BioShock™ 2 Remastered

BioShock 2 is a great, yet flawed game. Even in the base version, I remember having to deal with technical issues all the time. Unfortunately the "remaster" did not make things better. If anything, it is more unstable than before. Other than that I like BioShock 2 a lot. It brings some really neat changes to the gameplay, like being able to effectively have plasmids ready to go at any time and not having to switch to them first. Since you get both games at the same time, I recommend trying which version runs more stable on your PC and sticking with it. The differences are very small between Remaster and original.

I've had the original Bioshock 2 some time ago and skipped it after some hours because it couldn't keep me interested. The gunplay and action feels mediocre to me (I enjoyed games like UT Series but also F.E.A.R. or Stalker,..). While the art design is nice and probably has some highlights here and there for me the atmosphere is nowhere near System Shock 2 (or even SS1, if you don't mind the graphics). In this regard I liked Dead Space much more. Also after Bioshocks great opening, its successor disappoints me. Also I'm not a big fan of the level design. It has some kind of openness but for me it's not interesting enough to want me to explore it. The story might be fine, but for me it's not good enough to satisfy the mediocre or even boring gameplay. Finally the remaster: I had the black screen problem when playing. This can be fixed but still has to be applied everytime you start the game. Still no fix, at least on gog. While the game runs smooth, texture streaming is still a problem (high res textures plop in and out all the time). Ok, I have an intel HD 520, but then give me some options to choose mid or low res textures instead of this atmosphere killer. Deutsch (Kurzfassung): Habe das ursprüngliche Bioshock 2 damals für ein paar Stunden gespielt und dann gelangweilt aufgegeben: - Gunplay ist ok, aber für mich nicht wirklich spaßig (mag sowohl Spiele wie UT oder Quake 4 als auch Stalker). - Art Design mag grundsätzlich gut sein, bietet mir aber zu wenig Highlights > fand das Spiel über weite Strecken nicht besonders atmosphärisch, dann lieber System Shock 2 oder Dead Space. - Level machen genau da keinen Spaß, wo sie vom Schlauchdesign etwas abweichen da zu wenig Spannendes - Geschichte ist gut aber nicht gut genug, um mich über das durchschnittliche Gameplay hinweg zu fesseln - Remaster kämpft immer noch mit bugs. Besonders aufploppende Texturen waren bei mir ein ziemlicher Atmosphärekiller.

I came into this game excited and optimistic about the port, since Bio1 Remaster played just fine, with no crashes at all and just some odd audio issues that can be fixed with setting the game up to use 7.1 sound. But this one, the crashes, the strange audio mixing (everything just seems weirdly muted and numb), slight graphical glitches just makes the experience not as good and made want to quit permanently several times, specially during the DLC, the fact that it auto saves every hour or so (and sometimes crashes during SAVES!) does not help. The game itself is ok, not as impressive as the first one, but the combat is faster and smoother. I would say play the classic version of this one just to be sure, if that one crashes a lot too, well, that is just a bad release from GOG and I am dissapointed that they released this in such a lackluster state.

Note: ignore the remaster, play the Classic version; the remaster crashes often (as others have noted) and it even looks worse to my eyes. The Classic version is perfectly fine and playable. Although it does have some annoying mouse sensitivity issues. I feel like Bioshock 2 was made by the B-team that received a booklet with the Bioshock formula and a bunch of assets and was told to make a game around it, possibly without playing through the first one for themselves. It has lots of details in it, but not a lot of attention to detail. Good: the environments are atmospheric and look good some decent story moments quality-of-life improvements (you can now wield a plasmid and a gun at the same time) the hacking minigame is quicker and less annoying than in Bioshock 1 it's fairly short Bad: level design - little was memorable, most looks like thrown-together corridors and random areas with staircases with not much logic to them controls - each gun has several types of ammo and there are a few non-guns added into the mix, so in the heat of battle you will probably do some really stupid things while looking for a gun that still has ammo, preferably of the right type and the game reshuffles the order of your plasmids every so often so you won't know which key has which one some of the battles just throw waves of enemies at you in a confined area without bothering to explain how or why Overall: meh, in the series I would rank this a distant third after Bioshock 1 and Infinite

BioShock didn't need a direct sequel like BS2, but having just replayed the entire trilogy I can say BS2 earns its place. Before I get into that: I played the remastered version start to finish, all DLC's included. It didn't crash at all, but your mileage may vary. I suspect many of these reviews were written before patches came out. There may be other changes people disliked about the remaster, but you get the original version with your purchase so it doesn't really matter. BS2 meaningfully expands on the combat system of the first game, manages to tell a worthwhile story (though not as impactful as BS1), and it makes good use of its second trip through Rapture to show not just wealthy districts that have deteriorated, but also poor areas that were suffering long before stuff hit the fan, helping illustrate why the city was never going to last. Generally, BS2 feels like it rounds out the world that BS1 introduced while taking the opportunity to optimize the player's ability to experiment with different plasmids and ammo types. It's fun, it presents yet more of the excellent setting BS1 introduced while telling its own story, and it's frequently on sale. Play BS1 first, and if you like it, definitely give BS2 a shot.