Thinky stuff: Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams. Just shooty?

Yesterday, I checked out the 9-minute gameplay walkthrough of Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams and it was alright. I don't know why though, but Bioshock 2 didn't excite me as much as the concept of the first one did. Perhaps the first one was fresh, mind-blowingly philosophical and at the same time realistic in its idealogy. I followed the fan page of Bioshock's dev closely and when the game came out, I got a copy straight away.

Playing it was cool, but I felt as if I was let down slightly by the fact that it was a straightforward shooter with wider spaces to roam around in, but ultimately, just corridors. The Big Daddy weren't as challenging or as formidable in presence as I was led to believe, and you couldn't explore Rapture entirely free-form.

And now, Bioshock 2 is coming soon and they expect people to go ga-ga just because this time, you play a Big Daddy and can have little girls riding on your shoulders. And that the Big Sister is really cool and scary. Well, the Big Sister actually is a pretty cool, but the rest of it is the same.

But back to the walkthrough. I remember back in 2006 or something when the original Bioshock released its video walkthrough and for the first time open its doors to an exciting new world. It was breathtaking to say the least, the graphics were wondrous and the first sighting of a Big Daddy was nothing short of A.I. spectacular. Fast foward to 2009, and when you watch the Bioshock 2 vid, there isn't anything exciting to anticipate except for the fact that you are that Big Daddy and have a drill for a right hand.

The walkthrough starts to little fanfare, with Tenenbaum from the first game telling you to "Wake up". And then the player immediately goes toe-to-toe with a few splicers. There's a whole scripted sequence with a Big Sister, your new enemy, and how you have to chase her, glass breaks and you swim around underwater for a bit, and then emerge into a new area.

Apparently that's a new idea for Bioshock 2, where you'll have to do underwater exploration for some parts, without having to shoot sharks or other predators of the deep. It's supposed to enhance the discovery-of-Rapture part of the game. And then you meet a Little Sister, for the first time, she actually talks to you without fear and with a lot of familiarity, "Mr Bubbles" she cries. You feel genuinely gooey inside, the voice-actress for the Little Sister got the empathy just about right. Unlike the first game where you're an outsider to this strange symbiotic relationship between Little Sister and Big Daddy, now you get to experience it first hand.

But then I think to a certain degree, this could become an annoying new game mechanic that will turn people off to the game. Essentially, having a Little Sister means a lot of "protect-the-hostage" sequences, where the Little 'un hunkers down for some Adam off some corpse and you have to set traps and shoot incoming splicers. Totally uninspiring, if you ask me. And that's how the final part of the walkthrough plays out: Little Sister starts extracting Adam from some corpse, and you shoot a whole bunch of splicers. Granted, the rivet gun (Big Daddy's signature shotgun) looks really fun to shoot, and charging enemies with the drill is gory. But once again, it's all about the shooting.

Here's to hoping the multiplayer will make the game a lot more fascinating. Don't get me wrong though, I enjoyed bits of the first game, the madness of the people left in Rapture, and the failed utopia, but beyond the shiny gloss, it was just shooty.