When I was about 6, I went to Paulton’s Park in Hampshire. At the time the place seemed amazing – something completely different to anything I had ever been to before. I spent most of my time running around like a tiny lunatic trying out all the rides, eating candy floss and in my own little way getting rather wrapped up in the atmosphere of the place. A couple of years later, I went back and found that the edge of excitement that had been there previously was somewhat lacking. It wasn’t that the place had become noticeably worse to any extent; no, it was more that the element of surprise had been dulled and what had seemed so thrilling and new now seemed merely... well, fun.

It doesn’t take genius levels of comprehension to understand where I am angling with this, does it? 2K Australia and 2K Marin were always going to run up against somewhat of a brick wall when it came to BioShock 2, with two options presenting themselves: do more of exactly the same and risk critical remarks about lack of ambition, or try to mix the formula up a little and possibly annoy fans of the first a heck of a lot. I count myself very much a fan of the first as my review hints at, and it’s a perfect ten that I still stand by to this day. It was a fantastic game, and the second title had a heck of a lot to live up to. Yet, somehow, and despite a number of stutters along the path, it almost, almost manages it.

The game is set in 1968, some eight years after the original happenings in underwater paradise-gone-pear-shaped Rapture. You find yourself in the sturdy boots of a Big Daddy who, after a short chase through an area in an attempt to protect a Little Sister, meets a rather unexpected fate. Waking some time later in a Vita Chamber, you receive a rather fuzzy telepathic message and find yourself on the trail of the Little Sister you thought lost in an attempt to rescue her from her current predicament.

I know what you’re thinking at the point, as I was thinking exactly the same too – ‘oh no, the Big Daddy bit at the end of the first game was a bit sluggish and not as good as the rest of the game’. Turns out that 2K foresaw this point being bought up and have made things rather more nippy this time around, although pleasingly you still feel as hefty and powerful as being a big guy in a metal suit should make you feel. Flying toward enemy splicers with your drill poised for a good whacking makes you feel like a mini metal god.

This is all well and good, but for the first hour or so BioShock 2 stutters out of bed and slowly drags itself into life, much as if it were searching around for a strong coffee. During this period it gradually introduces you to the various ins and outs of the control scheme and what you can do, whilst also taking time to give you an idea of the general progression mechanic that the game uses to drive you forward through it.

It’s here that the game differentiates itself from the first in that, rather than running around hunting Big Daddies to steal their little sisters and rescue/harvest them, you are instead tasked with not only doing this bit, but also protecting them as they gather Adam (think of it as points to buy rather tasty power upgrades) from corpses littered around the various settings. As such, the game divides itself into two different segments; you have your usual adventuring fare in which you much go to a location and gain an item, take down a bad guy etc, and dotted in-between you have the manic defensive gauntlet moments where you must protect your little buddies as they gather for you.

Initially this seems somewhat of a chore, mainly as in your early basic state you tend to find the waves of splicers that come after you during a gathering to be rather tough to hold off. The first few times I attempted this led to many a death and revival in a chamber, whereupon you find that you must start the process all over again with limited resources and health. It begins to drag a little during those first initial sections, and it feels like you’re getting a good kicking when you’re down at every turn.

Gradually, however, you begin to tip the scales. Much like the first game, BioShock 2 offers you plasmids, which are basically little spheres that carry some sort of magical power you can use on the various enemies and surroundings you come across. One sticky point that people bought up with the first one is that, sure, these plasmids give you different combat options and such, but at the end of the day you were still going to be funnelling your way through the same sections of game as everyone else, no matter what you decided to do.

I’ve never personally subscribed to this view, and the second game emphasised my point. Around half way in there was a pretty normal section of a level in which, having watched my flatmate play, looked like it was a case of wading in, electric shocking all the enemies and then taking out the security camera to stop getting buzzed by annoying sentry drones. However, when I came across this section of the game I had a plasmid that not only allowed me to ghost out of my body and explore the surrounding area to work out a plan, but also to hack any electrical equipment whilst I was doing so. I snuck around, hacked the security camera and then sat back and admired my handy work as a score of bots swarmed in and took out the unsuspecting enemies without me even having to waste a second of effort on them. The same map it certainly was, but there was a total difference in the way we dealt with the situation.

This time around you are given a selection of new plasmids to play with. Some of them, such as Cyclone Trap, are specifically designed to help you during gathering sections and in its advanced form allows you to mix the swirling trap on the floor with one of your elemental plasmids for something rather more brutal, whilst others like the aforementioned Scout and the bloody useful Hypnotise are more useful in the usual gameplay sections. The latter plasmid can, when fully upgraded, gain you a Big Daddy to fight by your side, and later in the game this becomes increasingly handy as you begin to fight against Rapture’s biggest and baddest enemies.

Before you really realise it, the above concerns and options take control of you and propel you into a game that breaks free of its early chugging and roars into life big style. Whereas initially the game felt like progression-clunk-gather-clunk-progression, your increased powers and weaponry on offer allow you to seamlessly blend through both parts of the game, something that it not only benefits from but also judges well by ramping up the pace and intrigue at just the right moment.

By the time you reach the game’s final hours, nicely supplemented by one of gaming’s great ‘oh heck yes, NOW we’re going to kick some arse’ moments, you’re really wrapped up in it all. In some ways, underneath all the Big Daddy responsibility, it harks back to the first game; you run, you gun, you set little traps and use the environment to your advantage. The game makes use of both shoulder buttons to give you quick menu wheels so you can flick between plasmids and weaponry easily enough on-the-fly, and you still get a wide selection of tonics to boost your performance in certain areas again. If you take the time to extract everything you can get out of the game, it will eventually reward you handsomely.

It’s not half bad to look at either, although it isn’t too much of a boost over what the first game offered. The new Big Daddies and the quick-as-lightning Big Sisters all look funky and rather menacing, whilst eight years on the remaining inhabitants of Rapture have become even more grotesque and warped out of shape. As a crumbling city, it still manages to portray itself very well. All the while this is backed by a soundtrack that often verges on out-and-out beautiful, which puts it in stark contrast to the pained moans, terrified rambling and blood-curdling screams that it often chucks your way as you slash, bash and crash your way around.

The story is pretty entertaining too, although it’s not quite as dramatic as the first. There’s not really a dramatic big twist in the middle as such, rather a couple of gentler, more subtle turns as you begin to find out things about who you are, what you’re doing and what you’re chasing after. The last hour or so of the game is actually pretty poignant too, and although it’s not the kind of thing that’ll have you bursting into tears and writing paragraphs on your LiveJournal it is a genuinely memorable passage of game play and storytelling. In this way, and when combined with the feelings that the game takes a little time to warm up, you could say it’s almost the reverse of its predecessor, which started with a bang and then took a turn for the less interesting near the finish.

When the single player is all done and dusted there’s a multiplayer mode lodged in, and although it’s not a major component by comparison it is still pretty enjoyable. It’s set back nearer the time of the original game and sees you and a whole bunch of spliced up fellows battling it out in team or solo deathmatch mode, or in a capture the Little Sister type mode that proves pretty hectic at times. Add in a rank system that awards you new bits and bobs as you progress and you have something that, whilst not the kind of multiplayer game you’d want to rush home and play, is a nice little addition to the package.

So, we go back to my point about Paulton’s Park. See, first impressions count for a lot in games, and as said, Irrational were always going to be up against a brick wall trying to give the second BioShock game a similar impact to the first. Initially, it seems like the whole thing is going to fall flat, but given time and a bit of effort it opens up into a really wonderful experience that, whilst perhaps not as punchy as the first, still leaves its mark on you. Kudos to you chaps, a job well done.