BioShock 2 Multiplayer Details Revealed 19
2K Games has revealed information about the multiplayer portion of BioShock 2, which will be developed by Digital Extremes. Multiplayer will be a prequel story that takes place prior to Rapture's fall, where "players assume the role of a Plasmid test subject for Sinclair Solutions, a premier provider of Plasmids and Tonics in the underwater city of Rapture that was first explored in the original BioShock." The press release says players will gain experience points which they can spend to gain access to "new Weapons, Plasmids and Tonics that can be used to create hundreds of different combinations, allowing players to develop a unique character that caters to their playing style." It will also expand on the BioShock story.
Re:Casual multiplayer game? (Score:4, Interesting)
Bioshock was definitely too mainstream, both in story and gameplay. Had it provided the player with real choices, akin to Dues Ex, it could have been great. As it is however, the game was ridiculously linear despite shoving so many different abilities in your face.
No Thank You (Score:4, Interesting)
This reminds me of the time I heard they were going to add multiplayer to Metroid Prime 2. It's something nobody was really asking for and that the game simply didn't need because it's strengths were elsewhere. I'd be fine with this existing since another team is working on it. Alright, cool, that means no resources will be taken from the main game. But what bothers me is that they're tying elements of the story into this mode, which I find absolutely infuriating.
How many multiplayer games on Xbox Live are abandoned a few weeks or months after launch? The big shooters might be able to carve their own niche out of the playerbase, and some of the arcade games based on card games and such can retain players. Beyond that the multiplayer landscape is littered with also-rans, with nobody playing them but a handful of achievement-hording players who arrange games for that specific purpose. (Locking achievements away in soon to be abandoned multiplayer modes is another gripe of mine, but that's another thread.)
A ton of this game's plot is told through audio cues. Diaries and NPC conversations added a lot to my treks through Rapture, and in a lot of cases I would go find a defensible location just so I could listen to the latest diary in peace. This is going to be a lot more difficult with xxxSEPHIROTH666xxx cursing a blue streak in a squeaky tween voice over the headset.
Bioshock had a great atmosphere and a well-written story (final 10% notwithstanding), and those were the primary draws for me in that game. It'll drive me nuts knowing that part of the story is locked away in a mode that I might not be able to access beyond the first week after launch.