Bioshock 2 is very much more of the same, but with a couple of add-ons to keep it interesting. The difficulty has definitely been ramped up. In the first one you could get away being a run-and-gun type character, but in this one you really have to use each hackable item you come across (cameras / bots etc), as the enemies are tougher, move quicker, more aggressive and there’s less ammo to be had.

The FOV is appalling, again which just makes it harder / more irritating, particularly for such a ‘close-quarters’ game.

Graphics are a mix of great and not-so great. Some of the better water effects I’ve seen (before I’d seen Heavy Rain, that is), and some nice lighting in places, interchanged with generic cut-n-paste textures in some parts of the maps. Anti-aliasing doesn’t appear supported, but can be forced through Ati drivers but with only limited benefit (still some jaggies).

Level design is great, as was the first Bioshock. The NPC enemies (the stand-alone ‘characters’ rather than the grunts) are pretty unique so far, and pretty tough to beat, and there’s a nice set-piece thrown in every now and then to keep things interesting.

The weapons aren’t great (so far), the cross-hair is very console-i-fied (ie large) and I’m pretty sure there’s an element of auto-aim.

The sound is spot-on, good 5.1 positional audio, with detailed and appropriate environmental sounds.

I’d give it 7.5 out of 10.

Written by: CMC_SDG