BioShock 2 for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

Fans of the first game will notice that all of the things that made the first game so good are still here. The graphics are amazing, and the attention to detail is impressive. Sounds, voices, and lighting still give that creepy, dystopian-retro experience that we loved in the original. The controls are tight and work well. Following the story is fairly interesting and the voice actors do a wonderful job with their dialogue, as before.

All that being said, the problem is that this feels as though the developers simply extended the first game, rather than creating a whole new one; the experience feels repetitive. I already experienced the graphics, environments, plasmids, splicers, Big Daddy fights (etc) in the first game, so what does playing through the sequel accomplish? If you're in it for the story, then you can just burn through the game on easy mode, but there's little motivation to go beyond that (unless you just like the challenge).

Hacking has been simplified: you can launch "Hacking Darts" from a distance, rather than having to run up to cameras or turrets. And the actual hacking sequence is a fairly easy quick-time event, rather than the plumbing puzzle. The drawback is that you're still under attack while hacking, so you have to either keep moving or hide to finish. Even on normal difficulty, the hacked drones and turrets seemed overpowered; I could sit back and let them wipe out the enemies for me.

There's an abundance of ammo and power-ups, so I never needed to use the vending machines. Also, you can still respawn at the Vita-Chamber for no penalty, so I ended up using melee most of the time, even though the drill runs out of fuel way too quickly. As I said, though, there's plenty of fuel laying around, so it won't hinder you.

All in all, it's a very good game, but if you've played the first then you've played this one. Worth at least a rental for the story alone.