Bioshock 2 is a game I have completely forgot about. Now I'm gonna give you short and long version of what I'd like to share.

Short version: Bioshock 2 is a game that, at least for me, surpassed the original in just about every possible way. It's a gem that sadly seems to have been more or less forgotten - if you have enjoyed the original at least a little bit, or, like me, completely forgot that a second game exists, get it and finish it now.

Long version: Bioshock 2 just more or less took everything that was wrong with the original Bioshock and fixed it, while retaining everything that has made it so good. It controls better, weapons are more fun, plasmids are more interesting (and upgraded versions are not just the same thing with more damage output, finally), story is pretty damn good... It's just all around a fantastic game. Now my biggest issue with the original Bioshock was that the further you got along the storyline, the more bullet-spongy the enemies become, to the level of utter ridiculousness. Well that's gone in the second game, and good riddance. The stereotypical weapons in the original were replaced by quite a bit more interesting ones, especially after you fully upgrade them, and every single weapon retains usefulness until the very end of the game, including the default meele weapon. Which is a drill. And I pretty much exclusively used that the last 1/4 of the game.

Now playing as a Big Daddy was a brilliant idea from the part of the dev - it retains the thought from the original game, 'you only have little freedom in videogames', and as far as I'm concerned, it implements it in a much more organic fashion. And combat makes quite a bit more sense as well - I mean, I never understood how the guy from the original could defeat everybody seemingly so easily, even after the 'twist'.

And then there are big sisters, overhauled handling of the little ones... The game quite simply was awesome. Why do so few people mention it and how comes the original overshadows it so much?

One of the reasons people did not like this game is because the Big Daddy you play as is underpowered compared to the other big daddies, your in unstoppable tank like the other ones worse the drill's gas drains faster then a Hummer :P

Even though if we made him overpowered the game would be too easy, like God of War 3.

That sounds like a pretty silly reason to dislike it, I mean just look at the original Bioshock - enemies later on could take as much beating as a big daddy from the beginning! Basically, every human enemy took way more punishment than you did and nobody quite seemed to mind :-P

Don't take my word for it, Game Informer threw a hissy fit about it the stupid idiots :P

Oh, I see. Well all I do know is that by the end of the original Bioshock, I was just bored. By the end of 2, I was a walking murder machine, crushing anything that came into my path. Definitely felt like a big daddy :D

My BS1 memories are getting fuzzy, but I most certainly don't remember normal enemies becoming harder than Big Daddies.

And I'm one of those who disliked BS2 mainly for the issue Elmofongo raised. "Wow, I get to play as a Big Daddy this time?!" *game plays almost exactly like BS1*

Well of course, that's because Big Daddies got their health boosted to crazy levels as well during the game. And yes, I was exaggerating, buut not that much - It basically went like this: At the beginning, one shotgun shot from point-black range killed a splicer and it felt awesome. At the end, I have often ended up being forced to use 3 shots (and the weapon had 4 shots magazine, so yeah, a big deal.) Suddenly, all the weapons felt horribly underpowered. I just tried finishing the original BS a few weeks ago, got to the end, got frustrated by this and quite. I have finished the second game in a few days and I crave for more, pretty much. You know what they say about expectations :-P

I could call it false advertising. But to each his own.

I don't really know how it were advertised - I didn't watch BS2 release all that much. All I do know is that I got into the game and got a vastly superior experience to the original, from pretty much every single standpoint. I do believe I can actually be objective on this one, just for a quick rundown:

Weaponry - both games have more or less the same weapons, except for the overal balance which is better in the second game, and upgrades which are, thanks to the 'ultimate' upgrades, better in the second game as well.

Little sisters - the process of collecting EVE is much more involved in BS2, it requires more exploration, preparation, and ... Quite simply, it's not just 'kill big daddy and pick her up' kind of deal

Plasmids - They're just superior, as described in the OP. The side effects they get as they improve are a fantastic idea, and you don't have to switch between plasmid and weapon anymore.

Tonics - they have been streamlined, but I feel for the better - now they have much more universal effects and can be combined more freely to cater to any playstyle.

Decisions/story - no longer it boils down to little sisters alone, there are more meaningful decisions troughout the game, and you actually get to meet NPCs.

Underwater bits - not really important, but great idea nonetheless.

Hacking - dear lord, this was a much needed change. Hacking in the original took far too long, and was actually fun for about the first hour or so. BS 2 implementation allows for more influence from tonics, shorter time spent hacking, and it doesn't pause the game as you do so.

Everything else about the game remained the same as it was in the original.

I found Bioshock 2 inferior compared to the prequel but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. The main reason for enjoying the first more was the new setting and the new villain. Gameplay I found them rather identical even if some plasmids and weapons were changed but I only played the 2nd once and it was close after release so my memory may be failing me.

As for the overshadowing part I think the first game felt more genuine, I can't explain it better than that. I also recall some talk about different game design, not specifically what but it could be about the structural part of the game area as well as the new villain. I remember a lot of "no andrew ryan, no bioshock" or something similar.

I was thinking of replaying both games before Bioshock Infinite but I barely made it through the first level of the first game before I realized I'm not in the slightest mood of a FPS right now so I gave up and I barely played any Bioshock Infinite too. I might bump this thread in a year or two when I've replayed it. :P

Speaking of memories, wouldn't it be nice if one could 'extract' them somehow so that they would be as fresh as when we lived through the experience we remembered to be used when discussing video games? :)

I loved Bioshock and 2. I will admit it annoys me a little when people shit on Bioshock 2 because it is a fantastic game.

I found the two are of the same quality on average. The mechanics are better in the second but the 'sub plots' are more understandable/captivating in the first.

Quality-wise, I'd say the main plot of the first game actually is better, but it disappointed me quite a bit by how closely it followed the structure of plot in System Shock 2. That's thankfully not the case of 2. As for the plots from recordings... Eh, I'd say you're right.

I'd love to see Bioshock 1 and 2 on GOG.

I absolutely love the Bioshock series. Sadly havent gotten around to Infinite however. Bioshock 1 & 2 I thought were great story, music, and gameplay wise. It was a bit of a change in Bioshock 2 to being a Big Daddy, however you were only somewhat weak in the begining and the enemies weren't too bad early on too. You get really overpowered quite fast when you pick up more plasmids and well placed head shots, especially with the crossbow with the ammo you can reuse over and over.

I'm not a big fan of current FPS games however the game series is really steller. Great choice they continued with choosing to save or harvest little sisters. Moral dilimmas like that are great. I even had a good time of finishing the hardest mode with alot better strategy to use at disposing the splicers amd it was actually fun.

I also totally must recommend Minerva's Den DLC. It has an awesome great subplot to the series and really one of the best few DLCs ive ever played.

On that note, I would happily rebuy the game on GoG for PC if it ever gets released, as I don't have the PC version of it yet ^_^