BioShock 2 Sea of Dreams previewed

If you are a fan of BioShock then this is right up your alley. After a couple of years wait BioShock 2 is coming closer to its release. The developers of BioShock and BioShock 2 are the remnants of Looking Glass Studios. LGS was the mastermind behind the games System Shock and System Shock 2 (are you seeing a trend here?)

As with the move from System Shock to System Shock 2 BioShock 2 takes place years after the event. Unlike System Shock 2 you are returned to the scene of the original event; the City of Rapture. You take on the character of the first Big Daddy.

This time due to your status as a very powerful Big Daddy you have access to the outside of the city. This was not possible before and adds a new level to the scope of game play. The same role-playing like style exists in BioShock 2 that was pioneered in System Shock 2 is present in the new BioShock. This system has been copied by many other games including Lucas Arts and even id Software in their latest release Wolfenstein.

2K Games has improved this system by allowing you to arm multiple "Plasmids" at once. You can place one in each hand and even combine them into something unique. This adds to your power and death dealing ability.

But all is not beer and pizza as a Big Daddy. Although you are much faster than you were as a Big Daddy in the first game, 2K games have created a character to oppose you that is just as powerful and what's more, much faster than you are. This is the Big Sister.

As the Sea of Dreams takes place 10 years later 2k Games has gone to great lengths to make sure the environment matches what you would expect from the dead city. The illumination is flickering and dim. Everything appears dank and dirty. This all adds to the horror based theme that came across so well in BioShock.

This is one game that I know we are looking forward to very much. 2K games says it should be out sometime in 2010