Recent reviews by Dark Satellites

Great first entry in the series.

After playing System Shock 1 and 2 a couple years back, I've come to Bioshock, the spiritual successor to SS2. There are many similarities between the games, which is extremely apparent if you've played System Shock.
The atmosphere is stellar, having the same mysterious and creepy feeling of its predecessors, making you feel immersed and intrigued on what's going to come next. The audio logs scattered around add additional suspense and information about Rapture, and what happened before you came there.
The combat is mostly satisfying, however the hit-scanning enemies can prove to be quite annoying on the higher difficulty settings making the game feel kind of unfair in the sense that you can't avoid their attacks as it's a dice roll whether they hit you when you pop out of cover. I've raged a lot over the "Rosie" type Big Daddies for this reason alone and that is, in my opinion, the game's biggest flaw.
The soundtrack is stellar, as it fits quite well with your exploration of Rapture.
I loved the abundance of different tonics and plasmids, as they offer a wide range of possibilities when tackling your enemies, always keeping things fresh, and never forcing you to a certain playstyle, which can be a good and bad thing. It's good because if you get bored of shooting, as I did about halfway through the game, you can just swap out your tonics and go for a different build instead. That's how I figured out how OP the wrench is with the right combination of tonics. On the other hand, it's bad in the sense that your choices don't impact much when it comes to your playstyle, as it's very flexible, and you don't get punished for making the wrong choices.
With that said, the pros heavily outweigh the cons and I can safely say that this is one of the best games I've played in recent years, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
8/10

Improves upon the original mechanics making trials even more exciting.
Story is pretty good, better than the first game.
The soundtrack is amazing again.
The characters are more interesting and complex than the first game.
School mode still sucks.
8/10

♥♥♥♥ school mode

Heavy performance issues on a good pc and mouse sensitivity that constantly decreases on it's own, meaning you have to go in the options and dial it back every 10 seconds or so, rendering the game unplayable. Hopefully these issues get fixed in the future, so I could give this game a proper chance.

p2w garbage

+Story, with multiple endings, no true ending
+World design, many locations to explore
+Soundtrack, fits the theme of the game well
+Wide variety of weapons and items to use
+RPG elements that have an actual impact on the world
+Many well-developed and interesting characters

-Shooting is not very fun and realistic, enemies take a lot less damage than they should
-Engine, frequent fps drops with multiple npc's on screen

8/10

+Weapons: New additions such as the BFG and the Rail Gun are very satisfying to use and dish out a lot of damage; wide array of different weapons to use, much like Q1.
+Gameplay: Fast, fluid and very enjoyable. Tons of fun to be had with the new weapons. You also have an inventory which shows the items you currently have available, and you can also hold items such as quad damage and invulnerability for later, and use them at the right time.
+Soundtrack: Composed by Sonic Mayhem, it fits very well with the fast paced action, and is also quite different from the first game's soundtrack, as the ambient and creepy music from Quake 1 has been replaced with energetic metal.
+Level design: Levels are now composed of different chapters known as units, and backtracking between these units is a frequent occurance. Much like it's predecessor there's a heap of secrets to be found, very well hidden throughout the levels.

-The color palette consists mainly of brown, and could definitely use some variety; with the exception of the second to last unit, there are not a lot of details within the levels like in Q1. You're mainly moving through factories and bases that look pretty much the same, with a few exceptions.

Overall, Quake II, while not being a direct sequel to the first game and not having almost anything to do with it in terms of plot, is still an amazing example of the fun games around this time period provide, with superior gameplay and intricate level design. It falls slightly short of the first game, but is still a blast to play and a unique gem from the late 90's.

8.5/10

+Detailed levels, tons of secrets
+Gameplay, fluid and responsive, weapons are fun to use
+Soundtrack by Trent from NIN
+Creepy medieval/fantasy setting

+/- Short

9/10

+Detailed and complex level design, tons of hidden places to explore
+Nice variety of weapons, grenades and other items, most are useful
+Soundtrack
+Audio logs add to the immersion
+Variety of puzzles to solve

-Hitscan enemies make combat more stressful than it should be

8.5/10