One of the highlight’s of the first day of E3 was the opportunity to view a behind closed doors presentation of Bioshock’s 2 multiplayer thanks to our friends at 2K Marin.
For those that are in the dark about Bioshock 2 lets give you little rundown. Bioshock 2 takes you back into rapture as a brand new character. You are the first ever Big Daddy (cont)
and you are sent out to roam the streets of Rapture. You still have little sisters on your side and the uber scary Big Sister is out to hunt you down. In our presentation we were shown an extended trailer however that is not the big news here.
The big news is that 2K Marin has signed on Unreal developers Digital Extremes to create a whole new multiplayer experience for the game. Not only that but the game is a totally different story and is in fact a prequel to the original Bioshock. Bioshock 2’s multiplayer stars Jacob Norse and takes place in the time when Rapture is being built. You sign on to join Sinclair Solutions who is tasked with building elements of the city and you are then set out to battle in it.
One cool feature about the multiplayer is that you have your own apartment where you can change out your plasmids and access your bathosphere to launch games. The apartment is totally optional but adds a great feel to the story. Launching of games can be done right from the menus per the producers at Digital Extremes.
Lets get to the action shall we? We got a look at one of the maps which was the old theater from the original Bioshock but in much better condition. There are going to be many weapons to choose from however we were only shown the pistol, shotgun, and melee weapons. Multiplayer has a cool feature where you do not need to equip a melee like you would in the single player. Instead it is a single button press to hit with a crowbar smash. Plasmids are ever present and is used in a one two punch combo with your weapons. Off hand used to fire a ignition plasmid or frost plasmids while you then fire off some shots with your pistol. Very smooth action and the characters actually emoted when you did something good or bad furthering the immersion of the world.
The environments can be used to break through grates and sneak up on your opponents or find an easier way to the turrets. Did you say turrets Mr. Jester? Oh yes i did indeed. You see there are rocket and gun turrets hidden in the area and with your handy dandy hacking tool (no pipe mini game!) you can turn the tide by setting one of these weapons of destruction on your opponents. What other tricks does Digital Extremes have up its sleeve? Well what would Bioshock be without a Big Daddy thrown into the mix. There are random drops that can turn you into a Big Daddy setting you loose with the railgun and other unannounced weapons. the Big Daddy is not indestructible though and really becomes a target on the map.
Bioshock 2’s multiplayer offers 5v5 games with death match, team death match, and one other unannounced game type. I think Digital Extremes developing the multiplayer game adds a whole different level of cool to Bioshock 2. Bioshock 2 is set to release November 3rd in North America and October 30th in Europe so prepare to get back into Rapture.
