knights	2:30
8.	"Night and Day"	Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra	2:58
9.	"My Heart Belongs to Daddy"	Eddy Duchin	2:54
10.	"Chasing Shadows"	Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli & Le Quintette du Hot Club de France	2:57
11.	"Jitterbug Waltz"	Fats Waller and his Rhythm	3:20
12.	"I Cover the Waterfront"	Connie Boswell	2:56

Bioshock 2 – The Official Soundtrack [Special Edition]
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Boogie Man"	Todd Rollins	3:03
2.	"(How Much Is) That Doggie In the Window"	Patti Page	2:38
3.	"20th Century Blues (Live)"	Noël Coward	3:34
4.	"Nightmare"	Artie Shaw & His New Music	2:49
5.	"Daddy, Won't You Please Come Home?"	Annette Hanshaw	2:58
6.	"Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition"	Kay Kyser and His Orchestra	2:32
7.	"Dawn of the New Day (Song of the World's Fair)"	Horace Heidt & His Musical Knights	2:30
8.	"Night and Day"	Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra	2:58
9.	"My Heart Belongs to Daddy"	Eddy Duchin	2:54
10.	"Chasing Shadows"	Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli & Le Quintette du Hot Club de France	2:57
11.	"Jitterbug Waltz"	Fats Waller and his Rhythm	3:20
12.	"I Cover the Waterfront"	Connie Boswell	2:56
13.	"Mental Strain At Dawn"	Jack Purvis	2:46
14.	"Bei mir bist du schon"	Benny Goodman and His Orchestra & Martha Tilton	2:31
15.	"The Trouble With Me Is You"	Red McKenzie	2:32
16.	"The Skeleton In the Closet"	Putney Dandridge	2:33
17.	"We Saw the Sea"	Fred Astaire	2:19
18.	"La Mer (Beyond the Sea)"	Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli & Le Quintette du Hot Club de France	4:16

• Disc length 35:10 – Regular
• Disc length 52:08 – Special Edition

I Am Rapture: Rapture Is Me — Vinyl Side A
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ocean On His Shoulders (BioShock Main Theme)"	1:53
2.	"Welcome To Rapture"	1:48
3.	"Dancers on a String"	1:30
4.	"Cohen's Masterpiece"	2:53
5.	"Step Into My Garden"	1:06
6.	"The Docks"	0:54
7.	"This Is Where They Sleep"	1:20
8.	"The Engine City"	1:03
9.	"All Spliced Up"	1:00
10.	"Dr. Steinman"	1:54
11.	"Empty Houses"	1:44
12.	"Lost Soul"	0:42
13.	"The Good One"	1:03
14.	"Rapture Daily News"	1:01

I Am Rapture: Rapture Is Me — Vinyl Side B
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Busted Sub"	1:06
2.	"Spliced Aphrodite"	1:07
3.	"Diseased Medical"	2:01
4.	"Cohen Is Lurking"	4:00
5.	"Haunted Slums"	1:48
6.	"Bowels of the City"	1:11
7.	"Becoming One Of Them"	1:38
8.	"Combat Medly"	2:45
9.	"Rise Rapture Rise"	1:44
10.	"Gameplay Cues"	0:36

• Disc length 37:47

Release

A Special Edition of the game was announced on November 19, 2009. This edition, which was limited to a single production run, contains the game along with three posters featuring fictional advertisements from Rapture (all of which, when looked at under a black light, reveal hidden messages), the orchestral score from the game on CD, the orchestral score from the original BioShock on a vinyl 180g LP, and a hardbound, 164-page art book. It is packaged in a 13"×13" premium case with special art on both the slipcase and the box cover.

A smaller limited edition, titled BioShock 2 Rapture Edition, was officially announced on December 2, 2009. Its contents are the game and a smaller, 96-page art book, which are packaged together in a special slipcover. As with the Special Edition, the Rapture Edition was limited to a single production run. The BioShock 2 Rapture Edition is available in Europe, New Zealand and Australia, in addition to the BioShock 2 Special Edition.

With the closure of the Games for Windows Live Marketplace in August 2013, the game was subsequently patched in October 2013 to remove Games for Windows Live in favor of Steamworks support for matchmaking. In addition, Minerva's Den was released for free for players who owned BioShock 2 before the patch.

Sales

In its first week of release, BioShock 2 was the best-selling Xbox 360 game in the UK and North America. In the U.S., NPD recorded it as the top selling game of February with 562,900 units sold on the Xbox 360, and 190,500 on the PS3. Gamasutra state a possible reason for the Xbox 360's greater sales was the original BioShock's 14-month exclusivity on the platform. It also managed to hold both the first and second positions on the Steam release charts. In its first month of release, BioShock 2 was number 1 in sales for the Xbox 360 and number 12 for the PlayStation 3.

By March 2010, BioShock 2 sold 3 million copies across all platforms, close to the original BioShock's 4 million lifetime sales at the time. In an earnings call, Take-Two's Chief Financial Officer noted that the game had "lower than expected" sales, adding "sales slowed down sooner than we expected." Prior to the game's release, the chairman of Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick stated that he expected the game to sell 5 million copies across all platforms.

Downloadable content

BioShock 2 was supported post-launch with several downloadable content (DLC) offerings. The first DLC, the "Sinclair Solutions Test Pack", was released on March 11, 2010. It increased the max level cap for multiplayer characters to 50, and added new characters and upgrades. The "Rapture Metro Map Pack" launched on May 11, 2010 for consoles, and on May 25, 2010, for PC. The DLC included 6 new maps, an increased level cap (up to level 50 for those who did not purchase the Sinclair Solutions DLC), 2 new characters, 2 new masks, a new "rebirth" gene tonic, and a new "Kill 'Em Kindly" game mode. This DLC also adds 3 more Achievements for the Xbox 360 and PC versions and 3 more Trophies for the PlayStation 3 version.

Since its release, many players of the new DLC have complained to 2K, saying that the odds of playing the new maps from the Metro Pack are extremely low, with many players commenting that since purchasing the pack, they haven't played a single new map. 2K responded and said the design decision was made in order to stop "base-splitting"; where the player lobbies are split up, so that all players can still play together, regardless of whether they have purchased the DLC or not. However, players still voiced further complaints, citing that the odds of 10 people in one match all having the DLC, and then still having a 10 in 16 chance of striking an old map, means that overall, one is unlikely to be able play the new maps in a non-private match (which is required for 2 out of 3 of the new achievements/trophies). Some players suggested adding a "playlist" to feature only the new maps, so that players with the DLC could play together, rather than having to set up private matches. However, 2K Games later stated that they had no plans to add playlist functionality to the multiplayer.

Released on August 3, "The Protector Trials Pack" is a single-player downloadable content which has the player defend Little Sisters against swarms of enemies in a variety of challenge rooms. The content contains six maps based on locations from the main game, alongside three difficulty levels, seven Achievements/Trophies, and new concept art and videos to unlock. This downloadable content was released for free on the PC on March 14, 2011.

Minerva's Den

Minerva's Den is a downloadable single-player campaign with a plot completely separate from that of the main campaign. The player assumes the role of Subject Sigma, another Alpha Series Big Daddy, as he travels through Minerva's Den, home to Rapture's Central Computing. The campaign adds three new levels (with around four hours of gameplay) and provides deeper insight into Rapture's inner workings.

The story introduces the characters of Charles Milton Porter, who guides the player (with Brigid Tenenbaum), and Reed Wahl who acts as the antagonist. Porter and Wahl were once partners working on a computer with advanced artificial intelligence dubbed "The Thinker", but Wahl framed Porter for treason and stole the machine. Porter, realizing that he would be taken away and that Rapture was crumbling, left instructions on how to replicate the machine on the surface in order to ensure that his creation would benefit mankind. Sigma, under the orders of Porter and Brigid Tenenbaum, seek to obtain The Thinker's machine code, hoping that its processing power combined with surface technology will allow for the development of a cure for the Splicers.

Unfortunately, Wahl has holed up in Minerva's Den and he's adamant to not let The Thinker be taken away since he believes (due to splicing induced madness) that the computer is key to a "predictive equation" that allows him to predict the future. Sigma makes his way through Minerva's Den battling Splicers, the area's experimental security bots, and finally Wahl himself. Once Sigma reaches The Thinker, the latter recognizes Sigma as Charles Milton Porter: the "Porter" that contacted Sigma is The Thinker itself, simulating Porter's personality (a feature originally created by Porter to simulate the personality of his deceased wife) to provide a familiar guiding voice. Sigma obtains the codes and heads to the surface on a bathysphere with Tenenbaum, so it can be rebuilt.

The add-on also features new weapons, a new plasmid as well as a new Big Daddy type. It was released August 31, 2010 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Work on the PC version of this downloadable content was resumed on October 28, 2010. The DLC was released on PC on May 31, 2011.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (X360) 87.78% (PC) 87.75% (PS3) 87.05% Metacritic 88/100 Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com B+ CVG 9.1/10 Edge 8/10 Eurogamer 8/10 Famitsu 35/40 Game Informer 8.25/10 GamePro GameSpot 8.5/10 GameSpy GamesRadar 10/10 GameTrailers 8.8/10 IGN 9.1/10 OXM (UK) 9/10 TeamXbox 9.2

BioShock 2 received very positive reviews, resulting in an average score of 88 out of 100 according to review aggregator Metacritic. GamesRadar's Charlie Barratt awarded the game with a perfect score stating that "The weapons are better. The plasmids are better. The enemies are better. At some points, even the storytelling is better. What's most amazing and surprising about BioShock 2, however, is that by diving deeper into Rapture's tortured history and exploring more of Rapture's haunted world, it actually manages to make the original BioShock better, too."

Game Informer's Andrew Reiner scored the game an 8.25. He criticised the game for being too similar to its predecessor, saying that "For roughly 10 hours, BioShock 2 follows directly in its forefather's footsteps, too fearful to inject anything new into this twisted world." However, he praised the game's ending, stating that "Eventually this disappointing adventure does turn a corner. It takes 10 hours to get there, but the final two acts (lasting approximately three hours) are brilliant." He concluded with "BioShock 2 eventually becomes the sequel I hoped for, but spends too much time getting there." In 2013, Liz Lanier of Game Informer included Dr. Sofia Lamb among top ten female villains in video games, stating that "an extremist obsessed with the "greater good," Lamb will sacrifice anything and anyone for her own agenda; whether that means brainwashing or murdering to create her utopia, she's down."

IGN scored the game a 9.1/10 and said that "anyone looking for a first-person shooter that offers more than flat, stereotypical characters and copy-and-paste supersoldier plots, one that attempts to establish a sense of right and wrong and loops you into the decision making process, and one that's set in one of the most vividly realized settings around should pick up BioShock 2. It's a game in which story, setting, and gameplay are expertly blended to create an experience that's as thought-provoking as it is entertaining." IGN's review also stated that the game does not look as visually impressive as its predecessor, but it is still one of the best-looking games around because of its unique art style. In a round-table style video chat, IGN editors said that Rapture was less mysterious because players have seen it before, and that was a major strike against the game. Since the original had such an eerie mysterious feel to it, the twists and turns seen in the sequel seemed less surprising.

Tom Price of TeamXbox gave the game an overall score of 9.2/10 saying that "BioShock 2 remains one of the most original, exciting, subversive and intriguing shooters out there for you to play, and you shouldn't miss the experience of doing that."

Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell was more critical of BioShock 2. Though he scored the game a very positive 8/10 overall, he noted that "The single-player campaign... will and should be damned for its long, slow start, during which the game struggles to make its intentions clear, but once past that the developers find a new tempo that wrings just enough extra quality out of the existing framework to justify your patience, even if the game still feels flat in the context of more daring and elaborate sequels like Mass Effect 2 and last year's Assassin's Creed follow-up."

References

Bibliography

External links

• Official website
• The Cult of Rapture
• BioShock 2 at MobyGames
• BioShock 2 at Feral Interactive
• BioShock 2 at DMOZ
• BioShock 2 at IMDb