Flipull (NES)

I did it again! I did many shooter games in consecutive. There's DXball in the middle of them but there's shooting power up in there so it's kind of moot. I don't want to be called crazed gunman therefore i change my pace by playing  Taito's Flipull (1989) on NES. 

"An exciting cube game" said the subtitle. What a bold claim indeed. Like Palamedes, i played this first time in Gameboy but the difference is i knew play Flipull, well most of it. I missed the important details though. The game has 2 mode: normal and advanced. Let's start with normal.    

 

You play as that fuzzy thing on ladder. I don't think it's Kiwi bird as there's Taito game that features Kiwi bird: New Zealand Story. Plus he doesn't have neither beak nor legs. Therefore, i think he's Kiwi fruit. Yup, i go with that. There's sentient kiwi fruit that bend on Erasing the cube/block everywhere he goes. If that sounds too violent, i'm sorry.

 

The control is as follows: up and down on d-pad to move the fuzzy fella along the stair, 'B' button to throw the cube/box that you currently hold to the left direction, and 'A' button...has the same function with 'B' button. There's no function on left and right button on d-pad. Such simplistic control. You goal is to guide our kiwi (fruit) friend there to erase the cubes on left stack to minimum number on Clear tab (in this case: it's 9). To make thing easy for you, you can quickly see the remaining block on block tab. To erase blocks you have to throw them with the matching color block that you hold/throw. But it's not as simple as that and that's all young me knows. You will exchange block with the block that has different color after erasing the same ones on first contact. Thus you're forced to think one or two steps ahead. Or even more. Of course, there's bonus score if you can erase more than 1 block on single throw. For example: i get 400 bonus scores for 2 blocks erased at once, here.

 

You got other option besides throw the box directly/horizontally at the stacks depends on the environment, you can throw it at ceiling and later it will drop down to the stack. There's arrow that points where the box will drop into. By considering this alternative, you can have different option to exchange your box although in my case here i can only get box with red dot in return.

 

I can get 900 bonus score by clearing those 3 'X' blocks. Medic_cheers01.wav

 

You can also erase the block without making trade in process like this. With this i clear all the green block and without next move. But i met the quota already so no problem.   

 

The Kiwi fruit guy jumps happily to celebrate his victory. He looks lively and elastic.    

 

Yaaay! I got another bonus score but i can't do next move. Everytime i have block that isn't matched with any available block, my block will be replaced with thunder block that can substitute any kind of block. It acts as "lives" in this game and also you get it freely in every beginning of the level.

 

Stage 4 introduces us with blockades. They're treated like ceiling. If you throw block at them, the block will drop. But your thrown block can pass through them vertically. If you look closely they're like Super Mario's pipe but white.

 

It was fine full-of-concentration playthrough until the game reminds me that i only have 30 seconds left to finish the level. At this point, i mostly panic and think less brilliant. I don't have time to think how i get that extra thunder block, my mind is focused on finishing the stage as soon as possible. Timed puzzle game isn't my forte, as usual.   

 

On 6th stage, the blocks change from simple picture (including Taito symbol) to fruits picture. I don't mind with Taito's obsession over fruits like in Bubble Bobble for example. It's healthy as there's no durian picture there. That fruit contain Cholesterol, you see.  

If you hit the block that doesn't match with the block you throw, the fuzzy guy will wiggle a bit upon re-receiving the block. He's adorable.

 

Engineer_specialcompleted01.wav. I manage to clear the stage with only blocks with the different type. No 2 or more block with the same type on the stack. Perfect victory, indeed! 

 

Watch this as i pull wicked trick of 3 blocks clearing that yield 1800 bonus score. Scout_award12.wav

 

Now i'm about to erase those 4 green block and i will get 1600 bonus score for it. It yields less bonus because i use thunder block, apparently.

 

This is funny, this wonderful trick of clearing 4 Taito Symbol blocks also gives me 1600 bonus score. Maybe the further level i'm in, the less bonus score i can get regardless of how many block in consecutive that i manage to erase. Or maybe 3 blocks in a row that yield the maximum score.   

 

Time is about to up, already? I already make misstep here and time's running up serves as icing on the cake [Certainly Sarcasm]

 

What? I miss, again? Soldier_negativevocalization06.wav

Finally, i made it! Hey! Where are you going, buddy?

 

There's bit of comedy cutscene like in Berlin Wall. The flipull guy throw the thunder block at the blockade and he gets the blockade...right on his head. Poor fella.

 

Well! I get hefty bonus of 2500 by clearing 5 blocks in a row here! Thing for sure is if your score gets to 50,000 or its multiplier, you will get 1 free thunder block. So raking scores is important.

 

If you pause the game, it censors all of the blocks so you can't plan ahead while pause. How elaborate! Also annoying.

Sniper_jeers08.wav. I'm out of substitution box. There goes my continue.

Although there's 3 more continues left, i reckon 13th stage is far enough. Let's check the advanced mode, instead!

 

In advanced mode, you start with straight one type of block instead of the thunder box. The stack is in mannerly arrangement so you can only finish the level with only one series of step. One wrong step and you can't win the level. But there's no time limit here also you have unlimited continue in this mode. Advanced mode is pretty much other word for arranged mode. This mode is more into my liking.

 

Is Taito's Flipull (1989) an exciting cube game? I can say "Yes" with just a bit of loud tone. With such simple control, the gameplay is quite engaging and easy to understand which mean the game is in correct direction for a puzzle game. But it gets repetitive after 6 levels. The time limit may serves as challenging factor but if you're not good with timed puzzle game like me, you can play the advanced mode instead. It more facilitates deep thinking than the normal (arcade) mode. There's like 4 soundtracks in this game and they're all quite catchy/distinctive. The graphic is fine but the backgrounds are either hypnotizing or damaging your eyes if stared for too long. My solution is: focus on the cubes/blocks/boxes instead because that's the game focus on as hinted by the subtitle. The protagonist looks lovable and cute.

 

Flipull (1989) is pretty good puzzle game especially for late 80's game. But as i mentioned before, the gameplay gets repetitive in quite short time. I can't offer you much hint to play this game well, except: be observant with the playfield, and plan a sustainable steps (including unlock blocks that will be useful in future). But i can't help you with those damn time limit. I just can't.

Bioshock 2 (PC)

I know that Doom Eternal is out but it can't be helped my laptop doesn't have sufficient RAM and space. Any game with 1 TB spaces, feel too much for me. But at least i can play  Bioshock 2 (2010) which is developed by 2K Marin, 2K Australia, 2K China, and Digital Extremes. Both game are FPS with badblood wields brutal melee weapon, right? Caution! This article contains spoilers from both Bioshock 1 and Bioshock 2 because i'm garrulous sod.    

Here we are in Rapture, the underwater city. The deep-sea fishes seem not bothered with the (relatively to them) blinding light of the metropolis. Good for them, i guess. At first, i refuse to play Bioshock 2 because i heard that you will play as Big Daddy thus mitigating the tension/thrill significantly. If you new to Bioshock or Rapture, you most likely don't know Big Daddy although he appears in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. To put it simply, Big Daddy is monstrous giant man in diving suit that lurks around Rapture. His task besides structure maintenance (mainly from outside the premise, on ocean side), is guarding small girl called little sister whenever she goes. Recently, i decide to play this game because of Steam sale, besides to ease my disappointment because i can't play Doom Eternal or at least until i get it in physical card for my Nintendo Switch. Anyway, let's start the game!   

 

The loading screen is filled with selectable hints (pressing left and right to select them) and bit of scenery. Also there's 1950-style song plays here. How elaborate of them.  

1958, Beneath the Atlantic Ocean

 

It's the usual routine of Big Daddy to pick little sister from an air vent and escort her. Through mirror reflection, i can see myself being dragged by a little sister. I know i weight almost quintal (or maybe more) but i willing to be pulled like this because of fatherly love, sort of.

 

After the little sister sucks blood from a corpse, she run ahead of me to find another corpse (which she call angel). As i go after her, there's an illusion glimpse of this refined atmosphere although i believe this place is supposed to be the same ruined underwater city.

 

There's group of ragtag that dare to harm my small girl. Big Daddy is known to carry big drill and i'm not afraid to use it to drill anyone that hostile to either me or my princess there. So rule of thumb: don't engage Big Daddy in melee combat! Big Daddy may not have refined close combat technique of Benkei but his giant drill and strength are more than enough to defeat anyone in melee combat.

 

One of those punks manage to throw 'Hypnotize Big Daddy' plasmid at me and i can do nothing about it. Then this old lady appears and order me to shoot myself in the head with this gun. BANG! Then game's title appears.

Ten Years Later  

 

I awake to someone's call and here i am at the tutorial section. As why i'm still alive even though i shot myself? I will explain that later.    

 

After i bash some coral to make my way, i get to use drill to bash some splicer that shot another splicer. It's okay to kill him as splicer is humans that addicted to plasmid/Adam to the point makes them go banana. Meanwhile, plasmid is basically magic ability that you get from special gene alteration in Rapture and Adam is goo extracted from sea slug that's used to alter your gene. I hope you can keep up with these terms.

 

Sweet! I find Eve dispenser that provide me with Eve syringes for free. But i can only carry 5 of them at most, at least for now. Eve is basically Mana/Magicka/MP in this game.

 

Not far from those Eve dispenser, i get whisper from (presumably) my little sister from that time. She tell me to get that one big bottle of plasmid: Electro Bolt, that she manage to sneak.

 

After some cutscene of my hand electrocuted as result of injecting the plasmid (just like what happen to Jack in Bioshock), i'm down momentarily and another little sister comes to me. She tells me that Eleanor (my little sister back then) needs my help. Suddenly, she's snatched by someone in diving suit. No, i don't think it's another Big Daddy as we're slow and big fellow. That one there is fast and slim.

 

Naturally, i chase that mysterious creature. But i can only find this lone splicer yells at empty swimming pool. The game wants me to zap him and bash him with my drill afterward for critical damage, so i do that. This is like Pyro's 'Puff n Sting' method in Team Fortress 2, where he burns his target first and then slash it with Axtinguisher to inflict critical damage. But the difference is i don't need to switch weapon here. Left mouse button for plasmid and right mouse button for weapon attack, very intuitive and fast. Unlike in first Bioshock where you need to switch between plasmid and weapon on your hand.    

 

Hey! I found a room that need number code to unlock. The number is obviously in that steamed window door. So all i need to do is to go to keycode panel on right and insert '1540'. Very simple!     

 

Oh, come on! I'm not a baby, game. I can remember the numbers very close from the panel just fine! Here's my big complaint about the game. It's way too much handholding the player. Another example: there's always small message to direct me to explanation about item container every time i loot for items from small box or desk. It's quite annoying, to be frank. Especially when i'm playing as freaking Big Daddy. I mean he's dumb and such but i don't feel need for handholding that much.

Good job, bro! I wish there's button to give 'thumb up' gesture to this guy.

 

Not long after that, i find my first gun. It's not your standard handgun. It feels heavier but thankfully it has minimum recoil. I think the game doesn't suggest me to do aim-down-the-sight but i do it anyway because that way i can aim his head and also result in critical damage.

 

There's a hall with no light but thankfully i can turn on my light automatically. Here i find another little sister. Do you think little sisters are normal girl? Besides like to drink blood and extract Adam from corpses, they have bright yellow eyes. They don't look so angelic but they still need our protection, you see.  

 

Suddenly, that mysterious creature (which named Big Sister) appears again but this time she attacks me so i fight back. Fortunately, she stand on water puddle. so i can zap her for extra damage. Sadly, i can't hit her with my drill while electrocuted. I mean, i can but i will get electric damage as well if i go to that puddle.  

 

She ran away when i was about to run out of ammo, luckily. I chase her for a bit and as i arrive in this great hall, she break that glass. So i got flooded. As i'm obviously in diving suit, i'm fine with that. I don't know how that poor Jack's doing if he's in my stead. Dead, probably.

Thus i'm on non-combat section of underwater walk (but you can collect some ammo and medkit around). Bioshock 1 has bathysphere travel to get "the welcome to Rapture" feeling. Here, you only have manual slow walk. Tough luck. Anyway, it's funny that the sign says "Rapture is your beautiful city" while in truth it becomes ruined slum infested with crazy Adam/Plasmid addict. That's what you get by naming your city with the word that has same rhyme with rupture!

Atlantic's Express

 

Finally, i'm out from that boring walk but i have to wait this aircycle lock system first before i get to violent action again although i admit that this is realistic procedure and it reminds me of Dead Space 3. Anyway, the one who awakes me by sending that call is Brigid Tenenbaum, the one who discover Adam and now she protect little sisters. She's considered "mother" of little sisters. By the way, she speak in German accent like Medic in Team Fortress 2.  

 

What's also new to this game is this hack tool that allow me to hack machineries from distant but it requires ammo so called Remote Hack Dart. Also, the hacking minigame change to this "Land this speeding needle to correct zone" instead of Pipe Dream clone. Landing on green zone results in success hack. Landing on blue zone results in bonus effect such as free item in vending machines or increased damage for hacked bot/sentry. Landing on red zone will triggers alarm. Landing on white zone will electrocutes me. Hey! I only take notice now that there's option that allow me to pass the hacking process by spending 200 dollars. Silly me!  

 

Once i enter an elevator, Sopia Lamb (the main antagonist) makes contact with me. She taunts me and send splicers to kill me. They shoot me through glass and i can deal them quite fine. But the elevator becomes on fire and i'm forced to get "scripted defeat". Fun. [average fish-school sized sarcasm]  

 

Ah, yes. The security camera. It's quite dangerous to deal with in previous Bioshock. It emit spotlight and if you're on it, the camera will sounds the alarm that will summons flying bots to kill you. You can carefully walk while dodging the spotlight and hack the camera from close range. Or you can be lazy like me and use hack tool instead. Do you see small flying machine with green-lit propellers? That's the flying bot that i mentioned. The propeller's tip are green, means that it's on my side and will follow me everywhere. Yellow lit means neutral but they're summoned via friendly security camera. Red lit means hostile. You can only have 2 of these guys maximum.

There's another plasmid that Eleanor leaves for me. It's the good old Telekinesis and there's old American style cartoon plays when i equip it. Scout_cheers04.wav

I don't think i use Telekinesis plasmid many times in previous Bioshock. But here, it's essential to pull that pipe that jams the gears of door's mechanism. Removing it, will open the door and allow me to progress further. Engineer_yes03.wav

Finally, "Circus of Value" vending machine! But it lacks of the clown's voice. Too bad. Maybe i'm the only one who feel missing with that clown's voice of either "Welcome to Circus of Value!" and "Hehehe!". Thankfully, the voices are back in DLC.  

I arrive at this floor via one-man elevator and there's this splicer scrounges at that corpse. Against my expectation, he runs away from me instead attack me. So far, he's the most sensible crazed man but he run toward that laser-trip trap and gone for good. This scene demonstrates how trap rivets work. They will launch rivet instead of explodes like what i always think about any trap that emit laser besides triggering alarm

I meet Tenenbaum at ticket booth with bulletproof glass (to prevent troll player kills this good lady). Her briefing is interrupted with Sofia's announcement to her splicer follower to kill Big Daddy Delta which is me. Later Tenenbaum and the little girls evacuate from here.  

Of course,  i have to deal with gauntlet of enemies. But thankfully, there's health station which can refill my health to maximum at the cost of 9 dollars if hacked first (you can see one of them behind beam on the left, with cross symbol), explosive gas canister, and security camera that i can hack. So i don't feel too overwhelmed here. After the situation settles down, Augustus Sinclair contacts me. He will give me the briefing, replacing Tenenbaum.

Ryan's Amusement

I take underwater train to this place where Sinclair resides. I have to stop my train here because the gate ahead is frozen otherwise the train will be wrecked along with me. Sinclair suggest me to find "Incinerate!" plasmid to thaw the frozen gate. He said i can find one inside of Ryan's Amusement.   

As i want to search for the entrance ticket, i find this Upgrade Station instead. It allows me to upgrade any of my weapon once for free! There's ultimate upgrade for every weapon but you have to get the first 2 upgrades before get it. I don't think it's on previous Bioshock. Of course, i upgrade my drill first. It's a must. Besides making my drill to have ability to reflect projectiles at enemies, sounds really awesome!

After getting the ticket, i find this maniac bashing on glass display for nothing. I mean it's already opened and he keep punching  the glass. The whacko. Hey, is that a Gatling gun there?

Yes, it is. Sadly, the Gatling gun is not so reliable like Tommy Gun in Bioshock 1. It's not so accuracy. Even with recoil reduction upgrade, it's still quite inaccurate. I think the gun has terrible grouping (bullet spread). Maybe it's just my suggestion but aim down the sight should make the gun more accurate.

After passing the entrance, there's free-sample tonic for me to take. It's Sports boost tonic that will increase my movement speed slightly. I reckon it's useful especially if i want to get to my enemies to drill them, faster. Tonic is passive ability that will take effect once equipped. Slots for plasmid and tonic, is different. Mind you.

All right! I find the El Ammo Bandito vending machine. Again, i missed the voice of the machine. This time it's Mexican desperado's voice and i love it. Although the voice is probably racist and thus worse than Circus of Value's clown voice. Again, they fix the voice in DLC. What's the difference between El Ammo Bandito with Circus of Value? The former is more focused on selling ammunitions while the latter has more variation on the goods such as First Aid Kit, Eve Hypo and foods (to refill health by small amount).

I find this soda drink advertisement on Gent's restroom. I find this interesting because i reckon this soft drink is the one that (USS) Laffey like to drink everytime.

Another new to this game is pressing Lshift for quick melee button. If i remember correctly in previous Bioshock, it's used for running. In return, i can't run at all in this game. You can use any weapon for melee attack (like in this screenshot, i use the gatling gun) but the drill still the strongest melee weapon as there's weapon upgrade and tonic to increase its (melee) damage. You can also see Vita-Chamber in this screenshot. It allows you to revive yourself everytime you die without any money cost. It's akin to that resurrection machine in Borderlands 2. I feel that the Vita-Chamber is the biggest casual/friendly factor of the game. I mean yes, Borderlands 2 also has it. But on BL 2, there's leveling factor and also it halves your current money everytime you use it. In Bioshock 2,  there's no such thing. You can disable the Vita-Chamber function in option setting therefore you have to rely more on quicksave or manual save. By the way, Vita-Chamber is the reason why i come back to alive after shot myself back then. I can confirm that there's Vita-Chamber behind me at the beginning of the game, proofing i was resurrected by Vita-Chamber in the story.

 

What? I have to rob little sister from another Big Daddy? I feel really bad doing that. You should know that Bouncer type of Big Daddy from box art of Bioshock 1 or PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale like i mentioned before. He has weird body posture where his head and torso seems united, diving helm with lots of "eyes", and also giant drill for arm. Remember the rule of thumb: don't engage melee combat with Big Daddy? Yeah, i'm not doing that unless i'm out of ammo. Thankfully, the rivet traps doesn't trigger on Big Daddy immediately. I still need to put more.

 

Now that her Big Daddy dead, i have to adopt her and carry her to "angel" so i can get more Adam. During the process of extracting Adam, group of splicer will come after her. If they manage to go to her, they don't kill her or anything. They just pester her so the Adam extraction is halted. But still anyone who touch my princess, must perish!

 

"But the parasite said "No! No Hentai!" and thus the artist stand there without any glimmer of spirit while his boner is slowly and painfully dying." Not really. :P

There's another angel inside this animatronic ride. It contains animatronics view that illustrate how the parasite (most likely refers to government) will makes you suffer such as: farmer works hard but it demands share of his harvest, scientist that discover astounding invention is put down by it as the invention is beyond regulation, or how it will snatch your kid to conscript. I think i can understand the latter as the date setting is near (after) World War II. Unless the parents don't want to "create child" anymore if you know what i'm saying. Okay! Enough with "cheesy" humor!

 

By the way, the narration is voiced by the founder and the big boss of Rapture himself: Andrew Ryan. There's his animatronic. I will break it later because i really hate him for the fact he's just big capitalist bastard. The thing that i like to show you is: my shadow there. You can see the little sister perch on me. How adorable. As there's no more "angel"  in this level, i have to carry this little one to air vent.

 

Here's the usual Bioshock's moral choice: you can either harvest Adam out of little sister for more Adam and killing her in process or rescue her, making her into normal little girl but you get less Adam. Obviously, i rescue her and Sinclair seems not satisfied with my deed. But the soft voice of the little one saying thank you is very rewarding to me. So to hell with you, Sinclair! >:)

 

Now that i have enough Adam to purchase "Incinerate!" plasmid (no, you can't buy it with money no matter how much you have). Sinclair points out vending machine that sells plasmids, in this section. Here's the moment before accident happens: two splicers argue about that broken turret. All i need to do: put this dart on it and it will kill those two. Engineer_specialcompleted08.wav

 

Here's the vending machine to purchase Plasmids and Tonic: Gatherer's Garden. Sinclair said that i have just enough Adam to purchase "Incinerate!" plasmid because i choose to rescue that little sister. You know what? That's rubbish! As you can see, it cost 90 Adam and i have 160 Adam. That's more than enough! I also purchase health upgrade because Big Daddy is supposed to be tank-y. That "Eve Link" tonic allows me to refill Eve a bit whenever i use first aid kit. I don't think it's necessary so i pass.

 

"M - What is this?" That's clearly enemy, game! Just let me kill her with my drill...oh shoot! I'm out of drill fuel. My Rivet gun also dry so i have to resort to Gatling gun. Everytime you rescue/harvest all the little sister in a level, big sister will be out to kill you. She can conjure fireball or using telekinetic to throw rubbles at you. She's also dangerous in close range and sometime does "spring dropkick" move on you  momentarily disarm you while she jump to safety. Just remember to use the instant health kit occasionally and refill your ammunition, you'll be fine. Or if you feel adventurous, you can counter her telekinetic throw with your own telekinesis.

 

I got more Adam from deceased big sister. Thus i buy more tonic at Gatherer's Garden in this kitchen display that once frozen. I definitely takes the Armored Shell tonic because despite i'm Big Daddy i feel that i can't take lots of punishment as supposed to be. Maybe because developer think the game will be too easy if i'm still strong i was comma for 10 years that i'm weakened. Tips for those who like to rescue little sisters and get the minimum amount of Adam: always prefer Tonic over Plasmid. Plasmid is useless if you don't use it at all while Tonic will take effect even without you realize.

 

After i melt the ice on the gate and open it from this booth, Sinclair comes out from his room and enter the train. He will come with me to get out of this junkie's paradise and rescue Eleanor. I know that he's swindler but he's nice enough to care about Eleanor. After he enters the train, splicers ambush this place. That's why i preemptively put trap rivets there. The traps won't kill Sinclair, don't ever think about it.

Pauper's Drop

 

As soon as we arrives at Pauper's Drop station, i witness a leadhead splicer (the shooter type) is killed by brute splice which also new for this game. I guess i can stop here but wait!

 

On much much later, i'm on very strong bind and need rescuing myself. But before i'm rescued, a little sister put the large syringe on me and i'm possessing her. From her view, we see the ruined city becomes beautiful and fine. As for the "angel", they looks dies elegantly with roses petal and light graffiti of wings and halo while in truth they just corpse of miserable junkie.     

 

As possessed little sister, my main task is to collect big sister's gears (which are wedding cloth set in little sister's view) and give them to Eleanor. Soon, she frees me from the binding and gives me special plasmid to summon herself. I know you grow from that faithful moment. But it seems you lack of development in that area, sweetie. Ok! Father feels sorry to say that.

Minerva's Den     

 

Meanwhile in DLC which takes place in Minerva's Den where Rupture's Supercomputer resides, Big Daddy Sigma plays Spitfire (which is primitive version of XQuest). It's borderless but the enemies spawn relentlessly. I'm controlling the cross thing there, by the way.    

 

Relax there, sport! As i mentioned before, El Ammo Bandito and Circus of Value's voices are back. Although on some of the machines, they're muffled. In addition to that, you can get new plasmid and weapon. This Gravity Well plasmid allow me to throw a powerful orb that will suck any enemies and friendly bot (sorry, fella!) at spot that you thrown and later explodes loudly. This cannon laser emits continuous beam that cut enemies. The research camera is nowhere to be found here but if you dislike the "combat photography" part of the game, this could be good news for you. To put it simply, the DLC is worth your money although it only consists of 3 levels.    

 

Bioshock 2 (2010) is Bioshock 1 with more content, for sure. Overall the weaponry is better. But because Delta dual wields plasmid and weapon, he has to settle with sawed of shotgun with clip size of 2. But you can upgrade it later so it can carries 6 shells at once. My big problem with the large weaponry and each with 3 different ammunition type: there's lacks of HUD that tell your remaining ammo like in classic Doom or Blood. It's quite often for me, to prepare weapon that don't have sufficient ammo while in dire situation. If said HUD exists i won't be in that problem many times. It takes lots of space on the screen but it will be very useful. You can get more Adam than in previous Bioshock and also more Tonic and Plasmid (plus upgraded version of them) to spend your Adam with! The procedure of getting Adam is more complex. It's more than defeating Big Daddy and harvest/rescue the little sister like before. You can escort her to extract Adam for you or you can straight take her to vent. The choice is up to you. There's also lootable Adam in Big Sister's corpse or in form of the raw: sea slug. Like in previous Bioshock, you can get compensation if you choose to rescue all the little sister instead of harvesting them. The moral choice also more than harvest/rescue the little sister. There's 3 key persons to spare or kill. Of course the moral choice determines the ending. Delta feels heavy with inability to run or jump higher. Also his steps sounds hefty. Maybe for some of you, the "protect the little sister" part of the game isn't welcome and i can't blame you for that. Although you have many tools to ease your escort task. There's hacked security cameras (if existed), turrets, and flying bots. Plus you can set traps such as: rivet trap, cyclone trap plasmid (if i remember correctly it's also in first Bioshock as DLC at the cost of 1 Adam), proximity mine, spear trap, decoy plasmid, and mini sentry. If that's not enough, there's a number of plasmid that can hit multiple enemies such as Gravity Well, Electro Bolt II, or Incinerate! II. Or you can use Hypnotize and Security Command plasmid to manipulate other for your benefit. Big Daddy may not be so bright but that doesn't mean he can't be cunning. There's a hint of music but they are obscured by explosion and intense gun fire. The atmosphere is brilliantly dark.

 

Bioshock 2 (2010) is remarkable FPS with great and fun arsenal. Although Sofia Lamb involvement feels forced. I mean, through some voice recorder i discover that she's big figure and considered another enemy of Andrew Ryan's besides Fontaine/Atlas but that only hinted now and not in previous Bioshock 1. If she really that famous, she should be hinted long after this event. My other complaints besides lack of overall ammo counter HUD and excessive handholding: there's lots of scripted cutscene but that just minor complaint. There's also no significant boss fight here. You only get 2 Big Sisters, powered-up version of Spider Splicer or Leadhead Splicer. Boss fight in many FPSs are often unsatisfying or rather just bullet sponge enemy and Bioshock 2 is one of them, sadly . The game gets my AAA recommendation although it still feels linear. If you haven't played this game, i suggest you should do it soon. You don't have to be devoted tank like me as you can skip the "protect the little sister while extracting Adam" part at all so give it a try!

I may or may not review first Bioshock in future. But you can read this review in mean time if you're curious.