Bioshock 2 was definitely a risky move for the developers to make after the brilliant success of its predecessor, since it’s often all too easy to ruin something great by creating a sequel. Obviously, we felt this wasn’t the case with Bioshock 2, because we bloody loved it.
Matt:
The follow-up to 2008’s masterpiece had me worried before it was released. I thought it showed many signs of being a cash-in sequel – it was developed by a team who had nothing to do with the first, it had a pretty short development cycle and it had the modern tradition of a tacked-on multiplayer component which I really didn’t think it needed. I still haven’t actually tried the multiplayer so cannot comment on that, but the single player game more than surpassed my expectations.
It was a brilliant sequel, improving on every aspect of the gameplay, with refined combat abilities, and new plasmid powers which all felt like natural additions. It was a joy to explore the underwater city of Rapture again, and even though it never produced that same level of awe which came with its predecessor, it was still one of the best-written games of the past few years. Bioshock 2 has a superb script, solid voice actors and a story filled with the kind of philosophical questions rarely seen in video games. Rounded off by a poignant and satisfying conclusion which trumps the originals’, Bioshock 2 proved to be one of the best sequels of 2010.
ZAP!
Paul:
The first Bioshock made an excellent impression on me, and what amazed me most about it was the huge twist at the end that I never saw coming. This doesn’t happen too often with most storyline plots, since not a lot ever seem to engineer their twists in such an impressive way that you don’t even hazard a guess. On top of the outstanding and original story and setting, the gameplay was fantastic and the element of fear was brilliant. I often found myself struggling to press forward in certain areas of the game, when I could hear people screaming and monstrous enemies prowling the avenues of Rapture for fresh prey. Bioshock went down as one of my favourite and most memorable FPS games ever.
Bioshock 2, to me, was an almost equally brilliant game, with the very cool added concept of playing as one of the original Big Daddies of Rapture, rather than a plain human male. The graphics were a huge improvement, and the addition of numerous new plasmid powers and a whole bunch of new, heavier weapons to get your hands on, it played and looked like a beautiful continuation of the original. True, the main storyline wasn’t quite as surprising or intriguing, which is a slight shame really, but the world of Rapture and the characters and background stories within it have always been so well crafted that I found myself wanting to see and experience everything about it.
With great controls, a fluid feel to the game, and a captivating story progression, Bioshock 2 definitely earned its position in our top ten games of 2010.
Dome Keeper is an excellent little spin on the tower defense game, in which you play the role of a jetpacking miner defending his base from swarms of aliens, whilst searching for a hidden relic buried somewhere beneath him. And now, with this huge free update, you can play it with friends.
I want to talk about Cloudpunk, a game where you get to be a flying-car delivery driver in a futuristic cyberpunk city. Its world is an incredible achievement of environmental design, and while the gameplay itself may be basic, the city of Nivalis is a thing of beauty to behold. Nivalis is built out of hundreds of hand-modelled cuboid buildings; there’s nothing procedural about it. Apparently it took 3 years for the devs to design the city, and it really shows.
I do love me some quality pixel art, and it doesn’t get much better than this. Cast n Chill is a cozy side-scrolling fishing game by small indie dev team Wombat Brawler, with absolutely gorgeous visuals. It’s simple to play, and you you can dip in and out of it at your leisure, making it a fine addition to our collection of coffee break games.
I’ve played many versions of Mario Kart, first on the Snes at a friend’s house, followed by my own copy of the N64 version. The Nintendo DS edition got a lot of play during the various anime conventions that I attended between 2006 and 2011, where you could LAN it up via Bluetooth with anyone else in the vicinity. But the version I truly have the fondest memories of has to be Mario Kart Wii.
Format: PS3
Release date: 2010
Heavy Rain is more like an interactive movie than a game, and it is mostly excellent. It’s a game about choices and living with the consequences. I played it through twice myself, just to see how different decisions affect the story and its ultimate conclusion, but to say that my first try was emotional would be the understatement of the century. This game almost broke me. I’ll tell you how soon, but first I want to recount the story of one of my friend’s choices… Like I said, watching Heavy Rain is just like watching a movie, but watching your friend play Heavy Rain gives you an amusing bit of insight into their psychology. The results can be hilarious.
Format: PS1 & PC
Release date: 1997
I’m not sure what to tell you about FF7. Simply put, it’s one of my all-time favourite games, and the hordes of fans it has makes me feel like a bit of a cliché to even include it in this feature. But I have to. It changed my life, I think. Before this, I had not played a game with such a deep and engaging story, an epic tale about a host of very likable characters, all unique and fleshed out with interesting back stories. It’s just wonderful.
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