Bioshock 2 (~comparison to Bioshock 1) Review

So I finished Bioshock 2 on the 18th at around noon and I've had a list in my head of things I did and didn't like. Of course I've procrastinated on writing this and I have other things I want to get to, so I feel I must finish it already.

In short, I would say Bioshock 2 was to Bioshock 1 as Left 4 Dead 2 was to Left 4 Dead. To explain these quickly:

Left 4 Dead 1

1. Better characters.
2. Better sounds.
3. Better UI.

Left 4 Dead 2

1. Better gameplay.
2. More gametypes.
3. Better AI director/events.

Bioshock 2 had better gameplay, i.e. the duel-wielding that should have existed in the first, but Bioshock 1 had a better storyline and even a better atmosphere in some cases.

To expand on the latter of those statements, Bioshock 1's storyline was the People vs the Parasite, whereas Bioshock 2's storyline was the Tyrant vs. the People. Sofia Lamb does not rally the splicers against the Tyrant nearly as well as Andrew Ryan did against the Parasite. The atmosphere of Bioshock 1 is better in that you have areas that stay in your head. Arcadia, Fort Frolic, the core of Rapture (starts with an 'h', I can't look it up on the Bioshock Wiki as there seems to be a problem with it), I mean nothing in 2 compares to shutting down the core.

As with atmosphere again, when you saved Little Sisters in Bioshock 1, it looked beautiful, like you loved her, in 2 you just put your hand on her and Turn on the Bright Lights (yes, an Interpol reference). Also Somewhere Beyond the Sea was a home run for Bioshock 1, that game got me loving that song.

As far as gameplay goes, hacking was much more fun in Bioshock 1 than in Bioshock 2, sure it was realistic in 2, but who cares about realism 10,000 leagues under the sea? Health and Eve restrictions at 5/5 was ridiculous, iirc it was 9 in Bioshock 1. I'd either have 5/5 Health and Eve when I didn't need them or about 0/1 when I did need them, because you use 5 after about three or four battles on difficult then you have to run back to the store to buy more.

Ammo was annoying on Bioshock 2 and the same thing, either I had no rivets or I had too many. Default max was 48, upgrade increased it to 62 I believe which helped a little. Same with the machine gun (240 max) and the shotgun (24 max). The elimination of tonic categories was one good move for Bioshock 2 though.

I also hated how I could play on High Graphics for Bioshock 2 but not Bioshock 1 with the same specs, I noticed Bioshock 2 installing Visual Studio 2005 Redistributable. I'm sorry, TWO-THOUSAND FIVE? Code five years out of date, especially now that it is 2010 with the release of VS2010.

If there are two big kickers though that make Bioshock 1 better than Bioshock 2, these were it. First, Bioshock 1 was level-based, Bioshock 2 was linear. If you missed a Power to the People you couldn't go back for it, but in Bioshock 1 you could. The second is that Bioshock 2 had no final boss, sure you had a big horde attack you, but no Frank Fontaine trying to rape you with Adam.

So in a shorthand list for reference, things which made Bioshock 1 better:

• Saving Little Sisters looked beautiful
• Hacking was more fun
• No Health and Eve restrictions
• Ammo less restricted
• Somewhere Beyond the Sea
• Using Visual Studio 2005 in its time
• Player can go back to previous levels (i.e. not a linear game)
  
• Final Boss

Things that made Bioshock 2 better:

• Duel-wielding
• No tonic categories