We take a stroll (and a dive) through 2K Marin's Rapture, and discover what's new and what's old about BioShock 2.
Being a Big Daddy should be a simple life. You stomp around Rapture, defending Little Sisters, drilling Splicers through the gut, never finding a moment to take your helmet off and catch a breath. So shouldn't it be worrying that BioShock 2 puts you in the shoes of a Big Daddy? Compared to the enigmatic protagonist of the first game, what mystery is there in playing the role of a hulking behemoth with a giant drill?
Well, consider how the demonstration of BioShock 2 that 2K Marin recently gave me began: the Big Daddy's lying in a puddle, his vision's skewed sideways. Suddenly there's radio static and chatter, and then the voice of Bridgette Tenenbaum urges him to get his metal ass in gear. He hauls himself up, pushes himself off the floor, but in that instant, sees his reflection in the water. It's a striking moment: Recognizing what you are, suddenly things don't seem so simple. You're a Big Daddy, yeah, but what does that actually mean? Why are you listening to Tenenbaum? Why have you gone rogue? Who are you?
One thing's clear, at least: being a Big Daddy means you're a wrecking machine. In addition to the trademark drill, which can be charged up for a fierce lunging attack, and the return of customizable and upgradeable guns, you can use Plasmids: guns and weapons go in your right hand, while fire, electricity, and other Plasmids that return from the original fire from your left.
But if that makes you worried that your character in BioShock 2 is so powerful, keep in mind that the bad guys are tougher, as well. Enemy Big Daddies return, and 2K Marin has tweaked the Vitachamber mechanics so that they're a lot harder "to cheap." (Vitachambers can also be turned off entirely from the get go).
Meanwhile, the Splicers are as hungry as ever for that genetic crack otherwise known as ADAM, and they're looking for it in the same place as before: the Little Sisters. As a Big Daddy, or, as the Sisters affectionately call you, "Mr. B," you're compelled to be an ally to these girls. Instead of choosing between harvesting or rescuing a Sister, though, in BioShock 2 you can either harvest or "adopt" them. After you adopt a Sister, they'll heal you if you get hurt, and, moreover, they'll help you search for "angels," corpses lying around full of ADAM to be sucked out of them.
You can also adopt a Sister, have her get all full of ADAM from harvesting, and then kill her. But you've got to be cold as ice to do that.
Before you do that, though, what happens when you find an "angel" is the Sister will climb off your back and start harvesting ADAM from the corpse. In the demo, that's when all hell breaks loose. Catching the scent of ADAM, the Splicers started swarming into the room. Here's where the Big Daddy put some of his new tricks to use. Plasmids in BioShock 2 are deadly on their own, but they're even more potent when combined. I watched as the Big Daddy placed cyclone traps all around the Little Sister and then switched to the Incinerate plasmid to set all the traps on fire. When the Splicers got close, they'd get sucked into mini-whirlwinds that lit their ragged duds aflame, leaving them easy targets for more Incinerate or a few bolts from a rivet gun.
This "dynamic siege," as 2K Marin called it, looked like the Little Sister escort mission sections from the end of the first BioShock, except, you know, actually fun.
Splicers are just small time goons, though. The real monster at the heart of BioShock 2 is the enigmatic Big Sister. Acquire too much ADAM from Little Sisters directly or via angel harvesting, and this armor clad and Plasmid-capable hellion, the "boogeyman" of Rapture, comes a-hunting.
The first time we caught sight of the Big Sister, she sliced open a huge glass window with a single cut, flooding the room and sending our hapless Big Daddy into the ocean for some underwater exploration (2K Marin says swimming sections will provide "creepy" and "introspective" interludes in BioShock 2).
The second time was after our hero had finished fending off Splicers to protect the Little Sister. Bounding around the room like Spider-Man, the Big Sister used Telekinesis to send every spare object in the room flying into the Big Daddy's face. She then pounced on him, raised up her giant needle, and plunged it right into Mr. B's torso.
Did the Big Daddy survive? Probably. Who is the Big Sister, and what connection does she have to Rapture? Why does she hate the Big Daddy so much? What relationship does Tenenbaum have to her? Is she even a she?
BioShock 2, at this point, raises a whole bunch of questions but gives very few answers. The most important question, obviously, is whether or not it's going to be worth playing. No answer to that one, either, but it looks as if 2K Marin's added enough to the gameplay to make things relatively fresh, while the fact that they've even got me speculating about the plot shows that they're doing something right when it comes to the story.
Turns out being a Big Daddy isn't that easy, and a sequel to a beloved game's a bit more complex than we'd initially imagined.
Yeah you might just want to steer clear of info...you know what they say about that thing that killed that cat.
Yes very true at the moment the only "Spoiler" I want is if Little Sisters can die if they are harvesting etc.I hope this is not the case.
As far as I can tell, they can, or at least will stop her harvesting and try to kill you. Either way, the point is to protect the Little Sister or else you fail.
It sounds as though there might be quite a lot of similarities to the first game, but seeing as I LOVED the first game I'd have to say that you just can't get enough of a good thing.
Keane Ng: and then the voice of Bridgette Tenenbaum urges him to get his metal ass in gear.
Metal...gear?
Sorry, couldn't resista that line.
I have a couple of questions after reading this. I get that the harvest or adopt thing has become a more direct single one-off payment or an ability to generate extra ADAM over time to counterbalance the inherent problem of asking people to think of three slightly larger sums over two sums and a huge bonus, and that the little sisters vulnerability makes the whole thing a gamble, but does this mean we're no longer limited by the number of little sisters, but by the corpses? And once enemy Splicers become walking ADAM factories, won't any hint of scariness go from them, if it was ever there before?
Yeah you might just want to steer clear of info...you know what they say about that thing that killed that cat.
Yes very true at the moment the only "Spoiler" I want is if Little Sisters can die if they are harvesting etc.I hope this is not the case.
They heal faster than anything can damadge them, unless the slug is "removed" that is. You hear it in Audio Tapes from Bioshock, I think thegatherer's garden in medical pavillion is its location.
As long as nothing has changed you won't need to worry about the little sistors dying.
I heard a rumour one of the levels shown in that demonstration isn't in the game. Did 2K say the levels shown in the demonstration would be in the game Keane?
This sounds like a great game. Though i really worry about the part "protecting little sisters". I hope they are not gonna make the little sister to stupid that they run in to splicers and die every 5 min.
sending our hapless Big Daddy into the ocean for some underwater exploration
Underwater sections have never been fun, they'd better be careful here. All-in-all I might actually pick this up even though I didn't really enjoy the first game. Revised vita-chambers seems promising to me.
This has been talked about a lot, the fact that somehow you're now "indestructible" or something.
May i remind you, that not only were big daddies killed by splicers a number of times in the original, Jack himself killed TONS of big daddies, because HE HIMSELF was a biologically engineered super human by Dr. suchong. the kid was like 120 lb when he was 5 or something.
SO IN ACTUALITY, you play a weaker character this time :)
Hey Joe: I heard a rumour one of the levels shown in that demonstration isn't in the game. Did 2K say the levels shown in the demonstration would be in the game Keane?
The demo was not an in-game level, but a composite of elements that represent some of the highlights of the game...they wouldn't say what parts actually are in the game and what aren't, but I think a good number of the moments were too cool not to stick in.
mOnion: This has been talked about a lot, the fact that somehow you're now "indestructible" or something.
May i remind you, that not only were big daddies killed by splicers a number of times in the original, Jack himself killed TONS of big daddies, because HE HIMSELF was a biologically engineered super human by Dr. suchong. the kid was like 120 lb when he was 5 or something.
SO IN ACTUALITY, you play a weaker character this time :)
That's true, but I think the most immediate perception most people will have when you think that you're a Big Daddy is that you're a badass now. And, in what I saw, he came off as really powerful - of course this was with fully decked out guns and upgraded Plasmids. But then again, he does get owned multiple times by the Big Sister, so there's that.
Did the Big Daddy survive? Probably. Who is the Big Sister, and what connection does she have to Rapture? Why does she hate the Big Daddy so much? What relationship does Tenenbaum have to her? Is she even a she?
Gamenformer already answered this question in their BioShock 2 headline issue (April). Big Sister is a former Little Sister who, due to Suchongs mental conditioning has an idealized memory of Rapture. She returns to Rapture and begins kidnapping little girls, turning them into little sisters. ADAM starts flowing, and Rapture stabilizes itself (after you left it an anarchic wreck at the end of the first game). Big Sister is obsessed with maintaining Rapture's "Balance", believing everything is okay when little sisters are harvesting and ADAM flows. You, being the Prototype Big Daddy (and thus smaller and weaker then other big daddies, but not conditioned to protect little sisters and able to use plasmids, in addition to still having a mind), are taken out of whatever janitor closet they stuffed you into be Tenenbaum and then turned to try and stop Big Sister, as Tenenbaum feels responsible for her and all the trauma to these little girls she's causing.
When you harvest ADAM, either by jacking a Little Sister (you have to kill her previous big daddy to get her) or by harvesting her (which kills her) you disrupt Big Sisters balance. GameInformer mentioned there was a sort of "ire" meter that would slowly fill up the more Big Sister noticed you, leading up to her showing up and jacking your shit up when it fills. Big Sister is incredibly powerful, having both the indestructibility of a Little Sister (I think) and the ability to use the ADAM she harvests with her giant needle by sucking it directly into her blood stream, granting her insane powers on the level of or greater then Fontaine at the end of the first game.
Keane Ng: and then the voice of Bridgette Tenenbaum urges him to get his metal ass in gear.
Metal...gear?
Sorry, couldn't resista that line.
I have a couple of questions after reading this. I get that the harvest or adopt thing has become a more direct single one-off payment or an ability to generate extra ADAM over time to counterbalance the inherent problem of asking people to think of three slightly larger sums over two sums and a huge bonus, and that the little sisters vulnerability makes the whole thing a gamble, but does this mean we're no longer limited by the number of little sisters, but by the corpses? And once enemy Splicers become walking ADAM factories, won't any hint of scariness go from them, if it was ever there before?
Also, do we get to visit the zoo?
Not every corpse will have harvestable ADAM (like in the first game). Also I don't think they intend for the Splicers to be the scary part in this game- they're more akin to the Hoarde in left for dead. They even mentioned alone, Splicers will be afraid of you and back away. But when they swarm...
I think I read somewhere there will be no mutated Rhino's, sadly.
Someone asked about the drill. They mentioned the Drill replaces the wrench, so depending how you splice it could be your weapon of last resort or your primary tool. They mentioned that you get a shoulder dash like the Bouncers in the first game, and using that while spinning up the drill lets you "clear out a room full of splicers fast". Balancing the drill is the fact it has an overheat meter, so you can't spin it constantly (you can still whack people with it though).
In any case, the feeling they're going with in this game is to feel watched and hunted, since Big Sister can go anywhere at any time with her knowledge of Rapture's layout. Her, and Rapture itself is your foe this time, not the Splicers (who are intimidated by you unless they have big groups)
Good news, the director says the Little Sister "Siege" Sequences aren't escourt missions. The little sister's won't die, cause to get the little sisters they gotta kill the big daddy (you). Splicers attacking the little sister just extends the fight, giving time for more waves to get there, since they interfere with the harvesting.
There are still many questions that arise, most of which small ones that are nonetheless perplexing. Like if the Big sister came back to Rapture in the Bathysphere Tenenbaum left in, and we have to assume both endings are left plausible, how did Tenenbaum get back?
Also, how the hell are you going to work the weapons through divers gloves? Why don't the guns get wet and jam after you've submersed them? If the windows can be cut open by a needle, why couldn't I blow them apart with a barrage of grenades? What happens to the Little Sister while you're underwater? Why would they create a Big Daddy that ADAM works on? If you can see a group of Splicers clearly enough through a window to plan an attack, why not just drill through the window? How the hell are they gonna make Big Sister work? Too strong and she's bascally a game-over because you drained too much ADAM, too weak and she'll be dead before the first level is done.
Indigo_Dingo: There are still many questions that arise, most of which small ones that are nonetheless perplexing. Like if the Big sister came back to Rapture in the Bathysphere Tenenbaum left in, and we have to assume both endings are left plausible, how did Tenenbaum get back?
Also, how the hell are you going to work the weapons through divers gloves? Why don't the guns get wet and jam after you've submersed them? If the windows can be cut open by a needle, why couldn't I blow them apart with a barrage of grenades? What happens to the Little Sister while you're underwater? Why would they create a Big Daddy that ADAM works on? If you can see a group of Splicers clearly enough through a window to plan an attack, why not just drill through the window? How the hell are they gonna make Big Sister work? Too strong and she's bascally a game-over because you drained too much ADAM, too weak and she'll be dead before the first level is done.
*slap*
Leave the games incredibly flawed logic alone! I mean sure, the game doesn't make much sense at all but... yeah, don't know where to go from there. 2k better have some bloody good writers.
Indigo_Dingo: There are still many questions that arise, most of which small ones that are nonetheless perplexing. 1. Like if the Big sister came back to Rapture in the Bathysphere Tenenbaum left in, and we have to assume both endings are left plausible, how did Tenenbaum get back?
2. Also, how the hell are you going to work the weapons through divers gloves? 3. Why don't the guns get wet and jam after you've submersed them? 4. If the windows can be cut open by a needle, why couldn't I blow them apart with a barrage of grenades? 5. What happens to the Little Sister while you're underwater? 6. Why would they create a Big Daddy that ADAM works on? 7. If you can see a group of Splicers clearly enough through a window to plan an attack, why not just drill through the window? 8. How the hell are they gonna make Big Sister work? Too strong and she's bascally a game-over because you drained too much ADAM, too weak and she'll be dead before the first level is done.
*slap*
Leave the games incredibly flawed logic alone! I mean sure, the game doesn't make much sense at all but... yeah, don't know where to go from there. 2k better have some bloody good writers.
1. Built her own? Used the Lighthouse Bathysphere?
2. The weapons are specially made for big daddies.
3. The weapons are specially made for big daddies\
4. The glass is probably specially reinforced wire glass, a razor sharp and thin needle would be much more effective at cutting through it then the blunt force of grenades - the sort of pressure trauma it's designed to resist. Also she has tremendous telekinetic power, which probably helps.
5. I assume you don't take any little sisters underwater. You would assume that the pressure would crush them an the lack of oxygen would kill them, but the regenerative power of the ADAM slugs might keep her alive.
6. You play the first Prototype Big Daddy. The ability to use ADAM and plasmids is genetically engineered out of the later generations. You play the "lets see if we can actually do this" project.
7. You likly need Rapture WORKING and not flooded and crushed for your own reasons, Also, see #4
8. Thats the billion dollar question. The implication is that you manage to beat her off but not perminantly hurt her, since with ADAM she regenerates...or something. Either the Big Sister attacks will all be set pieces and part of the story... Like when you 'died' in Bioshock and woke up in Tenenbaums creepy orphanege.
Indigo_Dingo: There are still many questions that arise, most of which small ones that are nonetheless perplexing. 1. Like if the Big sister came back to Rapture in the Bathysphere Tenenbaum left in, and we have to assume both endings are left plausible, how did Tenenbaum get back?
2. Also, how the hell are you going to work the weapons through divers gloves? 3. Why don't the guns get wet and jam after you've submersed them? 4. If the windows can be cut open by a needle, why couldn't I blow them apart with a barrage of grenades? 5. What happens to the Little Sister while you're underwater? 6. Why would they create a Big Daddy that ADAM works on? 7. If you can see a group of Splicers clearly enough through a window to plan an attack, why not just drill through the window? 8. How the hell are they gonna make Big Sister work? Too strong and she's bascally a game-over because you drained too much ADAM, too weak and she'll be dead before the first level is done.
*slap*
Leave the games incredibly flawed logic alone! I mean sure, the game doesn't make much sense at all but... yeah, don't know where to go from there. 2k better have some bloody good writers.
1. Built her own? Used the Lighthouse Bathysphere?
2. The weapons are specially made for big daddies.
3. The weapons are specially made for big daddies\
4. The glass is probably specially reinforced wire glass, a razor sharp and thin needle would be much more effective at cutting through it then the blunt force of grenades - the sort of pressure trauma it's designed to resist. Also she has tremendous telekinetic power, which probably helps.
5. I assume you don't take any little sisters underwater. You would assume that the pressure would crush them an the lack of oxygen would kill them, but the regenerative power of the ADAM slugs might keep her alive.
6. You play the first Prototype Big Daddy. The ability to use ADAM and plasmids is genetically engineered out of the later generations. You play the "lets see if we can actually do this" project.
7. You likly need Rapture WORKING and not flooded and crushed for your own reasons, Also, see #4
8. Thats the billion dollar question. The implication is that you manage to beat her off but not perminantly hurt her, since with ADAM she regenerates...or something. Either the Big Sister attacks will all be set pieces and part of the story... Like when you 'died' in Bioshock and woke up in Tenenbaums creepy orphanege.
Why would they design weapons if the Big Daddy can take down most any Splicers easily unarmed?
BioShock 2 Preview
We take a stroll (and a dive) through 2K Marin's Rapture, and discover what's new and what's old about BioShock 2.
Being a Big Daddy should be a simple life. You stomp around Rapture, defending Little Sisters, drilling Splicers through the gut, never finding a moment to take your helmet off and catch a breath. So shouldn't it be worrying that BioShock 2 puts you in the shoes of a Big Daddy? Compared to the enigmatic protagonist of the first game, what mystery is there in playing the role of a hulking behemoth with a giant drill?
Well, consider how the demonstration of BioShock 2 that 2K Marin recently gave me began: the Big Daddy's lying in a puddle, his vision's skewed sideways. Suddenly there's radio static and chatter, and then the voice of Bridgette Tenenbaum urges him to get his metal ass in gear. He hauls himself up, pushes himself off the floor, but in that instant, sees his reflection in the water. It's a striking moment: Recognizing what you are, suddenly things don't seem so simple. You're a Big Daddy, yeah, but what does that actually mean? Why are you listening to Tenenbaum? Why have you gone rogue? Who are you?
One thing's clear, at least: being a Big Daddy means you're a wrecking machine. In addition to the trademark drill, which can be charged up for a fierce lunging attack, and the return of customizable and upgradeable guns, you can use Plasmids: guns and weapons go in your right hand, while fire, electricity, and other Plasmids that return from the original fire from your left.
But if that makes you worried that your character in BioShock 2 is so powerful, keep in mind that the bad guys are tougher, as well. Enemy Big Daddies return, and 2K Marin has tweaked the Vitachamber mechanics so that they're a lot harder "to cheap." (Vitachambers can also be turned off entirely from the get go).
Meanwhile, the Splicers are as hungry as ever for that genetic crack otherwise known as ADAM, and they're looking for it in the same place as before: the Little Sisters. As a Big Daddy, or, as the Sisters affectionately call you, "Mr. B," you're compelled to be an ally to these girls. Instead of choosing between harvesting or rescuing a Sister, though, in BioShock 2 you can either harvest or "adopt" them. After you adopt a Sister, they'll heal you if you get hurt, and, moreover, they'll help you search for "angels," corpses lying around full of ADAM to be sucked out of them.
You can also adopt a Sister, have her get all full of ADAM from harvesting, and then kill her. But you've got to be cold as ice to do that.
Before you do that, though, what happens when you find an "angel" is the Sister will climb off your back and start harvesting ADAM from the corpse. In the demo, that's when all hell breaks loose. Catching the scent of ADAM, the Splicers started swarming into the room. Here's where the Big Daddy put some of his new tricks to use. Plasmids in BioShock 2 are deadly on their own, but they're even more potent when combined. I watched as the Big Daddy placed cyclone traps all around the Little Sister and then switched to the Incinerate plasmid to set all the traps on fire. When the Splicers got close, they'd get sucked into mini-whirlwinds that lit their ragged duds aflame, leaving them easy targets for more Incinerate or a few bolts from a rivet gun.
This "dynamic siege," as 2K Marin called it, looked like the Little Sister escort mission sections from the end of the first BioShock, except, you know, actually fun.
Splicers are just small time goons, though. The real monster at the heart of BioShock 2 is the enigmatic Big Sister. Acquire too much ADAM from Little Sisters directly or via angel harvesting, and this armor clad and Plasmid-capable hellion, the "boogeyman" of Rapture, comes a-hunting.
The first time we caught sight of the Big Sister, she sliced open a huge glass window with a single cut, flooding the room and sending our hapless Big Daddy into the ocean for some underwater exploration (2K Marin says swimming sections will provide "creepy" and "introspective" interludes in BioShock 2).
The second time was after our hero had finished fending off Splicers to protect the Little Sister. Bounding around the room like Spider-Man, the Big Sister used Telekinesis to send every spare object in the room flying into the Big Daddy's face. She then pounced on him, raised up her giant needle, and plunged it right into Mr. B's torso.
Did the Big Daddy survive? Probably. Who is the Big Sister, and what connection does she have to Rapture? Why does she hate the Big Daddy so much? What relationship does Tenenbaum have to her? Is she even a she?
BioShock 2, at this point, raises a whole bunch of questions but gives very few answers. The most important question, obviously, is whether or not it's going to be worth playing. No answer to that one, either, but it looks as if 2K Marin's added enough to the gameplay to make things relatively fresh, while the fact that they've even got me speculating about the plot shows that they're doing something right when it comes to the story.
Turns out being a Big Daddy isn't that easy, and a sequel to a beloved game's a bit more complex than we'd initially imagined.
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