I wanted to switch to a different genre after Bioshock, but I found myself compelled to play more after I’d finished it, so I started Bioshock 2. I enjoyed it immensely, even if it was nothing groundbreaking compared to the first. While the story wasn’t as engaging for me as Bioshock, it was still excellent. It’s a little of the Portal 2 problem, where Bioshock was so good that, even though Bioshock 2 is objectively better in many ways, it doesn’t feel as fresh and exciting.

It’s always interesting to see what gameplay changes sequels make. It’s tricky — you want to push things forward, but you have to be careful not to alienate franchise fans. One of my main complaints in One was that you had to switch to plasmid, shoot, switch to gun, shoot, as the core combat loop. In Two, you can have a plasmid and a gun equipped together, which is a huge improvement in terms of combat feel. Most of the ‘useless’ plasmids still exist, but at least they got some extra effects added on to make them more appealing. Upgrading plasmids also gives them some powerful bonuses now (mostly around helping you take on groups of enemies), which makes those a more interesting decisions about how to spend your Adam (skill points, basically).

That’s another of the changes — I felt like Bioshock 2 had far more enemies to fight at once than One. The overall difficulty was similar though, because with more enemies came the ability to fight groups better, and supplies were much more plentiful. Scaling up resources and power along with number of enemies makes for more exciting combat, but I’d also say it takes a little away from the feeling of scrounging for supplies. While in One I was sometimes forced to get creative with ammo use, in Two I felt I had plenty of everything. I even capped out my money (600, feels crappy that there’s even a cap) a few times, which doesn’t fit with the ‘scavenging and alone’ atmosphere.

It’s tough to balance though. In both games you can hack health machines, but in Two you can get a ‘bonus’ hack which drops a health pack. I love this, because in Bioshock 1 I used to go around hacking stuff for health/eve (I had a bonus that made hacking restore resources), which pushed me to explore. I enjoyed being incentivized to go around and hack everything in One, and machines dropping a health pack felt like a better designed version of that. With resources so plentiful now though, the extra packs rarely felt rewarding. Additionally, in the later parts of the game, the health stations didn’t let you bonus hack them, which kinda ruined that.

Hacking is much improved, now a timing puzzle rather than just a timed puzzle. It fits the game much better, no longer freezing all action while you arrange tubes, but instead generating some solid gameplay where you need to focus on properly executing the hack while not dying to attackers. I don’t really like timing puzzles, but I didn’t mind them here and the system fits Bioshock much better than the previous iteration.

Ammo was streamlined in some ways, though not in others. To be honest, I used more variety of ammo in One because I had less of it and because it was more clear what each type was for. In Two I just shot everyone in the head with the rivet gun, which seemed to be the best against most enemies.

Some of the best changes in Bioshock 2 are around little sisters, which you now get to carry around and defend while they gather Adam. It fits the world brilliantly and the area defense gameplay is really fun. I think they could have been a little more creative with some of the areas or attackers, but I always enjoyed setting up traps and planning plasmid strikes before each wave of enemies. These also acted as a way of forcing the player to stop and pay attention to their surroundings. When you’re guarding your little sister for a couple minutes next to a big statue with a plaque on it, you’re more likely to actually read it and get that insight into the world.

The last mechanic I want to touch on is the camera, which I’m still not convinced needs to exist, but is improved in this game. Rather than taking a photograph and getting points for how much is going on, the camera now records an enemy until they die, giving points for killing them in interesting ways. Using different ammo, plasmids, etc gives you more points. It’s a clever way to get players to mix up their playstyle, especially because the bonuses felt worth it. I don’t know if it’s a mechanic I’d put in most games, but this version has a lot going for it. I just wish it would record multiple enemies at once.

Bioshock 2 is really just ‘more Bioshock’, which it pulls off well, adding some sweetener here and there. It didn’t feel as engaging or groundbreaking to me, but it’s still a damn fun game and I might’ve even liked it better if I’d played it first. If anyone is looking to get into Bioshock but the first game felt too clunky, give Two a shot and see if you like it. It stands alone just fine, but you’ll want to go back and play One after. The controls will annoy you more, but you won’t care because you’ll just be happy to have more Bioshock.