E3 2009 Preview
09 June 2009 | By James Pikover
Bioshock was a hit when it released in 2007. One of the biggest games on the Xbox 360, something that Microsoft pushed very hard. Something that when we saw at E3 2 years ago, we went nuts because of how good it was. Bioshock 2, when announced by 2K Games, was met with much skepticism. How can the story continue? The underwater city of Rapture is in ruins, very much destroyed by Jack, his wild adventure through it, and by time itself. Rumors came out saying that Bioshock 2 would in fact be a prequel, though that's only half true.
Bioshock 2's full title is The Fall of Rapture, which should sound familiar to anyone who knows videogame stories. Everything seems to fall at some point or another, so why not play through it. But I digress: the point of Bioshock 2 is that yes, Rapture survived after the events of Bioshock. Not thrived, but the city is still there, worse off than before, decaying ever so slowly, but still there.
This time we play as a Big Daddy, the notoriously difficult to kill characters from the original who protected the Little Sisters, who's function it was to harvest Atom, the all powerful material everyone wants in Rapture. "Not just any Big Daddy, but the first Big Daddy." And being the very first isn't the only thing that makes him special.
While I wasn't told why, this Big Daddy, presumably Mr. Bubbles (because of the image we saw during the demo), has free choices. He can choose whether to protect Little Sisters or not. He can choose to use his giant screwdriver arm or pick up a gun. He can choose to use Plasmids. And he can choose how he wants to go about the world of Rapture, ten years after the original Bioshock.
What this Big Daddy wants, or rather the ultimate goal of Bioshock 2, is to stop the Big Sister, who is similar to the Big Daddy but smaller, thinner, more agile, and perhaps much deadlier. This Big Sister, which we know almost nothing about, is presumably a Little Sister grown up, put in a big ol' suit, and wants to turn Rapture back to the city it once was, in all its glory. She's found more little girls and turned them into Little Sisters, and you, the player, needs to stop her.
Why? We aren't sure yet, but when people said a sequel couldn't be done, they were surely wrong. This story sounds like it has plenty to go on, and we're pretty confident the teams working on it know what they're doing.
Of course, 10 years after Bioshock isn't the only thing they're working on. There's also before the breakdown of Rapture, which is something more players may be interested in. Rather, the multiplayer aspect of Bioshock 2. Taking place before things went all bad, all players are splicers who are being paid to try out different plasmids against evil splicers. What that means exactly is still unclear, but the idea is sound: splicers killing splicers, with full access to weapons and plasmids on Bioshock maps. What more could we ask for?
Oh, there's also the ability to play as a Big Daddy. I suppose that's big news. Everyone gets to play as the Big Daddy, because it's something that spawns on a map and anyone in the game can find it, pick it up and wammo, they are large and in charge. Because multiplayer works similar to a campaign, all accrued points are dealt as if the company supplying you with plasmids is looking at your progress. The better you do, the more points you get. Killing a Big Daddy gets lots of points, among other things. And the more points you have, the better stuff you have and the better chance of winning. We got to witness a brief demo of a multiplayer match, which featured hacking (quickly, not using the tube mini game) vending machines and turrets, the one-two punch, plasmids we recognized like lightning bolts and freezing, and ugly characters.
Bioshock 2: The Fall of Rapture invades above sea November 3rd for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Bioshock 2's full title is The Fall of Rapture, which should sound familiar to anyone who knows videogame stories. Everything seems to fall at some point or another, so why not play through it. But I digress: the point of Bioshock 2 is that yes, Rapture survived after the events of Bioshock. Not thrived, but the city is still there, worse off than before, decaying ever so slowly, but still there.
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This time we play as a Big Daddy, the notoriously difficult to kill characters from the original who protected the Little Sisters, who's function it was to harvest Atom, the all powerful material everyone wants in Rapture. "Not just any Big Daddy, but the first Big Daddy." And being the very first isn't the only thing that makes him special.
While I wasn't told why, this Big Daddy, presumably Mr. Bubbles (because of the image we saw during the demo), has free choices. He can choose whether to protect Little Sisters or not. He can choose to use his giant screwdriver arm or pick up a gun. He can choose to use Plasmids. And he can choose how he wants to go about the world of Rapture, ten years after the original Bioshock.
 |
 |
|
What this Big Daddy wants, or rather the ultimate goal of Bioshock 2, is to stop the Big Sister, who is similar to the Big Daddy but smaller, thinner, more agile, and perhaps much deadlier. This Big Sister, which we know almost nothing about, is presumably a Little Sister grown up, put in a big ol' suit, and wants to turn Rapture back to the city it once was, in all its glory. She's found more little girls and turned them into Little Sisters, and you, the player, needs to stop her.
Why? We aren't sure yet, but when people said a sequel couldn't be done, they were surely wrong. This story sounds like it has plenty to go on, and we're pretty confident the teams working on it know what they're doing.
 |
 |
|
Of course, 10 years after Bioshock isn't the only thing they're working on. There's also before the breakdown of Rapture, which is something more players may be interested in. Rather, the multiplayer aspect of Bioshock 2. Taking place before things went all bad, all players are splicers who are being paid to try out different plasmids against evil splicers. What that means exactly is still unclear, but the idea is sound: splicers killing splicers, with full access to weapons and plasmids on Bioshock maps. What more could we ask for?
Oh, there's also the ability to play as a Big Daddy. I suppose that's big news. Everyone gets to play as the Big Daddy, because it's something that spawns on a map and anyone in the game can find it, pick it up and wammo, they are large and in charge. Because multiplayer works similar to a campaign, all accrued points are dealt as if the company supplying you with plasmids is looking at your progress. The better you do, the more points you get. Killing a Big Daddy gets lots of points, among other things. And the more points you have, the better stuff you have and the better chance of winning. We got to witness a brief demo of a multiplayer match, which featured hacking (quickly, not using the tube mini game) vending machines and turrets, the one-two punch, plasmids we recognized like lightning bolts and freezing, and ugly characters.
Bioshock 2: The Fall of Rapture invades above sea November 3rd for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
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