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Bioshock 2 Preview - PS3

• By Sid Shuman
• April 23, 2009 14:05 PM PST
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In BioShock 2, nearly 10 years have passed since the events of the first game. And with Andrew Ryan dead, Rapture has slowly begun evolving into something else entirely. The demo began with the player's Big Daddy awakening at the coaxing of Dr. Tenenbaum. Though the demo was short, we gleaned quite a bit of information from it. Here are the highlights.

Big Daddy's weapons: We saw the player's Big Daddy wield just two weapons. One was an arm-mounted drill that could brutally grind up a nearby enemy, though a heat meter will keep you from using it constantly. We also saw a powerful Rivet Gun that can pick off distant enemies quickly. Additionally, the Big Daddy has a quick melee attack ala Halo that can drop a Splicer quickly. One detail worthy of note is a new dual-fire control scheme that allows you to wield a weapon in one hand and a Plasmid ability in the other (see below). Other weapons will be available, but 2K Marin representatives declined to go into more detail.

Plasmid Combos: As the first Big Daddy, you are armed with the most powerful ability of all: free will. Rapture's resident geneticist, Dr. Tenenbaum, has broken the spell that mentally imprisons the other Big Daddies who inhabit Rapture. As a result, your Big Daddy will be able to wield the powerful Plasmid abilities from the first game. Plasmids can now be combined for extra damage: we saw the Big Daddy lay down some Cyclone Traps, then blast the whirlwinds with the Incinerate ability to create flaming dust devils. Plasmids are also more impressive in BioShock 2 because upgrading them will create potent new effects. We saw a high-level version of Incinerate that created a flamethrower-like blast. The Plasmids from the first games are expected to return in BioShock 2 with improvements, and 2K Marin is promising plenty of new Plasmid abilities as well.

Big Sister is watching: The Big Sister is a new adversary in BioShock 2, and she's the meanest, toughest foe on the block. Though there are many Big Daddies, there is only one Big Sister in the game. She was described as an adult Little Sister who was unwilling to abandon Rapture with the others after the events of the first game. Compelled to return Rapture to its original state - she thinks Big Daddies and Little Sisters go together like peanut butter and jelly - she now kidnaps young girls from the mainland and brings them to Rapture to be transformed into the ghoulish Little Sisters. We saw one encounter with the Big Sister, who is armed with the most powerful Plasmid abilities in the game, and it's clear she'll be a worthy adversary for the player's Big Daddy.

Protecting the Little Sister: In BioShock 2, you'll still be able to cruelly harvest Little Sisters you find in order to gain more Adam for your Plasmid abilities. But you can also choose to "adopt" them. During adoption, you'll carry the Little Sister safely on your back while you look for corpses that contain Adam. When you find a goldmine, the Little Sister will hop off your back and being the extraction process. Unfortunately, the helpless Little Sisters prove to be an irresistible target for the Adam-addicted Splicers who infest Rapture. During the extraction process, you'll have to protect the Little Sister from multiple waves of Splicers, making Plasmids such as the Cyclone Trap far more useful as a perimeter-defense weapon. These extraction scenarios look to be intense, combat-heavy experiences.

Splicer evolution: Splicers are the last remnants of humanity to be found in Rapture, but they've been reduced to insanity as a result of their Adam addictions. In BioShock 2, Splicers look to be more inhuman and animal-like than they were in the first game. This is especially true for the ceiling-crawling Spider Splicers, who have sprouted grotesquely long arms to aid their agile approach to combat. 2K Marin's Jordan Thomas explained that players will also encounter human characters who are in the very early stages of Adam addiction, something that wasn't seen in the original BioShock. Thomas also explained that the plight of the Splicers will receive much more attention in BioShock 2, explaining how and why they've reverted to animalistic behaviors.

Underwater scenarios: As a Big Daddy, you have one key advantage: you can breathe underwater thanks to your diving suit. This means that flooded areas in Rapture can now be explored by the player. In one scenario, the Big Sister shattered a window to flood the room. At this point, the player actually moved outside of Rapture, trudging through the ocean bed and navigating through a garden of seaweed. 2K Marin's Thomas explained that these slower-paced underwater scenarios help give players a break from the constant combat inside Rapture. During these sea walks, Thomas also mentioned that you'll be able to find and harvest sea slugs to earn extra Adam.

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