However, right from the outset, Episode Two feels geared towards a slower, more considered pace, allowing for more time exploring the environment as the narrative takes you to places both new and familiar. Happily, the four upgradeable Plasmids and four weapons also offer more aggressive means to complete goals, so run-and-gun can be employed as a viable if risky tactic. If you use these tactics in conjunction with the Peeping Tom plasmid - which offers the ability to ascertain the location of enemies through walls as well as turn invisible when standing still - and take the option to use ventilation shafts to get around, you're well equipped to stealth your way to victory. Noisemakers can be obtained as a result of successful lock-pick attempts and used to distract enemies, allowing Elizabeth to slip by unnoticed or take down the splicers drawn by the din with a well-placed gas dart. Elizabeth's crossbow is a non-lethal weapon that can be equipped with either tranquiliser or gas darts for felling single enemies or those gathered together in close proximity. The benefit of Plasmids is that they allow for any number of unlikely powers to be explained away with ease.Ĭarpeted floors muffle Elizabeth's footsteps (as would taking off her heels, but that's not an option), while crunching across shattered glass or splashing noisily through the water that's leaked into many areas of Frank Fontaine's sunken empire will alert nearby enemies. There's a whole difficulty level built around the stealth mechanics, but while 1998 Mode stands as a homage to the original Thief: The Dark Project by charging you with completing the game using only non-lethal means, that game is referenced far more readily in the stealth mechanics themselves. They also ensure that Episode Two plays differently to its predecessor and that there's also more scope for a second run through, in order to experience it using a different approach. The introduction of enjoyable stealth mechanics in Episode Two means you're much more likely to drink in the atmosphere of these environments as you sneak through Rapture's corridors, halls and shopping arcades. Other relationships hinted at in Episode One are given more screen time, too, with the one-upmanship between Columbia inventor Jeremiah Fink and Rapture scientist Dr Yi Suchong proving particularly entertaining as it plays out through various audio diaries and incidental environmental cues. While the bluff and bluster of the two men's politicking no longer carries the ominous chill that it once did, the environment is again the star when it comes to effectively communicating their insidious ideals. Irrational also has a great deal of fun looping the narrative back on itself and weaving together strands from every major event of the BioShock timeline as some familiar names from the series' past crop up and the developer delves deeper still into the perplexing theories that it introduced at the end of BioShock Infinite.Īll of this plays out against the backdrop of the bitter feud between Rapture's founder, Andrew Ryan, and the opportunistic Frank Fontaine. Elizabeth has taken up Booker's mission to save a young girl named Sally, but for much of Episode Two's four-hour running time, this goal takes a back seat as the story examines a more vulnerable, less self-assured woman than the femme fatale of Episode One. Episode Two ties together elements from previous BioShock games to entertaining effect.įollowing the dramatic conclusion of Episode One, we step into Elizabeth's high-heeled shoes to continue the story, which is more ambitious and significantly longer than its predecessor. It not only concludes the DLC's story arc but ties together the events of both BioShock and BioShock Infinite, enhancing Irrational Games' overarching exploration of existentialism - while also remembering to offer players plenty to do. Episode Two is free of the burden of this re-acquaintance and excels as a result. This was most keenly felt in Burial at Sea: Episode One, which seemed more concerned with nailing the impact of its return to Rapture than with providing a fully-formed gameplay experience. Since the inception of the series in 2007, this tightly-scripted form of expression has been one of BioShock's great strengths and has facilitated some truly memorable narrative moments - but it has also been to the series' detriment. BioShock creator Ken Levine spoke recently of how he's ready to move away from the linear narratives that he's curated for the past 19 years to embrace something new.
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