Recent reviews by Pygro

*I have read other reviews that have had problems with bugs in the remastered edition I personally did not experience any problems and the game ran smoothly at 300fps, from the little research I've done, if you have not tried turning off in-game v-sync and letting Nvidia control panel control it ( or don't play with v-sync at all which I did for this play through) seems to fix most issues. I have a higher end system (RTX 2080, i7-8750H, 32GB RAM, SSD) which may have aided the game get all the resources it needed. Basically bugwise your mileage may vary.*(Edit: Also check out this review on another fix for the game: https://eo.steamhost.cc/steamcommunity_com/id/bonkusdonkus/recommended/409720/ )

TLDR: Bioshock 2 is one of the best designed sequels out there. Bioshock 2 adds more content both story wise and expands and redesigns systems to make a more polished and dimensional Bioshock.

I want to start off with what I did not enjoy about the game and there are only really 2 major complaints I have. The game feels too short, whereas Bioshock 1's length felt right, around 10-15 hrs, 2 felt and was shorter and everything seemed to wrap up very quickly in Act 3 (took me approximately 6.5hrs to beat). My only other major critique is the fact that difficulty at the beginning of the game is pretty difficult, especially if you wanted to complete all the harvests. During my first harvest I died 3 times before realising that because of my lack of available tools and equipment I can only attempt to complete a harvest 1 or 2 times before having to scavenge supplies in order to actually succeed at the harvests. This punishment lasts till the end of Act 1 when because of the different plasmids and weapons you can rotate play styles when needed and the fact you generally have a lot of more cash on hand to resupply between harvests makes harvests eaiser. Originally because of this punishment I put the game down.

Now lets talk about the best thing in bioshock what I am going to call "the bioshock loop". Though it is present in bioshock 1 to an extent in 2 it becomes the engine that drives the game forward. The bioshock loop consists of 5 steps: preparation-combat-recovery-upgrades-progression. In every section of the game this loop is in place, prepare for an encounter, have said encounter, recover from combat, upgrade your character, progress the story forward. This loop is similar in a way to the fallout 4 loop (creds Joseph Anderson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVyjRhSX92E) like the fallout 4 loop this becomes addicting. Underneath there is another layer of depth to the system that makes it unlike (and significantly better)
the fallout 4 loop because combat can actually be dangerous and there is a chance at failure and loss of abilities along with the main story is always directly begin pushed forward. This loop also forces you to explore new strategies because of the chance of your preparation failing and not being severely punished for said failure and can head right back into the fight with a different strategy. Because of this system players are significantly less likely to optimise the fun out of a game and explore the fun abilities, weapons, strategies and synergies. I think this is a giant step forward bioshock 2 over bioshock 1 where all these abilities are present and cool in bioshock 1 to a certain extent you are limited in your options and always have a limited amount of strong options available.

Now here's just a short list of great things the game did that don't require an explanation
- They changed the hacking mini game more immersive, quicker and in real-time
-Kept all the good weapons removed all the not so good
-Your melee has a second function
-Some moral decisions actually had me thinking for a little bit
-The Final Zone is super cool
-Way less security cameras

Now here's just a short list of no so great things the game did that don't require an explanation
-Story was weaker then the firs
-The environmental design was not as diverse and felt weaker
-The first Act/tutorial seems pretty long and deadly
-Villains weren't as engaging
-Wanted some more enemy diversity only about 7 different enemies
-Music design was not stellar
-Less dramatic then the first

Conclusion: Bioshock 2 is a sequel whose refined gameplay loop drives a game with an pretty good story and well polished mechanics to create an engaging addictive and exciting experience. Though it falters in some areas like some story beats environmental design and difficulty curves the excellent mechanics make this an easy game to enjoy.

7.75/10

In light of the new year and the many games I have yet to play in my Library Bioshock was the first I played and completed and TLDR: if you haven't played this game going in blind is the best you can do to enhance your experience. It is worth your time to discover the world for yourself.

I won't spoil anything story wise but I do want to focus on some minor issues I had with the game.

Technical Stability & Auto-Saves: Over the course of my 20hr playthrough I encountered multiple crash and because of the auto-save system in the game manual saves should be done every 15 minutes just in case. My first crash required me to backtrack 45 minutes. During my time with the game having about 10-15% of the time was backtracking but your mileage may vary.

Hacking: Other than the technical issues in the game the hacking system is the worst time sink in the game. After the opening areas I rarely used the hacks thereafter. Some people may prefer the change of pace given by these puzzles but other than safes(which I would use auto-hack tools on) I would rather destroy then spend a minute of my time swapping tubes.

Now we've gone through the bad let's get to the good stuff

Environmental Design: This is the bread and butter of BioShock, the city of Rapture a mix of 1950s and steampunk style with a heavy dash of horror and macabre immerses you into the world and never lets go. Each area containing a distinct but realistic theme offers variety to the player while maintaining a cohesive world design.

Music: I tend to pay attention to soundtracks in video games more than most people. It's what I'm going to school for but I enjoyed the blend of 1950s pop hits with the orchestra with heavy percussion representing the darker side of rapture.

Multifaceted Encounters: Throughout the game I switched my play style to fit how I wanted my character to play. Originally I was very shotgun focused until I ran out of ammo and adopted the machine gun. Then I realized that I could do every encounter with the wrench and electric combo from the beginning of the game. So for most of the second half of the game I was wrench and electricity. There are other approaches to combat I would try if I did a second playthrough of the game but every encounter can be completed from many different angles.

Story: Amazing what pushes you through Rapture a few twists and turns. (Side note: having the game lore begin shared through recordings made the whole story more approachable and easy to understand without the need to read tons of books or journals. WHY DON'T ALL GAMES DO THIS?)

In conclusion though there are some technical issues in the game if you have not experienced the world of rapture for yourself would you kindly come down, you won't regret it.

Batman Arkham is like double dipping in 5 different sauces without anybody suspecting anything. With fantastic voice acting, creative level design and gameplay mechainics with a spectacular combat system that never ceases to satisfiy the player. Even if you aren't a superhero fan the story is still easy to comprehend and follow while still having unforseen plot twists. Adding onto the great main story there are some of the best sidequests in any videogame ever. The mad hatter side quest is one of the most memorable in recent history.


Recommended For:
Superhero fans
Anyone new to gaming
Anyone looking for a game with great replayability and a decently long story with essentially no grinding

I love this game so much because you can take a different path every time you play it.Plus it tops it off with a great story definalty the best TES