BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den hands-on preview

Fans of BioShock 2’s single-player story mode have been feeling a bit left out from all of the downloadable content fun. All of that changes when Minerva’s Den hits the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

Minerva’s Den is BioShock 2’s first single-player DLC and will introduce a different protagonist, new enemies, a completely brand new storyline and an area that is ever-inviting to explore. Similar to the original plot, we play as an Alpha series Big Daddy, but this time around we are Subject Sigma who has been revived by Rapture’s lead scientist, Charles M. Porter.

Minerva’s Den is a darker, more cut-throat area of Rapture than we have previously encountered in both previous iterations of the world. The Splicers are more challenging and use plasmids with much ease; even the security bots have been upgraded with different weapons such as an electric shock, lasers and a rocket launcher. Fighting the new set of bots will prove to be difficult obstacles to overcome but, on the flip side, grant a definite bonus if you can hack them successfully and turn them to your side. There’s nothing better than a well-placed bot shredding the enemies to pieces.

Also introduced is a new plasmid called Gravity Well and a new weapon, the Ion Laser. Gravity Well paves way for players to unleash a huge whirlwind that suck ups any nearby enemies. Unlike the Cyclone plasmid from the main game, Gravity Well is a radial attack that, when thrown, can be lobbed off of walls and works great when trying to pull enemies out from cover. A prime example of how this plasmid can be used to its fullest is when it was lobbed off a wall and sucked a hiding Splicer with a rocket-launching security bot out from behind cover. Then when the security bot tried to counter-attack, the rocket was pulled back into the vortex and blew itself up along with the Splicer. In comparison to the original plasmids, Gravity Well offers much more diversity with evening up the odds.

The new weapon, the Ion Laser, shoots a laser beam that has the tendency to burn your enemies. A new Big Daddy, the Lancer, is introduced with Minerva’s Den and uses the Ion Laser as his primary and promises to deliver an eye-opening experience that no other Big Daddy has offered since the first game.

The storyline of Minerva’s Den follows Rapture’s scientist, Charles Milton Porter, and the fallout between him and his partner, Reed Wahl. The events take place during the same time frame as the events in BioShock 2’s main story line, but in a completely separate area of Rapture. If you pay close attention to what is going on in the background of Minerva’s Den, you will hear references to what is currently happening in your past playthrough of the main game but it won’t directly involve or affect the events playing out in the DLC.

Minerva’s Den will be available on XBLA for 800 Microsoft Points and on PSN for $9.99 on August 31 and is a must-have for any BioShock 2 fan.