Any sequel to Bioshock had a lot to live up to since the original was universally praised as a masterpiece of interactive storytelling and proved without a doubt that games were capable of tackling deeply philosophical subjects on a par with any other medium. Despite the absence of key figures such as writer Ken Levine, Bioshock 2 manages to live up to the spirit of the original, whilst also being its own game. Although there aren’t any twists quite on the level of your devastating confrontation with Rapture’s founder Andrew Ryan in the original, the writing still makes most games pale in comparison without ever compromising playability.

The game is set eight years after the original, and psychologist Dr Sophia Lamb has now supplanted Ryan as the ruler of the underwater dystopia and brainwashed its twisted inhabitants from embodiments of self interest into a pseudo-religious collective force known as ‘The Family’; it’s the antithesis of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, which was embodied in Andrew Ryan’s celebration of reason and freedom from all restraints of state and God.

The biggest change is the fact that you now play as one of the Big Daddies – the diving-bell clad Übermenschen that zealously protect the vulnerable Little Sisters as they gather genetic material from Rapture’s numerous corpses – and as you lumber through the corridors, upper-cutting deranged Splicers with your drill arm, you certainly feel more empowered than in the first game.

However this is still no cakewalk; you’re one of the old Delta models, the first to be bonded to a Little Sister, Eleanor – separation from her has left you in a coma for ten years and finding her again is your only hope of salvation. In those ten years the inhabitants of Rapture have evolved into formidable foes, and the first generation of Little Sisters has reached maturity to become Big Sisters, terrifyingly fast and determined to protect their flock.

Once again, you can choose whether to sacrifice the Little Sisters you encounter for your own gain, or selflessly save them, and the moral dynamic of the game plays out in turn through Eleanor, as you inspire your pseudo-daughter to be good or evil by your own actions. Furthermore, you can now ‘adopt’ the Little Sisters you encounter and put them to work for you, moments that develop into some pretty tense set pieces as you are forced to defend her from the hordes of Splicers they tend to attract. It’s a nice dynamic, almost reminiscent of the scene at the end of John Woo’s Hard Boiled where Tequila carries a baby from a burning hospital, mowing down hoods with a shotgun whilst singing the kid a lullaby and wiping blood off its baffled forehead.     

There are some interesting new levels, including Andrew Ryan’s propaganda-laced theme park ride ‘Journey to the Surface’, but one of the best moments in the game – indeed, in any recent game – comes when you actually take control of a Little Sister and see the world through her rose tinted eyes. It’s a startlingly poignant insight that attests to the game’s key theme of innocence lost and shows that Rapture still has some tricks up its sleeve.