I picked up the Bioshock 2 Special Edition today, costing me a whopping $110.00 cdn(plus tax).  My first thought was “what am I thinking?” spending that much when I can just get the game itself for $69.99 plus tax.  Well, they handed me the huge cardboard box the game comes shipped in and I felt a little better, it looked like I would be getting something good out of it. The box, after all, was over 1 foot by 1 foot big!

I got home, unwrapped the game, and was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it came in a very nice sturdy box, with some nice artwork underneath the cardboard cover.  Upon opening the box I found a LP with the score from the original Bioshock.  Under that was some more pretty cool things, such as three rolled up posters with “advertisements” you would see on the walls of rapture.  I didn’t unroll them, but they looked good on the back of the box.  Next up was the hard cover book (164 pages) full of the artwork of bioshock 2.  I didn’t want to crease it to much, so I flipped through quickly.  If you want to know what a splicer looks like up close and not moving, you’ll find it in there!  Next up was the CD with the score from Bioshock 2.  Then, my game.  All in all I really like the bonus items you get with the special edition, and to anyone who is debating if it’s wroth the extra cash, I would say it’s worth it.

After popping in the game and waiting your standard 5-10 minutes for install, the game fired up.  I have read all the previews, all the people who are hesitant about this game as you’re playing as a big daddy, among other reasons.  I have only played about 2 hours into the game so far, but it seems to work very well.

Before I get into the game play, I have to say that returning to Rapture is awesome!  The atmosphere is just as good as the first one.  The beginning vid isn’t as impressive as burning wreckage and your first descent into Rapture as was the first one, but it sure leaves some questions.

After your character apparently shoots himself in the head, he wakes up ten years later.  Your nemesis in this game is Lamb, she seems to be the leader of the splicers.  Once again, it’s you vs the splicers.

Your weapons to start with are the drill, and rivet gun (shortly in).  Soon you get your first plasmid.  Seems kind of like the first so far.  Splicers attacking you, people locking you in rooms, blah blah blah.  Still cool, but seems similar.

Then you have your first encounter with a big daddy.  You are sent to get adam to buy a plasmid to further your progress through the game.  As you approach you hear that familiar moan of the big daddy.  Here’s a big difference, as you approach the big daddy, you appear as one of him, so he doesn’t attack you.  No hiding from him if you don’t want to take him on for some reason.  The other plus to this is that you can scout the room, watch where he goes, and plan your attack.  Once you attack though, it’s game on. Once you defeat him, you approach the little sister.  The difference this time is you “adopt” her.  You have to take her to corpses full of adam and have her harvest it from them.  While she is harvesting, you are attacked by splicers (kinda like the last level of the original).  Once you have harvested enough adam, you have the option of harvesting or freeing her, just like before.

All in all, without getting to far into it, the game itself is an awesome return to Rapture.  It has that familiar dark feel to it, however it has a few twists in game play to make it different.

As for the online play, I haven’t gotten into it yet.  It will be on my list once I beat the single player mode.

If you’re a fan of the original, check this out.  You don’t have to go right into the special edition with all the extras, but for a collector, and a fan of the game, it was worth it for me!

Look out for my full review of the game once I’m finished it.