BioShock 2 has a big reputation to live up to. The critically acclaimed BioShock put together a stylized, provocative world; it wasn't a perfect game, but the story -- a red-herring-filled plot mixed with existentialist (and objectivist) philosophy -- turned the game into much more than a shooter; BioShock was a game that made you think. And while BioShock 2 borrows heavily from its predecessor's aesthetic and solid gameplay, it fails to provide the strong narrative that made the original so compelling.
In case you're not up on all your BioShock lore, here's a quick recap: Andrew Ryan built the underwater city of Rapture to be the first true Utopia. While living there, a member of his team found a species of sea slug, which excreted a substance called ADAM that allowed instantaneous genetic modification; ADAM serves as the in-game currency that allows you to purchase Plasmids. And Plasmids allow for a wide-range of swappable abilities, such as shooting fire or ice from your fingertips, or hypnotizing foes to fight each other instead of you. To harvest and process this material, young girls were turned into mobile ADAM refining units called Little Sisters, and Big Daddies were made to protect them. And the Little Sisters needed these Big Daddy bodyguards because of the ADAM-addicted Rapture citizens (called "splicers," due to them splicing genetic modifications into their bodies) who still patrol the mostly abandoned city.
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