BloShock was a game that invigorated the first-person shooter genre and engaged garners in a unique adventure in the dysfunctional underwater city of Rapture. The title was a great success and left fans eagerly anticipating a sequel. Fortunately, BioShock 2 brings back most of what made the original a hit and adds new elements that definitely warrant a play-through.

Plot and Gameplay
The story has you waking up as Subject Delta — the original Big Daddy — 10 years after the events of BioShock. You journey through Rapture, now a dystopia of the briny deep, in search of your long-lost Little Sister, Eleanor. Along the way, a psychiatrist — Dr Sofia Lamb — who now controls the city and most of its inhabitants, constantly thwarts you by sending hordes of mutants after you. Audio diaries and the few sane citizens that you encounter, help drive the plot forward, which is often eclipsed by elements such as the overwhelming atmosphere, political and psychological intrigue, and emotional tethers of the game’s revelations.

Regardless, the story is strong, characterized by difficult choices that may result in any of the six possible endings to the game. Newcomers to the series will be easily immersed into the game’s environment, while veterans will feel at home.

BioShock 2 recycles many elements from the prequel — weapons, Plasmids and Tonics etcetera. You’ll be exploring and scavenging the derelict environment, rescuing Little Sisters, hacking vending machines and jabbing your trusted drill into anyone who stands in your way of completing objectives that unlock the next area. This time, the gameplay is more linear — if you miss anything along the way, the opportunity is lost for good.

Combat is more complex and requires more thinking on your part, and the ability to simultaneously wield guns and Plasmids are welcomed. The Big Sisters are very agile and formidable enemies, though encounters with them feel scripted and predictable. Adopting Little Sisters will help you procure ADAM — the resource that upgrades your arsenal of Plasmids and Tonics. Though Little Sisters can guide you, they also have to be protected. Choosing to either rescue or harvest them at any point, affects the gameplay, so choose well.

Enhancements
Perhaps the most obvious upgrade in BioShock 2 is its story-driven multiplayer mode, which allows you to assume the role of a Rapture inhabitant in competitive fights — game modes now feature variation. The game adds exploding corpses, the ability to take pictures of victims and the use of multiplayer specific Plasmids, to let you experiment during combat. The hacking mini-games have been completely reworked for real-time operation and items are scattered throughout levels, making the interplay between gunfights and looting much more enjoyable. Maintaining your perishable health adds another tactical layer, making med-kits extremely valuable resources. The real skill is the management of different powers and ammo types for the best advantage.

Verdict
The world of Rapture sounds and looks as mesmerizing as it did in the original title. The spooky and eerie setting is magnetic, as is the top-notch art direction and voice-acting; it is disappointing how each environment fluxes into the other, clouding the uniqueness of each. As far as character designs go, the crazed Splicers look extremely disturbing, the Big Daddies are imposing, and the Big Sisters give one the chills.

BioShock 2 is a game that constantly evokes feelings quintessential of its predecessor. The title has great combat; entertaining multiplayer modes, some brilliant set-pieces, and a story that’ll keep you coming back for more. The original may still be engraved in the hearts of garners, but this is a title worth playing on its own merits.

Mario Kart Wii – Race For Your Life. Charlie… I Mean Mario

Oh, how the mighty has fallen. Instead of following up on the successes of Mario Kart Double Dash for the Gamecube and Mario Kart for the Nintendo OS. Nintendo has hammered the notion into our old-school skull that the next iteration of Mario Kart will be tailor-made for the Nintendo Wii’s target spectators: your grandmother, mother, and siblings. No two-guys-one-cart action, no innovation and tweaks needed; just good old fashioned racing and item—using,,, only neutered so much that it loses meaning as being a skill-based racing game that can be enjoyed by all.

Blue Shell-shocked
Let’s emphasize the positives first though. The new tracks are superb. Even if they recycled a lot of the maps from the previous games (do we really want to see Ghost Valley or the GSA Mario Kart tracts? Really?), the new ones stand out like gems because of the multiple paths and shortcuts laid out, in addition to how said maps have subtle changes as you go through laps. Coconut Mall and Grumble Volcano are good examples that highlight these key components.

The addition of bikes, even if it’s seemingly out-of-place, is handled well. The bikes themselves are light, turn way sharper than the karts, and can speed-boost on a straight path via popping a wheelie, while at the same time requiring much more practice than the stable body of the kart. Plus, if you shake the Wii Wheel or Wiimote while jumping off of a ramp, you can do tricks which give you a speed boost upon landing.

The online multiplayer mode is also great and accessible. While adding Friend Codes might instill confusion among many you can choose to play with strangers around the world via a few clicks of the Wiimote. Regardless, the online experience is completely smooth with nary a hitch before, during, and after a race.
The new additions aren’t all a bed of roses and sunshine like the game’s art style and music. The plastic Wii Wheel that comes mandatory with the game is Nintendo’s way of making everyone play equally bad against each other with the same horrendous control scheme, lt is nice for a novelty l5- minute spin, but it you want to actually win, the Nunchuk and Wiimote is the way to go.
“Mario Kart Wii feels a little too shallow for its own good, thus alienating players who rely on their skill rather than luck when playing Mario Kart games.”

Nintendo’s further reinforcing of their egalitarian ruleset is also apparent with the game’s default item appearance rate in both single player and multiplayer mode. Until you’ve tuned down the settings in custom games, you’ll be screwed more often than usual with the first-place-seeking Blue Shells and the new-and-not-welcomed-at-all P-Block which stuns everyone and takes away the item they’re holding. Every race feels even more like arbitrary luck than previous Mario Karts. No need for actual practice on how to drift properly and get sparks, people; anyone can just set it to Automatic (for auto-drifting), hold the accelerate button, and pray for the best.

Chop Shop Material
The online component and the new tracks are about the saving grace of this fallacious attempt at a next-gen Mario Kart. While I understand Nintendo policy of going back to basics, Mario Kart Wii feels a little too shallow for its own good, thus alienating players who rely on their skill rather than luck when playing Mario Kart games. However, it is still one of the better and well-made kart games in the market. It is just unfortunate that compared to the high-profile and polished gameplay of its gold-laden legacy, the latest Mario Kart feels content in claiming the bronze medal.

Luckily the Nintendo Wii is backwards-compatible, so you can go back and play the superior Mario Kart Double Dash instead.

Heavy Rain, a newer release for the PS3, has been widely speculated upon for a long time up until its recent release. Now that the game is out, you may find yourself asking what the fuss is about. Well, you will be pleasantly surprised. This game is definitely a change of pace as it is unlike anything else out on the market.

Heavy Rain is not your typical game. This game is about a story and watching it unravel. It isn’t about leveling up or recruiting teammates. It is a psychological thriller revolving around a hunt for a criminal called the Origami Killer. The mystery of the game unravels as you follow the story of 4 characters whose paths intertwine. Each of these people has their own story and path to follow as they each try to find clues leading to the Origami Killer. They all have their own perspectives, actions, and decisions that affect the path of the game.

The first character is Ethan, a troubled father whose son has gone missing and will soon be the next victim of the Origami Killer. Ethan must go through a series of trials the Origami Killer has left for him in order to get clues as to his son’s location. The other three characters that you will play are an investigative journalist, a private investigator, and an FBI profiler.

As you go through the game, you’ll switch between the 4 characters as you look for clues and try to track down the criminal. As you play, on screen prompts will appear letting you choose one decision or another. Some of these decisions seem simple enough, like whether or not to let your son win at a game. Other decisions will leave you biting your nails while trying to decide what is best, like deciding whether or not to fire your gun. These decisions in fact will dramatically impact the game in some situations. How they will impact the game depends on all of the other decisions you made previously. The possibilities seem almost endless.

It is possible for your characters to die in the game. If a character dies, due to some decision you made, you will just move on to the other characters. However, you won’t see the entire story, you won’t be able to get all of the clues, and you will only see the remaining character’s perspectives. It is actually possible for all of the characters to die! In this case… you probably will get a bad ending to the game. Speaking of endings, this game has multitudes of them. The ending you see will be decided on what decisions you made and what paths you chose.

Heavy Rain goes through chapters. Although it is possible to replay chapters to see different outcomes, I would suggest just playing all of the way through. The game can be beaten in about eight or nine hours. If you want to see another ending, play through it again and make different decisions! The replay value is high as there are so many paths to take and outcomes to see!

This game is slow to get going, but once it starts you won’t want to put the controller down. The story is intense and emotional. You literally watch as your decisions shape the story around you. The onscreen prompts sound as if they may be annoying, but they actually flow with the story seamlessly. You really will feel like you are right there in the story!

The soundtrack has a tempo that fits the mood of the game superbly. The voice acting is good, but the dialog itself is excellent and well written. As for the graphics, well let’s just say you can tell what the characters are thinking based on their facial expressions! In fact, the visuals are quite impressive and well ahead of its time.

If you want to play a game unlike any other, then this is the game for you. Never has there been a game so captivating and enthralling as Heavy Rain. Nor has there been a game that has looked this good in a while!

Heavy Rain is available for the Playstation 3. It has an ESRB rating of M for mature. This is because the game features intense violence, blood, strong language, sexual content, nudity, and use of drugs.

HeavyRain is available at Newegg.com for $56.99 with free shipping.