Bioshock 2

[Meneldil]

Where?

There:

Here's how I see it. Bioshock is more of an interactive movie. STALKER is more of what a game should be. Both are fun, but Bioshock does not do much for me, especially after playing System Shock 2.

STALKER tried to emulate the good old "fight for your life in a hostile environment" type of game (that is saddly extinct nowadays). And IMO, it failed quite hard. It promised to offer much, and in the end it really brought nothing new or extraordinary (I can remember the first previews which gathered quite a lot of enthousiasm, which later on disappeared as features were being taken out of the game). Most of the survival features are actually annoying as hell or seem out of place in a FPS.

Bioshock on the other hand just promised to offer a very classical FPS (though with its own little gameplay mecanics) in a supa-dupa awesome setting. And that it did. Very similar to Medal of Honor or Call of Duty in their time.

My grip probably comes from the fact that I hated STALKER when it was released and finished it after having played through Bioshock twice, but meh. I definitely can see how STALKER could have been the best game in the world but I think it somehow failed in the end.

[Fragony]

STALKER is a bit rough around the edges, but you can't beat that open world feel, and I find the nuclear wasteland a much more fascinating place then Rapture. It can be a bit frustrating at times and things don't always go as they should, but I still think it's one of the best games in years. Bioshock is so 'not quite', I got bored very fast.

[Beskar]

I remember the previews of Stalker of where it had multiplayer co-op, etc and how it originally "played itself" and you was simply a stalker who played along in the world and eventually, the game will reach certain points in roughly certain times after the npc's have done things themselves.

The whole idea was interesting and when it had these previews, I was really wanting this game. Then they suddenly decided to cut the vast majority of everything out. When that happened, I dropped Stalker instantly and since then, in a way, I unconsciously avoided Stalker.

[Fragony]

Glad multiplayer-coop (never knew there was going to be) was cancelled, the strength of this game is in feeling isolated. There is really no reason to not give it a try now, the fixed most of the issues and it is 'one of these kinda' games like Deus Ex and Thief and the like, you will really hate it's flaws because what it does right is so good. It's a flawed game that needed some more time, but it occasionally shows what they had in mind and these moments really make an impression.

[naut]

Bioshock on the other hand just promised to offer a very classical FPS (though with its own little gameplay mecanics) in a supa-dupa awesome setting.

Bollocks.

Bioshock offered to "revolutionise" the FPS genre. And well didn't. They said everything would be interactive, everything would be modifiable. And well it isn't. Why on earth did they hire a ten man team to make water-effects. Water-effects FFS! It would have been better if they had put those ten people to work on stuff that actually affects the gameplay.

Argh. This explains better than I ever could.

STALKER is a bit rough around the edges, but you can't beat that open world feel, and I find the nuclear wasteland a much more fascinating place then Rapture. It can be a bit frustrating at times and things don't always go as they should, but I still think it's one of the best games in years. Bioshock is so 'not quite', I got bored very fast.

Exactly. There is one part at Army Warehouses, with the bloodsucker village that you can explore. Much more interesting than being forced down a series of corridors in Rapture.

Don't get me wrong, I like Bioshock. It's just it is over-rated.

Edit Added emphasis.

[TinCow]

Bioshock is an excellent corridor shooter. Possibly one of the best corridor shooters. But it's still a corridor shooter. 1998 called. It wants its gameplay back.

[Furunculus]

preordered it on steam today, get a free bioshock (original) license too.

[CrossLOPER]

TSTALKER tried to emulate the good old "fight for your life in a hostile environment" type of game (that is saddly extinct nowadays). And IMO, it failed quite hard.

It gave a challenging, unique gameplay experience where the player wasn't really that significant. NPCs acknowledged him, but they didn't really worship him. The player was pointed in a certain direction without really knowing what he was getting into and their character's motivations were entirely left to their inclinations. THAT is how games should be.

Bioshock on the other hand just promised to offer a very classical FPS (though with its own little gameplay mecanics) in a supa-dupa awesome setting. And that it did. Very similar to Medal of Honor or Call of Duty in their time.

IT FREAKING PROMISED TO BE SYSTEM SHOCK 3.

[Kekvit Irae]

So far, Bioshock 2 is pretty much the same as the original, but with more enhancements. This is a good thing, unlike what happened with Mass Effect 2.

Playing a Big Daddy is pretty nice, and the new Little Sisters mechanic for harvesting ADAM is more tactical. When you take down a LS's Big Daddy, you can choose to either rescue them or harvest them (just like in the original). Only this time, when you choose to rescue them, you don't get any ADAM immediately. Instead, you put them on your shoulder, and go searching for special corpses for the LS to harvest. The Little Sister harvesting a corpse will spawn a horde of splicers, which you will need to fight to protect the girl. Once this is done, you can either choose to take her directly to the LS vents we all know and love from the original game, or gather from another corpse (and fight another horde). You'll get a smaller amount of ADAM if you choose to go directly to the vents. Once the second one is harvested, then you need to find a vent to deposit the girl in. At this point, you can once again choose to either rescue them (gaining little ADAM but you'll be rewarded just like the original game) or harvest them for the full amount she collected from the two corpses. Once again, a long-term goal oriented player will choose rescuing Little Sisters.

This gives four options as opposed to the original's two...
1. Rescue the girl and take them to the vents for little ADAM but rewards down the line.
2. Harvest the girl for moderate ADAM.
3. Rescue the girl and gather from corpses, then rescue at the vent for moderate ADAM for rewards down the line.
4. Rescue the girl and gather corpses, then harvest at the vent for maximum ADAM.

[frogbeastegg]

How do they explain a Big Daddy harvesting Little Sisters? Did his rage at years of playing baby sitter break his conditioning?

[Kekvit Irae]

How do they explain a Big Daddy harvesting Little Sisters? Did his rage at years of playing baby sitter break his conditioning?

I haven't advanced that far into the game, so they don't give an explination except "someone woke you from your 10 year coma, and now you have free will."

On a side note, I did find an easter egg. Schrodinger's Cat! Poor thing was encased in ice.

List of changes from Bioshock 1:

• 1. The weapons are generally the same, even though they look different. The crossbow is now the spear gun, the wrench is now the Big Daddy drill, the Tommy gun is now a minigun, etc. The rivet gun is the new weapon to the arsenal, which acts both as a handgun and a trap setter (much like the crossbow in BS1).
  2. The drill has a secondary and tertiary effect. The secondary attack is spin up the drill to do constant damage (but requires fuel). The tertiary attack is my favorite; it's the signature Big Daddy Bouncer charge.
  3. The camera has been replaced with a camcorder. Instead of getting close to a target and snapping away as fast as you can, you point it at a target (range is no longer a factor) and attacks and combos add to the research score. The effect stays on for about 15 to 20 seconds or so, so you can switch to your weapons. Simply attacking won't do you any good; you need to do some cool things to get a high score (such as shocking an enemy and hitting it with your drill).
  4. Multiplayer takes place in 1958, before Sofia incited the riots that caused Rapture to fail. You get to see Rapture as it was before all the destruction. Also, being good enough in multiplayer means you get additional tonics and stuff in single player, so all the more reason to try multiplayer.
  5. You now have a hacking tool. This "weapon" allows you to hack at range, at the cost of ammo. One of its secondary ammunition is an auto-hack, which will automatically hack your target without fail.
  6. Hacking is different too. Instead of playing a game of Pipe Dream, the mini game is now an arrow sliding back and forth on a bar. Stopping it at a green bar means a success and you advance to the next stage of the hacking mini game (there are several stages usually). Hitting a white area damages you, but nothing else. Hitting an orange bar means you triggered an alarm. Red means you get damaged AND trigger the alarm. Hitting all blue bars means whatever you hacked gives you an additional benefit. If you hacked a turret, the turret's damage is upgraded. If you hack a healing station, you get a health kit for free.
  7. Plasmids are changed. You still get the basic types, but they change functionality when you upgrade them. Example: Cyclone Trap 1 allows you to set the whirlwinds we all know and love from BS1, Cyclone Trap 2 allows you to charge the trap up with a second plasmid for an extra effect, and Cyclone 3 allows you to set them on walls and ceilings for devious "pinball" cyclone traps.
  8. During certain underwater levels, you can find the infamous sea slugs. These are worth 10 ADAM each.
  9. New enemies. Brute Splicers are like Big Daddies without the cool weapons (but with the health and the damage). The Big Sisters are the female version of Big Daddies, and will constantly be a thorn in your side throughout the game.
  10. New tonics. This is pretty much a given, but one tonic I REALLY like is Water of Life. With this equipped, standing under a waterfall or in a pool will slowly regenerate your health and eve.
  11. Delta is able to use any of his weapons in one hand and plasmids in the other without switching out. This is a MUCH welcome change from BS1.
  12. Tonics no longer have catagories. No longer will you be restricted to just five combat tonics; as long as you have the slot upgrades, you can have whatever combination you want. You can hold a maximum of 18 tonics.

[TinCow]

How do they explain a Big Daddy harvesting Little Sisters? Did his rage at years of playing baby sitter break his conditioning?

You don't harvest Little Sisters, they gather Adam for you from dead bodies. You carry them around and protect them while they do their work.

[frogbeastegg]

You don't harvest Little Sisters, they gather Adam for you from dead bodies. You carry them around and protect them while they do their work.

:cough: Don't look now but

This gives four options as opposed to the original's two...
1. Rescue the girl and take them to the vents for little ADAM but rewards down the line.
2. Harvest the girl for moderate ADAM.
3. Rescue the girl and gather from corpses, then rescue at the vent for moderate ADAM for rewards down the line.
4. Rescue the girl and gather corpses, then harvest at the vent for maximum ADAM.

[TinCow]

Yeah, just got to that point. If you're looking for an explanation, it seems to be that you're an 'unusual' prototype Big Daddy that's different from the rest.