Just finished reading some user reviews of Bioshock 2 on Gamefly.com, I just finished and mailed back Bioshock 2 myself, first off some thoughts on the reviews.
Every single one of them is fan boy boner popping 10/10 gush fests. "omg the story is so amazing and the multiplayer is flawless! Best ever!" Essentially, all the reviews gladly look over downsides to the game and only promote the ups.
First off, the single player is quite good and fun, I enjoyed it quite a bit, though the whole protect the Little Sister while she harvests Adam can feel tedious and distracting in some parts, otherwise it was cinematic and quite enjoyable. Though I do personally feel the story is a little convoluted at times.
Secondly, the multiplayer despite everyone's inane ramblings is not "perfectly balanced" by any means. It is a gimmick fest of my plasmid/weapon combo is better than yours. Someone runs up, shocks or freezes the shit out of you and then shotguns your skull off. Rinse repeat over and over and over. Is levelling up cool? Yes it is. Is it "revolutionary" as one review claimed? Not by a long shot! The Call of Duty series has had such a system in place for several years now. The multiplayer CAN be fun, for instance every 5 minutes or so a Big Daddy suit is spawned in the level, allowing you to stomp around pwning the shit out of anyone you see. This can be extremely fun and can turn the game around for you if you start having a bad streak. However, the top player can ALSO get the suit and finish up the game.
The entire MP experience turns into a giant gimmick-fest. My cheap gimmick-combo beats yours! I stunned you and killed you before you could do it to me.
Imagine a Modern Warfare 2 map where everyone is running around with Akimbo Shotguns. It isn't a skill-based competition at that point, just a twitch party that ends up being as fun as touching your peehole against a light socket just before you start to urinate.
Overall... Bioshock 2 gets an 8/10. Game of the year? Not a chance.
