Bioshock 2

There are sequels that leave you wondering why you even bothered playing the first one and there are sequels that make you run out and find the first one so you can experience everything that world has to offer. While Bioshock 2 doesn't achieve everything it set out to, it certainly does fill out the 'experience the whole world category'.

I love this game, I've played it time and time again, but it isn't the horizon expanding experience Bioshock was. You're back in Rapture, this time a Big Daddy, with a new set of bosses, but largely the same set of goals as before, save or sacrifice little girls to survive and fulfil your agenda. I'll give it points for being a full standalone, there is nothing missed if you never did play 1, and in some ways this is a better game, such as dual wielding guns and plasmids; I wanted to include the ocean floor free roam in there, but it actually doesn't enhance the game that much, cool yes, but not true free roam.

It is actually much cooler than this looks.

As good as it is it should have been much more, but it suffered heavily during development, not only to standard rewrites, but, more importantly, in concept delivery. The Big Sisters populating rapture were supposed to be one boss battle at the end, making them more of a pain in the ass than an experience, and apparently a large portion of innovated game was ripped out to make room for a multi-player addition that, while I've only heard good things about, was never extensively played; funny thing, almost as if people who thrive on suspense laden, semi-horror driven gaming, don't care to mix it up online with a bunch of ass-hats.

As a stand alone game this doesn't deliver anything new or ground breaking, but, pick it up on sale and treat it as episode 2 of Bioshock, as opposed to a new entity, and it'll deliver more Bioshocky goodness than you can shake a plasmid at. I'll call this at 9/10, it could have been  more, but still a very, very good game.