BioShock 2 Multiplayer

"Congratulations, Mister or Misses citizen Rapture! You've been approved to join the Sinclair Solutions team as a product tester! We'd like to invite you to test our home-defense product in the field and tell us how you feel!"

BioShock 2 includes a fully-featured 'Multiplayer experience developed by Digital Extremes. The game will take place approximately a year before the events of the first BioShock, and will depict the events of the Rapture Civil War. The player's character is a product tester for Sinclair Solutions, a company owned by Augustus Sinclair that is attempting to cash in on the conflict between Andrew Ryan and Atlas. Both teams will be guided by the same narrator, the advertising voice of Sinclair Solutions, although some of its messages vary depending on the team. For example, if the player is on Atlas's side the enemy will be referred to as the "Fascists", while if the player is fighting for Andrew Ryan the enemy will be labeled as the "Parasites".

There is no support for local matches, due to time constraints in the development of the multiplayer.

Playable Characters
At launch, there will be a total of eight playable characters, two of them being pre-order bonuses. Each character will have their own back story, unique selection of melee weapons, and unique comments that they will make during gameplay. Although each character is disfigured due to gene splicing, when a player looks in a mirror their character will appear to be what they were before splicing. If another player has chosen the same character model as the player's, they will appear as severely deformed by splicing.

Standard Characters

 * Jacob Norris - The Welder
 * Barbara Johnson - The Housewife
 * Danny Wilkins - The Athlete
 * Buck Raleigh - The Businessman
 * Naledi Atkins - The Pilot
 * Suresh Sheti - The Mystic

Pre-Order Exclusives

 * Zigo d’Acosta - The Fisherman
 * Mlle Blanche de Glace - The Actress

Character Advancement
The multiplayer menu will be an interactive apartment in Rapture, belonging to the player's character. One of the interactive elements of the player's apartment will include listening to new messages on their answering machine that they will unlock after each new level. These messages will advance a unique narrative and provide new background information that the player will only find through playing multiplayer.

The player's apartment can be resumed into several main areas, each serving a functional purpose:
 * The Recording Machine: yields a new message each time the player gets promoted in the Sinclair hierarchy, and announces them their promotion
 * The Gene Bank: allows the player to customize their loadouts, choosing which plasmids, weapons, gene tonics and upgrades they want to equip
 * The Wardrobe: allows the player to customize their character's appearance, as well as their melee weapon (the change is purely cosmetic, though)
 * The Audio Diary: allows the player to listen to recordings made by the characters, revealing part of their backstory as well as their descent into insanity through splicing
 * The Newspaper Box: allows the player to check the game's leaderboards, as well as their own stats
 * The Bathysphere: enables the player to enter matches, check their stats in between matches, select which character they wish to play during the match as well as read a brief summary of their backstory

Leveling Up
The player will earn ADAM by playing online matches and completing trials. As they collect ADAM, they will level up. With each level advancement they will unlock new weapons, plasmids, and gene tonics to customize their character. The player can create three separate loadouts and switch between them when respawning. It is prudent to use a loadout that complements one's teammates in the team-based modes. At the start of the multiplayer experience, the player will only have access to the Pistol and the Shotgun, as well as the Electro Bolt, Incinerate!, and Winter Blast plasmids, with no gene tonics. However, after advancing through the game they will receive the Machine Gun, followed by other new tools. Along with combat-oriented gifts, players will be able to change their character's cosmetic traits. For example, one may endow their character with a mask or change their melee weapon (this does not affect its combat traits, however).

There are forty levels of character advancement and four "clubs" (overarching ranks), presumably with ten levels of advancement per club. So far, only two clubs are known: the Bronze Club and the Silver Society. Along with leveling, there will be "trials" in multiplayer requiring the player to complete a certain task, such as killing a certain amount of enemies using a specific weapon or plasmid. These trials will have several levels, each subsequent one harder to attain.

ADAM Rewards
When a player contributes in some way to their team or to themselves they will receive an ADAM reward, the size of which depends on the action. Here is the list of known ADAM rewards:


 * Kill Reward: 10 ADAM. Granted upon killing an enemy.
 * Assist Reward: 5 ADAM. Granted upon dealing damage to an enemy without having dealt the killing blow.
 * Hack Reward: 10 ADAM. Granted upon successfully hacking a machine.
 * Research Photo Reward: 10 ADAM. Granted upon successfully researching an enemy corpse.
 * ADAM Vial Reward: 10 ADAM. Granted upon collecting one of the ADAM vials scattered across the level.
 * Killing Streaks Reward: 50 ADAM. Granted upon killing three enemies in a row without dying.
 * Big Daddy Suit Reward: 50 ADAM. Granted upon picking up a Big Daddy Suit in the level.
 * Trial Complete Reward: Varies depending on the trial and its level (see below). Granted upon completing a trial.

Trials
Trials are challenges the player can complete, usually requiring them to perform a particular action several times. Trials have two levels: Trial and Trial Advanced. Beginner trials are easier to complete, and yield a large ADAM reward (see above). Advanced trials are harder to achieve, and are usually unlocked after completing the Trial version, but yield twice the ADAM reward. Players will be notified when they are nearing completion of a trial on a regular basis.

Multiplayer Maps
There will be ten different maps representing various areas from BioShock. These locations have been re-tooled to fit a multiplayer environment. In multiple interviews (including the multiplayer-based podcast), extra maps being added through DLC has been hinted at. As is typical with BioShock, narrative will be built into these environments, giving the player a unique look at Civil War-era Rapture.

Confirmed Locations

 * Arcadia
 * Farmer's Market
 * Fontaine's Home for the Poor
 * Fort Frolic
 * Hephaestus
 * Kashmir Restaurant
 * Medical Pavilion
 * Mercury Suites
 * Neptune's Bounty
 * Point Prometheus

Game Modes
There will be seven different game modes included in BioShock 2. Each will support up to ten players. Team-based game modes will divide the players into two factions: those fighting for Andrew Ryan and those battling under Atlas. Scores are marked in the top right corner of the HUD, with the one at the top representing the winning score.

Survival of the Fittest
Survival of the Fittest is the basic free-for-all deathmatch mode: each player is tasked with killing all other players as often as possible. The player with the most kills by the end of the match wins the game.

Civil War
Civil War is the game's team deathmatch mode: players are split into two teams, and each team is tasked with killing as many players of the other team as possible. The team with the most kills by the end of the match wins.

Last Splicer Standing
Last Splicer Standing is the game's "arena" mode. Like Survival of the Fittest, it is free-for-all and requires each player to kill the other players. However, players in this game mode do not respawn upon death. This means the winner is, effectively, the last Splicer standing.

Turf War
Turf War is the game's "King of the Hill" mode: players are split into two teams, and are tasked with capturing and holding the control points present in the level. A player in proximity of a neutral or enemy control point will gradually charge up a meter, which will earn their team the control point if it fills up completely. The team who managed to maintain control over the most points for the longest amount of time by the end of the match wins.

Capture the Sister
Capture the Sister is BioShock 2's take on Capture the Flag: players are split into two teams, with one of the players on one team chosen at random to become a Big Daddy. One of the two teams is in possession of a Little Sister, which they must protect, while the other team's base holds a Little Sister Vent. The objective of the game is to either capture the Little Sister and bring her to the Vent as many times as possible, or prevent the enemy from doing so. Teams' roles are switched mid-round, so that the attacking team has to defend and vice-versa. The team with the most captures by the end of the round wins.

ADAM Grab
ADAM Grab is a unique game mode: there is one Little Sister in the level, and each player is tasked with capturing and keeping her for as long as possible, earning ADAM continuously in the process. The player who managed to keep the Little Sister for the longest amount of time wins.

Team ADAM Grab
Team ADAM Grab is the team-based variant to ADAM Grab: players are split into teams, and have to capture and keep the Little Sister in the level for as long as possible. Every member of the team currently in possession of the Little Sister will receive an ADAM income. The team who managed to keep the Little Sister for the longest amount of time wins.

Weapons
A total of seven different weapons will be made available to the player, and some will be unlocked when leveling up. Weapons will be altered from their versions in BioShock for the multiplayer environment, so they may have a faster rate of fire, do less damage, etc. Melee in particular will be different in that there will be a quick-melee button and not an actual weapon. Each character will have its own unique melee weapon, although this is only a cosmetic change. Along with the weapons present in the original game (save for the Chemical Thrower), two new weapons will be included in the multiplayer. Each weapon can be upgraded with a choice between two upgrades per weapon, although only one upgrade can be equipped per weapon. The Research Camera exists in the form of a research option: passing near an enemy corpse opens a prompt offering the player the option to research the dead enemy. Doing so renders the player temporarily vulnerable, but grants them a damage bonus against that enemy upon researching them.

Weapon List

 * Pistol: Unlocked from the start.
 * Shotgun: Unlocked from the start.
 * Machine Gun: Unlocked at Rank 2.
 * Grenade Launcher: Unlocked at Rank 6.
 * Crossbow: Unlocked at Rank 10.
 * Nail Gun: Unlocked at Rank 14.
 * Elephant Rifle: Unlocked at Rank 18.

Plasmids
Plasmids have returned and some can be used in a defensive fashion as well. To give an example, Geyser Trap (a prototype of Cyclone Trap) can be deployed in a large room and used to leap onto higher platforms to escape or set up camping spots. The player will unlock additional Plasmids upon gaining higher ranks. Up to two plasmids can be equipped per loadout, and the player will have access to a selection of eight different plasmids, three of them multiplayer-exclusive.

Some plasmids will have their effects modified for gaming purposes. For example, Incinerate! will still ignite enemies, but it will also grant them a speed boost for the duration of the fire effect. Likewise, enemies hit by Winter Blast will have their speed severely decreased instead of being frozen solid (although they can still be shattered).

Plasmid List

 * Electro Bolt: Unlocked from the start
 * Incinerate!: Unlocked from the start
 * Winter Blast: Unlocked from the start
 * Aero Dash (multiplayer only): Unlocked at Rank 4
 * Geyser Trap (multiplayer only): Unlocked at Rank 8
 * Telekinesis: Unlocked at Rank 12
 * Houdini Plasmid (multiplayer only): Unlocked at Rank 16
 * Insect Swarm: Unlocked at Rank 20

Gene Tonics
The player's character will gain new tonics when leveling up. Up to three tonics can be equipped at a time, and the player can choose from a selection of seventeen different gene tonics, each granting the player a passive bonus.

Tonic List

 * An unknown tonic, unlocked at Rank 3
 * Another unknown tonic, also unlocked at Rank 3
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 7.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 11.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 15.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 17.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 19.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 23.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 24.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 26.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 28.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 30.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 32.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 34.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 36.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 38.
 * Another tonic, unlocked at Rank 40.

Becoming a Big Daddy
The player can become a Rosie by finding a Big Daddy Suit, which spawns randomly in the level. Once the player becomes a Rosie they will have access to the Rivet Gun, six Proximity Mines, and a Big Daddy stomp which stuns nearby enemy players. However, the player will lose the ability to use plasmids as long as they remain in the suit, and will also lose all research bonuses they may have accrued previously. Friendly Rosies will produce a blue light from their portholes while an enemy Rosie's will shine red.

When turning into a Big Daddy, the player's health will be significantly increased, although they won't be able to replenish it. Killing the Rosie also yields a significantly bigger ADAM reward, which places said Rosie as a prime target. Once the Big Daddy is defeated, the suit will spawn again in the level.

Videos
Video:Bioshock 2 Multiplayer Video:BioShock 2 Multiplayer Trailer HD Video:BioShock 2 Capture the Sister Trailer Video:Bioshock 2 Gamestop Ad - Blanche Video:Bioshock 2 Big Daddy Multiplayer Destruction