BioShock 2 (Special Edition)

"Bloody amazing!  Andrew Bistak, ImpulseGamer.com
"The weapons are better. The plasmids are better. The enemies are better. At some points, even the storytelling is better.  GamesRadar.com
"...greatly improves on the BioShock experience as a whole, fine-tuning what made Jack's voyage to Rapture such a memorable experience two years ago.  Will Herring, GamePro.com

Gamer2.0.com 9 of 10
When we first stepped into the world of Rapture, we were met with a wonderful and fully realized underwater world that gave us an immersive experience. BioShock was incredibly well received (we gave it one of our rare 10s) and gave us most everything we needed from it. So how do you build on it? How can you really differentiate a sequel from its predecessor when the world is more confined and particular than most? Well, the 2K group of developers found a way and has succeeded in BioShock 2. With a deeper story told in a more powerful of a way, there is no reason to not continue your underwater exploits...Rapture was last seen filled with splicers fighting like hell for all the ADAM they can get. Things haven't changed much. You re-enter Rapture to more or less the same situation, but things have gotten significantly worse. It is nearly a decade after the events of the original game. Rapture has fallen and is now under the control of Sofia Lamb. Lamb is a powerful rival of Andrew Ryan, and with him out of the picture, she guides Rapture through a very different mindset. She stresses collective efforts rather than individual thinking. As a result, splicers become more of an army when attacking you because they are under her control. The Family, as they are referred to, have more advanced AI built into them than what was seen in the last game. Splicers aren't quite as mindless. It will require you to employ more tactics than before...Your advantage lies in you playing as a Big Daddy. You are Subject Delta, the first Daddy to be successfully bonded with a Little Sister. You'll find that has its advantages and disadvantages but we'll leave the latter for you to discover. After traumatic events at the start, you are brought back to consciousness by your grown-up Sister, Eleanor. Lamb is doing all she can to suppress your free thinking and stop you from reconnecting with your Sister. All the while, Rapture is starting sink further into insanity...You have all your standard types of multiplayer with the Rapture twist. Instead of capturing a flag, you'll fight to capture (or defend) a Little Sister. And in here you'll be able to upgrade your weapons and use up to two plasmids per load out. While the mode is more or less your standard stuff, it is still reasonably fun to play through...After some multiplayer, you'll probably end up back in the single player to pick up on things that you missed. And while it surpasses its predecessor in certain respects, it just doesn't quite have that little extra to really put it over the top. It's definitely a great game and will likely be on top ten lists at the end of the year. It's just not a perfect 10. - Alex Quevedo

IGN.com 9 of 10
Take a moment to consider how bizarre this game world really is. It's set in an underwater sprawl of surface-style skyscrapers, a city called Rapture. Filling the pressurized space is a society founded by an industrialist named Andrew Ryan with the notion that there'd be no limits on what the individual could accomplish. It was all a spectacular failure as the civilization that developed on the ocean floor turned to genetic modification. Gradually their sanity was devoured by their unrestricted experimentation as they ripped each other to shreds and withdrew into private pockets of insanity. It was a city so rotten and morally oblivious it spawned Little Sisters, girls who roamed Rapture's leaky halls performing the repulsive task of plunging needles into the dead and extracting and ingesting genetic material. Between all the twists of plot was woven an entertaining style of gameplay in the first BioShock, making for a mix of powerful play mechanics, mood, and joy of exploration rarely seen, and one that wound up resonating with the public, making the game a critical and commercial success...It's going to be a familiar experience for anyone that played the original, but BioShock 2's improvements to gameplay and its more focused storyline make for a game that's more playable and easier to digest. Some of the sense of awe and mystery is lost in transition, but the strength of the setting and more interesting implementation of moral choice make for an experience that's more consistent and rewarding. Anyone looking for a first-person shooter that offers more than flat, stereotypical characters and copy-and-paste supersoldier plots, one that attempts to establish a sense of right and wrong and loops you into the decision making process, and one that's set in one of the most vividly realized settings around should pick up BioShock 2. It's a game in which story, setting, and gameplay are expertly blended to create an experience that's as thought-provoking as it is entertaining. - Charles Onyett