Bioshock 2's Protector Trials DLC Impressions

by Anthony Gallegos - IGN.com | 28 July 2010 12:00
 
Big Daddy is back and ready to adapt.
 
Did you really, really like the parts of BioShock 2 where you had to protect Little Sisters as they gathered ADAM? If you answered yes, then you'll probably love the upcoming single player DLC, Protector Trials.
 

The Protector Trials has a story, but it's not tied together in any typical narrative structure. Rapture's Dr. Tenenbaum has brought you -- an Alpha series Big Daddy, but not the one from BioShock 2's campaign -- into service in order to collect a bunch of the city's genetic currency called ADAM. But that seems to be about all the story you're given, as the game isn't played in any sort of directed story, but is instead presented as a series of six levels (which have three parts, for a total of 18 stages to play) you can choose between.
 
Each stage has only a single body for the Little Sister to harvest, but what makes it challenging is that the player isn't given any choice in what plasmids or weapons they have. One stage might give you just a machine gun and a fire plasmid, while another might give you nothing but weapons and plasmids that are good for setting traps. The point of each mission is to make players adapt to a variety of play styles, forcing them out of their comfort zone. In practice this translates into situations where you'll find yourself using plasmids that you actively avoided during the campaign, either because you disliked it or because you simply never chose to purchase it.
 
Another difficult aspect that the Protector Trials introduces is money management. While you start each stage off with no cash whatsoever, you can build up your bankroll by killing enemies. You then have to carefully use this money with the various vending machines in the stage in order to make sure you have just enough health, EVE (mana) and ammo to scrape by to the finish. Supplies are also sometimes finite as well, forcing you to yet again adapt your strategies as certain ammo types run dry through the course of your epic defense.
 

BioShock 2: Protector Trials at IGN.com

With the increased challenge, though, also comes an increased sense of reward. I'm a run-and-gun sort of guy, so when I had to protect my Little Sister for some five odd minutes against a horde of various Splicers -- using nothing more than some traps and the Hypnotize plasmid (which allows you to temporarily convert an enemy) -- it was easily the hardest combat BioShock 2's thrown at me. Yet when I successfully finished it, with the last few scraps of my cash just barely giving me the med kits I needed to live, I had a better grasp of how to use plasmids and weapons I scarcely used in the entirety of the campaign, leaving me more confident my abilities overall.
 
Ultimately I think only a certain type of player is going to enjoy prolonged sessions of the Protector Trials. It's fun to challenge yourself, sure, but you're also essentially engaging in constant moments of climax, followed by none of the slower pacing that the campaign thoughtfully worked in. Still, if you've been dying for more single player content (of which this is apparently only the first of what's planned), then I can easily see someone justifying the relatively low cost of five dollars.
 
Supplied by IGN.com