BioShock 2
BioShock had sufficient breadth and depth that it could mean different things to different people. For me, it was about power. I wanted to explore the map, to collect gene and weapon upgrades, to hack devices, to unravel each audio diary's mysteries, to gain the allegiance of those empty-eyed girl monsters. I wanted to conquer Rapture. That this was impossible, due to respawning enemies, was a mere fly in the ointment; BioShock offered such freedom that my total conquest of the city felt nigh reachable.
BioShock 2 takes a few steps away from this formula. The inability to backtrack between levels, the omission of a game-pausing weapon select screen, the real-time hacking and auto-hack tools, and the Little Sister defense routines all speak to one goal: combat. Every hour I spend walking around the map to see what I've missed, I feel like I'm defying 2K Marin's wishes. And I'm okay with that -- but the crux of their offering, that of madcap Splicer melee, is not quite as appealing to me as the rest of the game.
What bothers me most about BioShock 2's combat is that it doesn't really become any good until chapter four (of nine). The first three weapons you get are the drill, which isn't very effective; a rivet gun, which is slow and has low ammo capacity; and a hacking dart gun, which is quite useless against live foes. Chapter three introduces a machine gun, which is satisfying, but terribly inaccurate. Not until chapter four's shotgun did I feel like my arsenal was legitimately sufficient.
I digress. Once it gets going, BioShock 2's combat is fun -- but as in the first game, it isn't really enough to make the game great. What made the first game great was the freshness and mystique of its atmosphere, which simply can't be bottled up and re-released.
As for the story, there are some new questions coming up about this Lamb character, but the game is determined to drip-feed them to me. Maybe, if I wasn't so intent on exploring the entire game map - and instead tore through it, following the magical arrow from start to finish - it would seem better-paced. But the plot so far isn't interesting enough to make me consider changing my playstyle.
Progress: Dionysus Park