Return to Rapture: Bioshock 2 [impressions]

You wake up dazed and confused in a puddle of water in a dilapidated room. Ten years ago, you were charged with protecting a little girl from harm. As she runs on ahead looking for corpses, you hear her scream. You rush on ahead to find her only to be hit by a strange blob seconds later. A woman walks in holding a pistol and you feel compelled to obey her commands. She orders you to remove your dive helmet, place her pistol to your head, and pull the trigger. You should be dead but you've somehow reawakened in the same leaky dystopia that is Rapture. Only one thing is on your mind that drives you to move forward: what happened to the little girl you were protecting? What happened to your little sister?


Yes, you play as a big baddy in Bioshock. The first in fact, known as Subject Delta. Being the first, you're afforded unique traits other subservient big daddies don't have. You have free will, explaining your control over him. You can also use plasmids, destructive bio-weapons you can produce after splicing your genes. And lastly, you have a mysterious connection to your little sister, Eleanor Lamb. Big daddies protect little sisters in general, but something about Eleanor Lamb is special to you and you must get her back.

Returning to Rapture implies you're used to the mystique and intrigue of Rapture, but that doesn't make things any less creepy. Even though you're in the heavily armed boots of a big daddy, splicers almost always attack in marauding packs. Other big daddies also are still dangerous despite you measuring up to them. But the biggest reason Rapture retains it's atmosphere is the taunting of your foe over the radio, Sofia Lamb and her devious muscle of the new Rapture, the big sister. This shrieking terror makes a big daddy look like a dog with a bad temper. The first time you fight her you learn she is not something you should take lightly, and from then on, her mere presence was another to put me on edge.

And the new way plasmids are handled are quite fun. Guns are relatively the same from the first game but almost every plasmid has a use now especially when upgraded. Every plasmid has three tiers becoming more useful with each. Remember security bullseye from Bioshock 1? It's only useful if there are security systems nearby to exploit. Now in Bioshock 2, the upgraded version let's you summon drones when there none around.

The mystery involving your origin, Eleanor Lamb's significance to Rapture, and the individuals playing key roles to Rapture keep me going. I don't know where to place this level of interest in comparison to the first game, Bioshock 2 definitely still has some to offer for me.