I don’t like “the story” in Bioshock 2. So, I’m making up my own story, for the purposes of enjoying the game’s gameplay offerings unhindered. The story of Bioshock 2 is now that of a Big Daddy, one of the lumbering speechless antagonists of the first game, freed from a lifeless existence of doting on a little sisters, now on a joyful quest for booze, cigarettes, and cash.

Why don’t I like the story? Well, as is only typical of my writing of articles when, and only when, I have something about which to bitch, I’ll tell you. Ever hear the phrase “A story is only as good as its villain?” Well, the antagonist in Bioshock 2 is hollow – an uber-communist, and diametric opposite of Andrew Ryan’s uber-libertarian – and not a character in her own right, as Andrew Ryan was; everything she is is propped up by what he was – she’s just a bad parody.

2K Marin would have better served us had they resurrected Ryan as some horrific ultra-libertarian-cyborg juiced up on adam rather than offer up this pathetic anti-Ryan that we must endure in Bioshock 2. Yeah, I know, cyber-resurrection isn’t all that realistic, considering the ’50s time-frame in which the game takes place, but we’re dealing with a setting in which the protagonist is able to shoot bees, which emerge from little holes in his forearm, at his foes – let’s not tie our hands with realism. Hell, Ryan could’ve just made his return via vita-chamber; no cybernetics or DNA-altering required – you know, like the first game’s protagonist did HUNDREDS OF TIMES (if you managed to die hundreds of times.)

To be fair, this new development team that worked on Bioshock 2 (there was a team-switch, in case you didn’t know) couldn’t have topped Ryan. However, they could’ve went in a different direction rather then back to the ideological-extremist well. I like the first game but I played it already; if I wanted to play it again, I would do so and not play a sequel that could very easily have been released as an expansion or downloadable content.

I won’t spoil the rest story for you. I don’t like it. It sucks. The end. I will say, though, that there isn’t a whole lot to spoil. The gameplay is very solid however. I won’t go very much into it because, if you played the first game as I’m sure most of you reading this did, you probably have the cognitive capacity with which to imagine what it’s like to play as a very large man wearing an old-school diving suit who punches people with a massive drill and shoots rivets at folks who piss him off. Hell, you were probably the victim of much drill-punching and rivet-shooting whilst playing the first game – that is until you figured out, as I did, that you can kill a Big Daddy fairly easily by tripping his bulky ass down a flight of stairs using the oh-so-fun crossbow and electric-trip-wire bolts, after, of course, lighting him on fire and electrocuting him – man these guys had it rough, come to think of it.

Some other minor complaints of mine are that they took out a few of the things that gave the game some personality: no more pipe-hacking, no clowns celebrating your usage of the item vending machine, no Mexican-bandit-themed sound effects at the ammo vending machines. However, some of the cool new things like plasmid combos, the ability to lay down turrets, and the ability to drill the hell out of splicers, do some to make up for what’s missing; there’s also multiplayer, which I have not tried yet.

Buy? Rent? Destroy?

Rent this mutha’. Unless you have a hankerin’ for some plasmid-shootin’, punk-drillin’ multiplayer; in which case, buy it if you feel that aspect of the game may have some longevity.

Magic, and gun toting hot chicks in skimpy outfits? No thanks, I’ve gone out on that limb and gave that genre a shot before, and swore to myself: never again. But the early reviews claiming the fast paced, revolutionary combat and style had convinced me to give it a shot.

I didn’t even make it through the opening credits without asking myself what I had gotten into. The Japanese pop music and the emo-Laura-Croft, break dancing with guns on her feet, was enough to make me crank down the surround sound and nervously glance around the room for anyone who may be nearby.

Once I had gotten through the ridiculously cheesy dialogue and opening credits, I found that the game picks up the pace and throws you into some heavy combat. From there out, my experience with the game did a 180.

Combat is fast… I mean, REAL fast. It requires one to sync and execute quickly paced melee combos and gunfire, while throwing magics into the mix when possible. The game features an awesome counter-attack system where perfectly timing your dodges from enemy blows activates WitchTime, an ability that slows down the speed of the combat to a crawl for the player to unleash devastating combos and finishers that would not normally be possible in real time.

After the first few chapters and the ‘getting started’ tutorials, the game starts to show its true colors in its difficulty. To get right down to it, the game is very tricky if not downright skull-fucking-ly hard. It’s a game that seems to throw as many boss battles at the player as it does regular combat set-pieces. There were several times where I was pitted against an incredibly tough boss, who after some time I would eventually vanquish, then turn the corner and BAM! Guess what? You get to fight that same boss again, but to make it interesting the game will force you to fight two of them simultaneously. After which, I would then sit back to enjoy what I would assume would be a few puzzle sections or minion combats to build up suspense again. Nope… the beginning of the next chapter would start me off with another boss fight against a two-headed dragon with a cherub’s face for a belly.

The control scheme is well done. Although for some reason when you start the game off, the camera sensitivity is set to the slowest setting possible. You’ll need this cranked up close to high as possible within comfort, as you will frequently need to spin camera angles to assess all the archangels closing in on you. You also have a vast multitude of combos available right off the bat, many requiring the perfection of timing to execute correctly.

One quirk that often got on my nerves, at times, was the less than intuitive moments that left me saying: “Well how in the hell was I suppose to know that?”. I’m talking about the boss fights that were chuck full of one-hit kills, or the climatic scenes after big battles where the game expectantly demands that I press square or spin the left analog stick in the 1.2 second time frame it gives me, or I’m crushed by a falling building or washed over by a wave of lava. By no means do I want my games to hold my hand through that kind of shit-storm , but the game auto-saves after every time you die, thus reflecting poorly on your overall score.

Tim’s Final Say

I had a real hard time getting over the ridiculous music and voice acting.  Then it clicked with me, how someone with similar tastes to myself enjoys a game like this. It needs to be looked at as a comedy. It is so outrageously cheesy that you can’t help but laugh at it.

Would I recommend, to a friend, to go out and buy this game? Ehh… no, not really. Not at $65. Would I recommend that they borrow it from me and play it? Absolutely. I would tell them to skip the cut scenes, and enjoy the game for what it is: a challenging and fast paced hack n’ slash with some nice visuals and occasional animated eye candy. Ignore the voice acting, plot, and Japanese pop music, and you’ll find that Bayonetta is a very fluid and well put together action game.

Before I start the review, I would like to send out a special thanks to Cam Banks for yet another gem of a book.

So, you have the core book for Supernatural and are looking for a adventure to run. First, Jamie Chambers who wrote the core book hid an Easter egg adventure in the pictures at the beginning of each chapter. Really cool, you have to piece together the clippings for the adventure. Go try it.

Okay, down to brass tacks. The hardest thing to do is run a game that gives players a feel that they can roam around as they want. You, as the GM, must try to avoid that linear feeling. Guess what? The writers of these adventures did a excellent job of creating the perfect feel. While reading The Red Ghost, I was impressed that the players could wander around the site and investigate different areas in any order. I don’t want to reveal too many secrets, so let’s leave it at that; it is a ghost story.

I would like to point out that the Cortex system makes things incredibly easy to run each adventure. All of the tasks set forth have the difficulty already set in each scene. This lets the game flow easily from scene to scene.

You have five great adventures to choose from: The Red Ghost, Transmutation, Hell Hound on my Trail, His Lesser Half, and Synchronicity. All can be dropped-in at a moments notice. Any one can easily teach you how to create your own campaigns by following it like a blueprint.

All in all an excellent book well worth the price of admission.

Enjoy!

Being a huge fan of the show, I have waited a long time for the role playing game core book to be released. Was it worth the wait? Indeed. Let’s have a look.

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