Bioshocked 2.

I've been playing Bioshock 2 on and off for a while now. Since it came out, I guess. It seems like a loooong game, but I guess it really wasn't. That probably says something about my opinion of Bioshock 2.

I'm kind of torn over the game and how I reacted to it. It was quite good, really. It just never quite clicked for me. I might say "this is fun" while playing it, but I never said "I can't wait to play some Bioshock 2 tonight!" I feel like part of me only played through Bioshock 2 out of respect and love for the first game.

The worlds were more open and intricate and I like that. But they were possibly too complex, so I always had to check my map to ensure I didn't miss any huge areas. I also didn't feel like I was exploring and seeing new things. It really felt like Deja Vu all over again.

The graphics were probably better. I didn't go back to do a side by side comparison, but the world was more colorful, detailed and layered. But I wasn't nearly as impressed.

There were a lot of enemies, old and new. I liked some of the more deformed and tragic character models, as if the Splicers had gotten more and more out of control since I was last in that space. But I felt like they were all annoying to fight, for some reason.

The combat was varied, open and pretty fun. I love games like Far Cry 2 and Halo 3, where you are given a sandbox and a toolset for fighting, and the battles can be tackled a ton of different ways. But the weapons felt small and the sound was weak. And the levels were so open that oftentimes a grand plan would just fall apart thanks to a wandering Splicer that triggers a trap too early.

At first I was disappointed after taking down a Big Daddy in Bioshock 2. The first Big Daddy fight in Bioshock was an amazing and completely terrifying affair. But I fought 20+ by the time the game ended, so coming into Bioshock 2 I saw a Big Daddy and just tore him up with no hesitation. The fear and mystery was gone completely.

Soon, though, I realized that the Big Sister really was the new Big Daddy. She was tougher, faster and unrelenting. Plus, she attacked randomly, completely unprovoked. So once or twice I staggered out of a tough fight, heard the telltale scream of a Big Sister approaching and thought "oh no. not now..." Which is awesome.

The end of the game really picked up, as well. The story got much more interesting and pulled me in a bit more. The whole 'eyes of the Little Sister' sequence in particular was very cool. Your 'partner' at the end of the game was really quite satisfying, both mechanically and story-wise (not to mention it made the last hour or two pretty easy). But it took a long time to get there.

So overall, I can't quite put my finger on why it didn't grab me. I've loved far more flawed games, so it's definitely not for a lack of polish. It just didn't have that 'je ne sais quoi' I guess.