Bioshock 2

Another sequel, Bioshock 2 follows the brilliant 2007 Game of the Year, Bioshock.

Bioshock entwined unique artwork, with an immersing story and a first person shooter role so beautifully it isn't hard to see why it was so critically acclaimed. Although a visual spectacle, Bioshock's story was enough to sell it on it's own. With great twists and characters it made you want to play to the end - and then play it again.

Bioshock 2 was eagerly anticipated, so much so that when it was delayed by four months the gaming world was disappointed. Yet it seemed that 2K Australia's choice to postpone their game to "perfect" it seems to have paid off. Bioshock 2 had to be perfect to be anywhere near its predecessor.

Bioshock introduces the underwater city of Rapture, an ideological world created by Andrew Ryan (who's name was created from capitalist writer Ayn Rand). The city was free from laws and religion and Ryan invited the cleverest people to live there. A scientist, BrigidTenenbaum created ADAM, a substance that could change DNA to give them Plasmids, which gave people powers. The citizens of rapture got addicted to Plasmids and became deformed Splicers. These addicts, in search of more ADAM would hunt Little Sisters (young girls who were subjected to ADAM to create EVE), but first they would have to defeat their guardians - Big Daddies.

In Bioshock 2, you play as a Big Daddy with amnesia in Rapture 10 years after the first game. As in the first game, you have to explore different areas of the underwater metropolis trying to seek out your "little sister".

You now have a new arsenal of weapons to defeat your enemies with, such as a bigger machine gun, a rivet gun and a drill! Most weapons have additional ammo types that are beneficial against certain enemies. These can now be combined with the use of plasmids to carve your way through the ruptured residents of Rapture. This is an improvement over the first game as you could only use the one or the other, never both at the same time.

There is a new enemy, a Big Sister, who has been stealing small girls from towns on the coast of the Atlantic in order to create more EVE. The antagonist of the story is Sofia Lamb, a psychiatrist with more communist views, the antithesis to Andrew Ryan's idea for the city.

The design of rapture is stunning and I enjoy the 1950s feel of the city. As Rapture is all but abandoned by its citizens there is a despondent look to it. Many things are broken, there are leaks everywhere and lights flicker on and off which symbolises the society that you find yourself in. The splicers have a slightly more individualised look to create a sense of the size of Rapture's population. As you are now a Big Daddy you have the ability to breathe underwater, therefore 2K put in parts of the game outside the walls of Rapture and will allow you to walk outside which shows off impressive backgrounds of the underwater city. Again this makes the player appreciate the size of what you're up against. I liked all of the artwork and advertisements that give you little hints into life in Rapture, such as adverts for Lamb's psychiatry or adverts for a certain Plasmid.

I also liked how there were scrawlings on the floor or wall, warning of danger or prophisizing something. It adds a sense of struggle or rebellion to Rapture's troubled atmosphere.

The Big Sisters look frightening and act scarily. They move quicker than Big Daddies and can jump around an area quickly. Often they will jump out in front of you and then quickly run away, this created a tense atmosphere and I was usually reluctant to press on. But I am glad that things like this happen in the game. The game uses horror well and it is even better if you play it on your own in the dark.

In Bioshock 2, sound is used to create even more immersion. The score is composed by Garry Sychman, who did the previous Bioshock as well as other games over the past 20 years. I liked how it would change from pleasant 1950s bluesy music to a more panicky, foreboding tune when you enter an area of danger. Each weapon sounds great, especially the drill which sounds as big as it is. Also each Plasmid sounds unique, such as the static of the "Electroshock" Plasmid to the whooshing and crackling of the "Incinerate" Plasmid. The screeching sound of the Big Sister is seriously frightening, to the extent of the hairs on the back of my next sticking standing up. Again I am grateful for it as it adds to the game's brilliance.

As with in the first game, Bioshock 2 has audio diaries hidden throughout the city. These diaries are created by characters with in the game and help provide a back story and providing an understanding as to what's happened in this submarine conurbation. Those who have played the first game will find some of them interesting as it provides references to what happened.

The game's hacking system works a lot better now as 2K decided that the Pipe Dream way needed reformation. Now it's a press-A-at-the-right-time, but it's quicker and easier and doesn't intrude on the game itself.

The game still has the morality choice; you can either harvest (kill) the little sisters, which grants you more ADAM, or adopt (save) them. Should you choose to adopt them you can then use her to absorb more ADAM from corpses of splicers. The clip at the end of the game depends on what choices you make throughout it.

The game is pretty easy to get used too and the controls are pretty simple. The weapon choice wheel is really useful.

For achievements, most are the same as the first game, except the "Big Brass Balls" achievement for not dying can be done on any difficulty now. Thrown into the mix are on-line achievements, but again I haven't tried them out.

The story is well paced but doesn't have the complexity and the magic of the first game's. Whilst I enjoyed it, it left me feeling a little bit disappointed. The villain isn't quite as good as Andrew Ryan or Frank Fontaine.

Another thing I don't like about Bioshock 2 is that you can only hold 5 First Aid kits and Eve Hypos as opposed to 9 of each in the previous game.

However I did enjoy the game overall, though I don't think it was quite as good as the first one.

So "WOULD YOU KINDLY?" go and play it, and let me know what you think?

Ratings

Audio: 5/5 - Really good. Great sound effects and music

Graphics/Visuals: 4.5/5 - Like the old graphics just polished off, Rapture looks amazing.

Gameplay: 5/5 - Easy to play and easy to get addicted to. Even hard mode isn't too bad

Achievements: 4/5 - Easy enough to get, although on-line achievements may take a while.

Overall: 5/5

Forza 3

After the success of Microsoft's race simulator Forza Motorsport 2, Forza 3 had to live up to high expectations.

Forza Motorsport 2 broke the mold of race simulators and was Xbox's answer to PlayStation's highly successful series, Gran Turismo. A follow on from the original Xbox's Forza Motorsport, Forza 2 utilized the Xbox's better graphics and capabilities whilst providing an easy to use format.

Forza 3 is for the most-part, identical to Forza 2. I suppose the mentality of the developers Turn 10 was "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Forza 3 features over 400 different cars from over 50 manufacturers, ranging from Volkswagens to Aston Martins. The level of detail put into each car is unprecedented and each look stunning and realistic. Plus, with the new interior camera mode, highly detailed and acurate interiors have been created. Forza 2 looked amazing, but Forza 3 takes it to a whole new level. This is partly down to Turn 10 using over 10 more polygons giving each model a better 3D and more realistic look. Damage visuals have been upgraded, with scratches, dents and panels falling off. Another feature that has been added is the ability to flip your vehicle (presumably from an inability to slow down enough to turn).

It's not only the car models that have been improved. The tracks and environments have been improved too. New tracks have been added including the famous Le Mans Circuit De La Sarthe. The crowd has also been slightly upgraded and now don't appear as flat.

The cars also sound great as you rev them up to the maximum rpm and then change gear. The sound changes as you go under bridges and down streets. It sounds even better as it echoes as you shoot through tunnels. The sound of the engine change if you change camera. If the car is front engined it is loud in a front camera, and if rear engined is louder with a following camera. The engines sound realistically deeper from a cockpit view as they would in real life.

My one major grip with the tracks is that Turn 10 has decided to put tyre chicanes into the New York track's straights. I challenge any of you to do the 3rd one successfully on your first go.

Forza 3 introduces the tracks gradually. At the beginning of your career you will start with basic tracks with easy corners and then as you progress, the tracks will get longer and harder. Whereas a simple oval circuit is easy to do, the Nurburgring is so much more challenging, exciting and more rewarding when you win it. Most races have a specific requirement. There are two new types of races, speedway and drag races. Speedway involves tracks with minimum corners, designed for cars with high speed, whilst drag races focus on a cars acceleration and eventual top speed. The race may require any participating cars to be from a only one of the regions. Or it may only allow a certain car to race like in the Honda Civic v Volkswagen Golf event. It may also only allow a certain level vehicle to race. Vehicle level depends on the cars overall performance and rating and goes from F (a small crap hatchback) to S (a Bugatti Veyron) and then onto R3, R2 and R1 cars (racing cars, such as the Le Mans Audi R10 TDI).

Forza 3 allows you to "rewind" the race by pressing the back button. It rewinds it a few seconds which is extremely useful if you've just raced for 12 minutes and then ploughed into the wall of the last corner.

As in Forza 2, you 'Level Up' in Forza 3 by finishing races, the higher you finish and the harder the race, the more experience you get. This experience adds to your 'Driver Level' and the higher your driver level, the more cars and events you unlock. Additionally, as you finish events you earn money which can then be used to buy more cars or upgrade the ones you already have.

The upgrade system has been upgraded itself. There are more parts to buy and more areas of the car to change. You may need to customise a car for a certain race, for instance equipping tyres with a longer life for the endurance races, or increasing power for faster acceleration and top speed for drag races. One of my favourite additions is the ability to "Quick Upgrade" your racer. This make's it easier to upgrade the car to the best it can be, whilst reaching the required car level for a certain race. This negates fiddling around with each different component and is very pleasing.

The difficulty of the game can be changed to suit your ability, as can the drivers assists such as traction control and racing/braking line. The braking line is a big help to beginners of the game or to people racing new tracks as it helps you figure out how to take each corner. Making the game more difficult helps earn more experience and money.

Achievement wise, the game is a steady 1000, but generic. Most of the achievements are for levelling up and progressing though the gaming. However to achieve the full 1000 will require some on-line achievements as well as winning every event in the game, which will take over 150 hours. Attainable, easily, but it will take a while.

There are some issues with the game however. It can become quite repetitive, replaying the same tracks over and over. However I learnt to combat this by focusing on lap times and by mixing up the regions I raced in. Also, the tuning aspect of the game is never really explained so i ignored it completely. If I had known more about it, I could have used it to make my car better for the race. Also, certain tracks look cartoony and not as realistic as others.

My major problem is with the loading time. I appreciate how much data is to be loaded, but even with the game installed on my hard drive, it still takes about 15-20 seconds to load a race. (If it doesn't sound much, count it out).

I really enjoy Forza 3, as I did it's predecessor. I enjoy racing my favourite cars and the sense of speed you can feel from the game. The game looks stunning and as realistic as possible and uses the most out of the Xbox's hardware.

Ratings:
Audio: 5/5 - Great sounds from the cars, crowds and collisions
Graphics/Visuals: 5/5 - Stunning game, probably one of the best.
Gameplay: 4.5/5 - Easy to pick up and play, only the lack of tuning help lets it down.

Achievements: 4/5 - Can be achieved easily, but Turn 10 didn't try hard with them and takes ages.

Overal 4.5/5

(N.B. - I haven't played the game on-line because my university blocks the Live ports)