Return to Rapture
Ten years after the events of the original BioShock, Rapture is now under the control of Sofia Lamb. Her philosophies differ from Ryan's and she places faith in the collective power of the community, as opposed to individual ambition.
With Splicers still roaming the decrepit city in search of ADAM, a genetic modification drug harvested from sea slugs, she uses superstition and the occult to keep society under control. Father Wales, a demented ex-priest, reinforces this message through religion.
You are a prototype Big Daddy, mysteriously awoken with no memory of the last ten years. Your instinct is to search for the Little Sister you once protected, but the world has changed and the mysterious Big Sisters, agile and vicious creatures with telekinetic powers, don't like you mixing with their little ones.
Getting under your skin
The twisted, murky underwater city of Rapture once again comes to life on PlayStation 3. BioShock 2 takes you to all-new locations, such as a terrifying amusement park, that reveal just how vast Andrew Ryan's ruined metropolis truly is.
The graphics and sound effects are designed to instil a constant feeling of unease, with sinister graffiti splattered over walls and floors, and piercing screams hinting at the danger ahead. The story is driven mainly through the audio diaries of Rapture citizens that you collect as you explore the city. The world is expertly designed, with countless hidden nooks waiting for you, some of which take lots of imagination to uncover.
Trying to survive
The main focus of the gameplay is exploring Rapture, fighting off the Splicers that attack in great swarms and seeking out the Little Sisters roaming the world with their Big Daddy bodyguards. As in the first game, if you defeat one of these protectors you can either harvest the Little Sisters and take their ADAM, or protect them. This time, if you choose the latter then they will lead you to corpses from which they can gather yet more ADAM. This process attracts waves of vicious Splicers, so you'd better be prepared for a fight.
Once again, you can spend the ADAM on Plasmids, which are genetic modifications allowing you to emit bolt of lightning, freeze your enemies, shoot swarms of bees and much more. Artfully combining these with weapons, such as the giant drill attached to your right hand, is the secret to success. You can also use them to interact with the game world, electrifying a pool of water to create a deadly trap, for example.
There are plenty of other tricks to make your journey through Rapture easier. The research camera from the original BioShock can now capture video, and you must damage the framed enemies in creative ways to unlock research bonuses. Hacking has also been revamped, with a skill meter taking the place of the pipe-arranging mini-game of the original. You have to stop a moving bar in the green area to complete the hack, while the blue areas offer bonuses and the red areas set off the security alarm.
Back to the beginning
BioShock 2's online multiplayer mode is actually a prequel to the original game. Up to ten players can take control of Rapture citizens enrolled in Plasmid testing programmes around the time that the city erupted into civil war.
The series' dark, quirky sense of humour is evident in the playable characters, which range from an American football player able to whack opponents with his trophy, to an Indian mystic named Suresh Sheti. You can carry two weapons, two Plasmid powers and three Gene Tonic power-ups at any given time, meaning there's great flexibility to how you approach each battle.
There are ten maps and five different modes, each a variation on such classics as team deathmatch and capture the flag. There are even Big Daddy suits to pick up, letting you rampage through the competition albeit without Plasmids.