Bioshock 2

Let's get the obvious criticism out of the way early: Bioshock 2 doesn't reinvent the wheel. If you found the original title to be a standard first-person shooter dressed in fancy Art Deco design then your opinion is unlikely to be dramatically altered by the sequel.

Of course, that also means that you're some sort of crazy person. The beauty of Bioshock was the atmosphere: the gorgeous artwork, the unfolding story, the suspenseful use of lighting and sound design. It seemed almost churlish to call it an FPS at all, and the sequel keeps all the games considerable positives and adds some very positive tweaks.

In the first game you were washed up in the undersea free-market-utopia-gone-mad Rapture, the creation of libertarian madman Andrew Ryan and based on unregulated science of gene-splicing, giving the inhabitants undreamt-of powers. Of course, there were some problems with his bold plan to create a society of genetically enhanced geniuses without the restrictive influence of the state. Ryan's genetic mix that fuelled Rapture and its inhabitants – called, with obvious Biblical overtones, "ADAM" (and made functional in humans with the use of another mix, EVE) – could only be harvested by specially-modified orphan girls ("Little Sisters"), who were easily overcome by those who'd become addicted to the substance and the genetic superpowers it contained (thus becoming "splicers": essentially junkies with superhuman abilities) and therefore necessitating the transforming of men into large, heavily armoured and well armed protectors for the girls: Big Daddies.

The story of how Rapture fell and the madness that created it was parcelled out slowly, as you tried to return to the surface and avoid getting killed by the splicers and Big Daddies roaming through Rapture, making for one hell of an involving game. How could Bioshock 2 hope to match it? After all, anyone who's played the first game has already discovered everything... right?

Well, no. Set in 1968, eight years after the events of the first game, you are Subject Delta: the prototype for an advanced form of Big Daddy, and the first to be paired to a specific Little Sister. Ryan is dead and Rapture is now under the control of Sofia Lamb, a psychologist with a socialist bent, who is determined to unite the city under her charismatic self. So charismatic is she, in fact, that she convinces you to shoot yourself and thereby sever your connection to your Little Sister – her adopted daughter, Eleanor – who uses her psychic bond with you to bring you back to life all these years later in order that you might save her and the city from her psychotic mother. And so the game begins.

For anyone who played the original, being a Big Daddy is an enormous pleasure. Those things that were so unpleasant in Bioshock– like, say, having an enormous spinning drill shoved into your face – are so much more satisfying when you're the one doing the shoving. Unlike the first game's protagonist, you can wield a weapon in one hand and a plasmid power (ie: a magic ability) in the other: electricity, fire or even (in a touch that's a little too Ratchet & Clank) swarms of bees. And you'll need to have a bunch of weapons at the ready because there's a new type of threat in Rapture: the original Little Sisters have grown up into Big Sisters, which have all the unkillability of a Big Daddy with the bonus of being unnaturally lithe and agile.

As with the first game, you piece the secrets of Rapture together via audio diaries conveniently left around the place, and while the levels are fairly open the missions themselves are very linear: each level has a number of things that need doing before you can get to the next one, with the obligatory Big Sister boss fights thrown in. On top of that, you'll spend a lot of time killing splicers for their money and ammo, and either harvesting or rescuing Little Sisters for their ADAM in order to upgrade your powers: your moral choice determines certain elements of the gameplay, including the four possible endings to the game.

In that, the game's not much different from a million others, but the beauty of Bioshock 2 is in the details. The design is exquisite, from the posters and advertisements around Rapture to the beautiful architecture and oceanic environments (you actually can stand at a window and just watch the sealife drift by, if you fancy it), but there's also nice touches like being able to sneak up on splicers and listen in to their conversations, or watch them interact (in one level, you can creep up on a couple as they slowdance to a record, which is actually rather more poignant than it sounds). You even get to play, if only briefly, as a Little Sister in a mission that owes more than a little to the otherworldly horror of Silent Hill.

The weapons system could have been improved – having to deliberately select new ammo for a weapon is frustrating at the best of times, and often deadly in the fever of battle – but those sorts of niggles are trivial. Few FPS games are this haunting, and equally few survival horror games are this full of action. In short, Bioshock 2 is a masterpiece.

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