A lot of people ask me to blog more often about gaming… so here we go.

I started playing BioShock 2 earlier this week and so far it’s pretty decent. Having never played the original BioShock, and knowing nothing about the series, I went into this game with no expectations or assumptions beyond what I had seen in the short television ad.

This is the first game I’ve played since Borderlands, and even though I know a lot of people didn’t think Borderlands was great, I loved it. I mean I really, really, really loved it, and I think I’m now holding all games up to that standard. Although I’m kind of enjoying BioShock 2, it’s not really drawing me in and making me want to spend every waking moment in front of my Xbox like Borderlands did.

I think my main criticisms of the game do unfortunately lie within my lack of close combat skills when it comes to gaming. I find the Rivet Gun difficult to aim with and end up firing half my shots into walls, and the drill means getting close enough to the Splicers that they pretty much kick my ass. It frustrates me that the character is so slow and clunky, and that when I stun someone with my lightning power thing, by the time I slowly trudge up to them the stun effect has worn off. I prefer playing with agile characters, I like to play strategically and have always preferred sniping my enemies from a distance rather than getting into close combat. I also think the Splicers hit too hard, as only about 3 attacks from them is sending me back to the Vita Chamber.

Still, the game has its charms. I’m a little confused about the storyline and I think perhaps I need to read up on what happened in the first installment to really understand exactly what the deal is. The atmosphere of the game is incredible, and I love the bizarre mix of 1950’s nostalgia in a futuristic setting.

At this stage I would say that I’d probably give the game about 2.5/5. It’s a shame, because I think I’d be enjoying it a lot more if I wasn’t so fucking terrible at it. Maybe it’s time to restart the game on ‘Easy’…